Nearly every social-media platform is experimenting with ways to pay content creators.
Meta and Instagram have launched, paused, and axed a handful of features since 2020.
Here’s the latest on Instagram’s progress in building a suite of money-making tools for creators.
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Since 2020, Instagram has unveiled a hodgepodge of creator monetization programs — from tipping tools to a sponsorship marketplace for influencers.
Meta’s — and specifically, Instagram’s — efforts here rapidly ramped up in 2021 after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a flashy $1 billion investment into paying creators through the end of 2022.
Three years later, however, there’s already a graveyard of now-defunct programs.
In March, Meta announced it would be putting two monetization programs for creators on ice: Digital collectibles (Instagram’s NFT feature) and the Reels Play Bonus. In 2022, Instagram also shut down IGTV ad revenue and its test of an affiliate marketing program.
While Meta streamlines its suite of tools and adapts to its proclaimed “year of efficiency,” the question lingers: How can creators make money on Instagram in 2023?
Currently, Meta is still operating and testing about six programs that pay creators on Instagram.
One method is user-pay, where followers pay creators for their content using Instagram-native tools like the tipping features Badges on livestreams and Gifts on reels. There are also subscriptions, which let creators share paywalled content on their Instagram pages.
Mark Zuckerberg said in June that Meta won’t take a cut of revenue from monetization tools like Badges or paid subscription features until 2024.
Commerce tools like shops for creators are still active, and since July, Instagram has also doubled down on its creator marketplace where brands and influencers can collaborate on sponsored posts.
And later this year, more ad-revenue share options will make their way over to Instagram following Facebook’s own test of revenue sharing on reels.
“We remain committed to supporting creators and enabling them to earn via Instagram, the support of fans, and brand partnerships,” a spokesperson for Meta told Insider in a statement. “Over the past year we’ve made significant progress on our suite of monetization tools and we’ll continue to invest in this product suite to best enable creators to earn a sustainable living.”
Here’s a breakdown of the various money-making tools Instagram is testing or has rolled out for creators:
