Mark Zuckerberg and the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, had a 40 minute live conversation discussing new and exciting features coming to Instagram to empower the creator economy.
Key Takeaways/Clips Below 👇👇
Zuckerberg on the Growing Creator Economy
“A lot more people are getting to engage in creative work rather than jobs they find monotonous. You want to give people the tools to do that as a hobby and so it can be a job for millions of people."
Zuckerberg on Monetizing the Creator Economy
"One of the bigger pieces that needs to get built out, and it feels like we are at an inflection point is around monetization. There are lots of different models."
Some of the new monetization methods coming to the Facebook platforms include:
- Advertising Revenue Share
- Creators Plugging Directly Into Commerce
Zuckerberg on Creators Building out Their own Personal Shops
"Businesses and small businesses can set up shops on Instagram and Facebook to sell stuff online. We have seen a lot of creators setting up shops too. One part of creator business model is you can create great content and then you can sell stuff."
Creator Shops feels like low hanging fruit for Facebook and Instagram to roll out. Many creators/influencers already use Shopify (
$SHOP) to sell their merch and this would plug into Instagram Shops easily given their partnership.
The nature of limited time clothing drop sales by brands such as Nelk & Supreme pairs well with the traditional Instagram feed.
Zuckerberg on Building an Affiliate Marketplace
"People look to creators for recommendations about what is good, especially for spaces they are experts on and creating around. Creators should get a cut of the sales of the things that they are recommending."
Integrating the Affiliate Marketplace with Instagram Shops would be incredibly powerful. It's easy to imagine creators tagging products by SKU level in their posts & followers easily purchasing the items via Instagram Shops. Each purchase = small commission for the creator.
Using this post from Rory Mcllroy as an example:
Imagine if a creator could tag the gym bag, individual golf polos, hats, etc. by SKU and checkout could be handled via Instagram Shops.
This is the holy grail of marketing. An ad that truly doesn't feel like an ad.
Zuckerberg on a Marketplace to Match Creators With Brands Who Want to Sponsor Them
"This will have very favorable terms to creators. We aren't building this out to make a lot of money. If we help creators make more money that will help a creator economy emerge which will make it so there's more content across the services."
Adam Mosseri on Discovery and Facilitating Conversations Between Creators and Brands
"Some people are getting overpaid and some are underpaid. We want to help facilitate that in a responsible way. Imagine being a brand - I want to reach 20 year old women and we could provide a list of creators to connect to."
How to Help Facilitate Building a Creator Middle Class
"Instagram has done a good job at creating value for creators who were established. We haven't done as well with aspiring creators and that's been a big miss on our part."
It was nice to see Mark and Adam address this. Discovery & focusing on aspiring creators is where TikTok has been able to gain an edge versus YouTube & Instagram. For the first time, aspiring creators can gain a following much more quickly.
How Reels Helps to Build a Creator Middle Class
"Reels is the first part of Instagram that is proactively trying to find new talent and help it break whereas historically we have gone with whatever has a lot of engagement."
How Smaller Creators can Make Money in the Future
"By showing that you have loyalty from your followers and you can help drive sales the affiliate program can give signal for who are going to be the people brands should want to be associated more with."
Final Thoughts:
- Zuck and the rest of Facebook clearly understand how important creators are to their platform. Monetization initiatives for creators are crucial because it creates a flywheel (more content, more engagement, more ads, etc.) for the rest of the business.
- If Facebook/Instagram can pull of the Affiliate Marketplace succesfully I think Pinterest $PINS is in huge trouble
- I think it's under discussed how Instagram, TikTok, $SNAP, and other social media companies willingness to pay creators based off views is a threat to YouTube's flywheel.
Disclosure: Long $FB
