Meta has announced that the Instagram creator marketplace will soon be available for brands in 8 more countries, including the UK, Australia and Canada. 

What is the creator marketplace?

Launched in 2022 for businesses in the US, the Instagram creator marketplace is a feature that helps match brands with influencers within their niche to create branded content and partnership ads. This aims to solve the issue brands often face of finding the right creators to work with that have relevant audiences. 

What are partnership ads?

Instagram partnership ads (formally known as Branded content ads) are ads created using branded content. Instagram defines branded content as “content for which the creator has been compensated, either with money or something else of value, by a brand or business partner.” Brands and creators need to follow guidelines to clearly identify this kind of content, whether it is being used for organic or paid social marketing. 

Who can use the creator marketplace?

Previously, the creator marketplace was only available to brands and creators in the US. In the coming weeks, Meta is bringing onboard brands and creators from eight more markets – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Japan, India, and Brazil. There will also be options for Chinese export brands wishing to collaborate with creators outside of China. 

To be eligible for the creator marketplace as a brand, you need to have a business Instagram account. You’ll also have to set up partnership ad permissions within Meta Business Suite to run 

Creators need a professional Instagram account and have to meet various eligibility criteria, such as complying with Instagram Community Guidelines, not spreading disinformation, and not being a political or government entity. 

How does it work?

Brands can sign up to the Instagram creator marketplace through Meta Business Suite, while creators can join using their professional dashboard in the Instagram app. Creators can select up to 10 interests that represent their account, along with providing a portfolio to pitch themselves and their content. They can also list specific brands to indicate their desire to work with them. 

Meta uses machine learning-powered recommendations to suggest creators to brands. Then, brands are able to manually filter for different creator and audience demographics, e.g. gender, age, location, interests, etc. Brands can also view and filter by stats including follower counts and actively engaged accounts. 

What should brands look for when choosing creators to partner with?

When analysing social media marketing trends for 2024, we wrote about how creators with smaller followings (aka micro-influencers or nano-influencers) can be a powerful way of reaching dedicated audiences within certain niche interests. These influencers tend to have a closer connection to their followers, creating an audience that is trusting of their recommendations. Smaller creators are also likely to have lower fees, making this a cost-effective way of using partnership marketing. 

Make sure to check out creator portfolios to see if their content style is compatible with your brand. Consider the format the creator typically uses – do they predominately post video or static photos? Is their style relaxed and chatty, or more educational and informative? Are they experienced with making partnership content or are they new to it? 

As their machine-learning algorithm improves, Meta will deliver more tailored recommendations to streamline the process of finding the right creators for your brand, taking out a lot of that guesswork.

Want to know more about how you can use social media marketing for your business? Get in touch with our Newcastle digital marketing agency today, we’d love to chat!