Affiliate tool, new Shop features for Instagram creators to make living

Facebook has also launched the Stars Challenge, an invitation-only challenge where creators can earn payouts in the form of free Stars if they meet certain milestones. For instance, completing a task within a designated time period to earn a Stars payout.

Instagram has announced new ways for creators to make a living on the platform. These include a native affiliate tool that will let creators discover new products available on checkout, share them with their followers and earn commissions for the purchases they drive.

Any affiliate post from a creator featuring a tagged product can be easily identified with the "Eligible for commission" notifier at the top (below the creator's name). The new tool 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, Instagram said on Tuesday.

In the coming months, Instagram will start testing the new affiliate tool with a small group of US-based creators and businesses including Benefit, Kopari, MAC, Pat McGrath Labs and Sephora.

Instagram is also simplifying the process to add an existing shop or open a new shop on a personal profile for creators who want to sell their own merchandise. Creators with their own product lines can now link their shop to their personal profile in addition to their business profile. Additionally, they can also set up a new shop and link their account with one of Instagram's four merchandise partners - Bravado/UMG, Fanjoy, Represent, and Spring. This feature will roll out to all eligible creators in the US by 2021-end.

Apart from the new shopping features, Instagram and Facebook are introducing new ways for creators to make extra money for hitting certain milestones with Badges and Stars.

Starting this week, creators can earn an extra payout when they meet certain milestones while using badges in Instagram Live.

Image Credit: Instagram

Facebook has also launched the Stars Challenge, an invitation-only challenge where creators can earn payouts in the form of free Stars if they meet certain milestones. For instance, completing a task within a designated time period to earn a Stars payout.