The impact Instagram’s Creator Marketplace will have on influencers and brands

Instagrams has launched its very own Influencer and Brand matchmaking service, taking ownership of creator partnerships

Instagram’s Creator Marketplace has now officially entered the chat! Last year Instagram founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that a small group of creators and brands would test new features that connected creators with brands for branded content partnerships.

This means Influencers can get discovered and paid directly on Instagram, and brands can share new partnership opportunities within the app.

At the moment brand partnerships are largely done off the platform with agencies and agents taking a cut for linking up brands with influencers. It seems like Instagram will be able to use its insights about influencers to make sure they are connected with the right brands looking for partnerships. This would completely disrupt the current industry model, and place even more power in the hands of the Influencers - and increase transparency for the brands. In the past brands have been matched up with Influencers with little to no oversight. Many influencers can lie about their stats, but this model means they are completely vetted by Instagram before being put in front of a brand.

What is the Instagram Creator Marketplace?

The creator marketplace discovery page indicates brands and topics that are 'most relevant to you as a creator.’ With a little help from Instagram’s algorithms, the page helps you ensure that the brand opportunities you receive are relevant and a good fit for your audience.

To help keep partnership messages organized, new messages from brands that meet eligibility standards will now go to a dedicated folder at the top of your Primary tab (instead of the usual “Requests”)!

What does this mean for Influencers?

Payments (coming soon), are supposed to happen without ever leaving the app. As a creator, you will get paid for your banded content deals directly within Instagram and keep track of all payments in the “Tools” section of the professional dashboard.

As Instagram continues to expand its functionality toward financially supporting the creator economy, it is a great time to be a creative creator on the platform.

And what does this mean for the brands?

The unique tool allows brands to seek relevant partnership opportunities. No more searching, the Discovery page is doing it for you. Brands are also allowed to get a quick insight into a creator’s engagement metrics, average views, audience demographic, and more.

Much like a statement of work or deck, brands will be able to send a “Project”. This allows brands to send over the details and requirements of an opportunity and the rate. As a creator, you will receive the projects directly in the Partnership Messages folder.

This is a great way for brands to build brand awareness and reach out to new audiences.

If you think these features on a social media platform sound familiar, you are not wrong. Brands can discover top TikTok talents in-house in the TikTok Creator Marketplace too. More and more brands are recognizing the opportunities that collaborating with creators on social platforms can bring. No wonder Meta (parent company of Instagram) is expanding their functionality towards a creator economy too.