Instagram to Add New Ways For Creators to Make Money

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shares details about new features coming to Instagram that will allow creators to get paid for their content.

The features, announced this week during a livestream which included Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, will enable content creators to earn multiple revenue streams.

Creators will be able to generate income through:

• Partnerships with brands
• Selling merchandise
• Recommending affiliate products

There’s nothing to stop Instagram users from earning revenue in those ways already. But they have to do it through their own means, which requires contacting brands, setting up e-commerce stores, and joining affiliate programs.

Instagram is aiming to streamline those processes by making it easy for creators to accomplish everything within the app.

That also serves Instagram’s interests, as the company makes no money when creators establish partnerships with brands on their own, or sell goods through their own stores.

By keeping all revenue-earning activity within Instagram the company can take a cut for itself, and/or charge service fees.

How Instagram plans to profit from the new features is unclear at this time. Here’s what we do know about the new ways for creators to make money.

New Ways For Instagram Creators to Earn Revenue

Connecting Brands With Creators

Instagram is developing a “marketplace” for brands where they can discover and sponsor emerging creators.

Mosseri says:

“We should be able to help brands find creators that are uniquely aligned with the work they’re trying to do and vice versa.”

This will simplify the process of establishing brand partnerships for both parties. And it sounds like it can help draw attention to creators who otherwise may not end up on a brand’s radar.

Instagram Creator Shops

Instagram creator shops will allow users with regular accounts to sell merchandise on their profile.

Creator shops are an extension of Facebook & Instagram shops that were introduced last year. Previously only available to business accounts, regular users will soon be able to create their own store on Instagram.

Zuckerberg states:

“We see a lot of creators setting up shops too, and one part of being a content creator business model is you create great content, and then you can sell stuff, and so having creator shops is awesome,”

Affiliate Recommendation Marketplace

Instagram plans to help creators get paid for promoting content in the app.

Zuckerberg says:

“Creators should be able to get a cut of the sales of things that they’re recommending and we should build up an affiliate recommendation marketplace to enable that to all happen.”

This will make it easier for creators to find opportunities to earn commission through recommending products.

The development of an affiliate recommendation marketplace may allow creators to find more products to recommend that align with their values.

Given that the whole thing will be facilitated by Instagram, it has the potential to offer more favorable terms for creators than existing affiliate programs.

Zuckerberg and Mosseri did not say when these features will be available, though they promised to reveal more information soon.

Source: CNBC