After announcements last year, Instagram has finally realised more information about their upcoming Creator Marketplace. Instagram is testing and launching its new marketplace with a select few US brands on an invite-only basis.
In an announcement made by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of parent-company Meta, he noted, “We’re testing a set place on Instagram where creators can get discovered and paid, and where brands can share new partnership opportunities.”
What is Instagram’s Creator Marketplace?
Instagram’s new Creator Marketplace is a destination that will allow brands and creators to connect. Brands can reach out to creators that embody their core values and offer a proposal to work with them. To find creators, brands can use the desktop experience within the Meta Business Suite. The Meta Business Suite allows brands to search for creators by certain filters based on their engaged followers, such as their number of followers, age, location, gender and interests.
Once the brand has found the right creator, they can add the creator to their saved list, and then reach out to them directly. They can connect with creators to share project ideas and give them an idea of compensation for collaborations. The messages that the brand creates when contacting creators will then appear in a new message area called the “Partnerships Messages inbox”. This allows users to separate their interactions and keep an organised portfolio of contacted creators.
What are the new features of the Creator Marketplace?
Instagram has introduced four new tools to streamline branded partnerships on the Creator Marketplace, let’s take a look at them:
Partnership Messaging Feature
The Partnership Messaging feature allows you to separate your creator messages from your usual DMs. You can look at this feature as a business folder containing all of your potential projects with creators or brands. This feature removes your fear of being lost in the DMs!
Projects Feature
Within the Partnership Messaging area, you’ll be able to see features of your projects. This helps you outline the project’s expectations and allows you to keep track of the creators or brands you are collaborating with.
Discovery
With the discovery section of the new marketplace, you can find creators with ease. You can find users by filtering their follower levels and also filtering their follower’s demographics. The idea behind this tool is to make your job as the brand a little bit easier.
Payments Feature
Let’s talk money! A part of the Creator Marketplace that is still in development, but should be coming soon, is the payment features. With this tool, brands can pay creators after the project is completed. This feature means every step can be completed within the Instagram app, from first contact to the final payment.
What does Instagram have to say about the new marketplace?
Here’s a quote directly from Instagram when talking about their new platform:
“This is all part of our commitment to make Instagram the best place for creators to make a living doing what they love—all while helping brands discover creators to partner with.”
How can your business get involved?
While Instagram’s new Creator Marketplace is still in its infancy stages and is only available to a select few users, it is worth keeping an eye on this topic to ensure your business is ready. Once more news come out, you can start to get prepared by planning and imagining your success!