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Instagram to launch a suite of creator tools to earn cash

Instagram revealed a trio of new tools to help creators earn more money.

What’s new: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri recently revealed that the social platform is building Creator Shops, affiliate commerce tools, and a branded content marketplace as part of Zuckerburg’s goals to produce millions of jobs for creators.

“In almost any positive vision for the future, a lot more people are getting to engage in creative work rather than just jobs that they find monotonous. You want to give people the tools to do that both as just a hobby express themselves, but ideally, you want to make it so it can be a job for millions of people.” —Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg

Creator shops: The Creator Shops feature will allow users to curate products from different brands onto their profile page and earn a commission. Top Instagrammers, like Kim Kardashian, have had shops on their profiles for months, but they hinted the feature will become available to everyone.

“One part of the creator business model is creating great content and you can sell stuff. Having creators shops is awesome and going to be really exciting.” —Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg

Affiliate feature: Instagram’s affiliate commerce tool will allow creators to earn a percentage of sales they help generate. Most top creators on Instagram use the cost per acquisition model, earning them a set percentage of the sale total.

Brands typically set creators’ commission percentage, and it's usually between 5% to 30%.

“Whether they're selling your own stuff or someone else's, people look to creators for recommendations about what's good — especially in the spaces that they're the experts on.” —Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg

Branded Content Marketplace: Instagram’s branded content marketplace will help brands identify creators whose audiences align with their target markets. The feature appears to be inspired or at least influenced by TikTok’s Creator Marketplace. While Instagram didn’t share specifics on how much influencers could earn by collaborating with brands, Zuckerburg said it will "have very favorable terms to creators.”

“I’m personally really excited because it feels like we should be able to help brands find creators that are uniquely aligned with what they’re trying to do and vice versa.” —Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri

Good timing: The announcement of the new features arrived shortly after Apple announced recent changes that will make it harder for Facebook to target ads to iOS users. By generating more commerce within their apps, Instagram and Facebook should be able to limit the impact of Apple's new rules.

Instagram’s Clubhouse clone: Instagram is now allowing users to mute their mics and turn off their video in Instagram Live videos, effectively putting them in direct competition with Clubhouse. Hosts cannot mute or turn off their participants’ cams or mics, though I wouldn't be surprised if it's on their roadmap. The introduction of the mute feature aims to reduce the pressure creators may have while speaking live to their audiences.

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