New ways for creators to make a living

We want Instagram and Facebook to serve as a home base for creators to tell their story, grow and make a living. Whether they are just starting out or are further along in building their business – we want to support creators and give them ways to accomplish their goals.

We have a strong foundation in place. Today, creators can use our platforms to partner with brands, sell their own merchandise, earn money from their supporters and earn a portion of revenue from ads that run against their video content.

While we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, we know we’ve only just scratched the surface and there’s more we can do to support creators around the world. Today we’re announcing new ways to help creators make a living as they build their personal brands across our platforms.

Introducing affiliate & new Shops features on Instagram

Creators have always used Instagram to share products they love, and people trust their favorite accounts for inspiration and new products. Today, select creators can tag products from the brands they work with or use Shops if they have their own product line. We want to give more creators access to our shopping tools and allow them to get rewarded for the purchases they drive.

In the coming months, we’ll begin testing a native affiliate tool that will allow creators to discover new products available on checkout, share them with their followers and earn commissions for the purchases they drive – all within the Instagram app.

When people come across an affiliate post from a creator featuring a tagged product, they will see “eligible for commission” at the top of the post, so it’s clear that their purchases help support that creator.

This will make it easier for people to shop directly from the creators they love and give brands a new way to partner with and reward creators who share their products. Affiliate will test with a small group of US-based creators and businesses including Benefit, Kopari, MAC, Pat McGrath Labs and Sephora, and will expand to more partners in the future.

For creators who want to sell their own merchandise, we’re making it easier to add an existing shop or open a new shop on their Instagram profile.

• For creators who already have their own product lines, they can now link their shop to their personal profile in addition to their business profile. This allows them to display and sell their products directly to fans. The ability to link a shop to a personal profile will be available globally starting today.
• Creators will also be able to set up a new shop and drive excitement with exclusive product launches from the Instagram app by linking their account with one of our four merchandise partners: Bravado/UMG, Fanjoy, Represent, and Spring. This will roll out to all eligible creators in the US by end of the year.

Stay up to date on new shopping features for creators here.

More ways to earn from Badges and Stars

Badges on Instagram Live and Stars on Facebook give creators ways to earn from their supporters. We have continued to add improvements to these features to unlock more earning potential, such as adding the ability for supporters to purchase multiple badges during an Instagram livestream, testing the ability for fans to send Stars during recorded content and expanding Stars to nine new markets.

As we see more and more creators use these tools to engage directly with their fans, we want to reward them for the impact they’re bringing to our communities. That’s why we’re launching ways for creators to make extra money for hitting certain milestones with badges and Stars.

• Starting this week, creators on Instagram are eligible to earn an extra payout when they meet certain milestones while using badges in Live, such as going Live with another account.
• Today Facebook is launching Stars Challenges. Creators in the program can earn payouts from Facebook in the form of free Stars if they meet certain milestones, such as broadcasting a certain number of hours or earning a set number of Stars within a designated time period.

Today’s updates are a big part of a broader effort to support creators as they build their careers. Whether creators want to connect with brands, get paid for their content or earn money directly from their fans, we are committed to building the right mix of tools to help them accomplish their goals. We’re making exciting progress and will have more to share in the coming months.