The creator community has been growing steadily as social media platforms have recognized its potential and the revenue it could generate. The scales are slowly tipping towards the creators as platforms are trying to attract and retain them. Currently, the creator economy is over $100 billion and is still growing. The time is ripe for social media platforms to make sure that they have creators on their platform, which will help bring in heaps in revenue in the long run.
This has intensified the competition as well. Last year, Twitter rolled out the Super Follow feature. It allows users to pay between $2.99 to $9.99 a month to get exclusive content from their favorite creators. TikTok and Facebook have subscription features as well (the two-year-old Subscriptions), and now, Instagram is officially testing Instagram Subscriptions with some US creators.
The feature will let users pay a certain amount to access exclusive content shared by a creator. This is the latest feature that is aimed to help creators monetize their content, and which will help Instagram in the long run as more and more revenue is generated.
“With Instagram Subscriptions, creators can develop deeper connections with their most engaged followers and grow their recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where they interact with them already,” the company said in a blog post.
If you are a subscriber, you will receive a special badge that will distinguish you in the comments section and the inboxes of the creators. The feature is currently being tested with a small group of creators, including @alanchikinchow, @sedona._, @elizakelly, @kelseylynncook, @elliottnorris, @jordanchiles, @jackjerry, @bunnymichael, @donallenii, and @lonnieiiy. So ten creators in all, and this testing is meant to allow for feedback from both fans and creators.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said that they hoped to expand the features over time since subscriptions needed to be integrated throughout the entire Instagram experience. The company is also working on ways for creators to take their list of subscribers to apps that have been built by other companies.
Let us talk more about Instagram Subscriptions. You need to pay a monthly fee to access the exclusive content of creators. The price varies from $0.99 to $99.99 per month, and there are eight price points you can choose from. As a bonus incentive, no fees from creators will be charged by Instagram at least until 2023 “at the earliest.”
If any creator does exclusive Lives, you will be alerted, and engage with them more deeply. You will also have a special Subscriber purple badge that will show your status as a subscriber to the content creator, and access stories created solely for subscribers.
From the perspective of creators, they can access their total estimated earnings from subscriptions, total subscribers, new subscriptions, and cancellations from their Subscriptions Settings.
