Instagram is expanding its creator marketplace to improve discoverability of brand deals and let influencers include media kits

• Updated on: 2023-03-11
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In November, Instagram will begin to let some influencers build media kits within the app through a new feature called "creator portfolios."

Creator portfolios are part of the Meta-owned platform's broader creator marketplace offerings, which are currently only available to select influencers within the US.

Instagram confirmed to Insider in September that it was testing a tool to make media kits, a test first spotted by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi earlier this year. Now it has officially announced that the tool will roll out next month along with other expansions to its creator marketplace, a space on the app where brands can discover and message influencers about paid partnerships and sponsored content.

Media kits have become a fundamental tool in influencer marketing. Creators use them to communicate their value to brands. Typically, these kits act as a sort-of resume for influencers, showcasing data points, content, and past brand partnerships across many platforms. More recently, social platforms have been tapping into this space, including YouTube, which announced its own media kit tool in January.

"Every professional Instagram influencer has a media kit," Lia Haberman, a digital media professor at UCLA Extension, recently told Insider. "A media kit is really important in that relationship between the brand and the creator, so the fact that they now have a creator marketplace, media kits are a natural fit."

The creator portfolios tool is one of many changes Instagram will be implementing to expand influencer marketing capabilities.

Here's a quick run down of the changes coming to Instagram:

Along with the media kit update, Instagram hopes to improve discoverability on its creator marketplace with "Projects" — Instagram's name for brand sponsorship campaigns. 

"Creators can soon discover projects they're eligible for and let brands know they're interested in the opportunity," Meta said in a statement. "In addition to making projects more discoverable, brands can now also share project briefs directly with individual or multiple creators for review via a prioritized partnership messages inbox."

Brands and creators will still need to manage payment off of the platform, though Instagram said it would have news on this in coming months.

Thus far, Instagram's creator marketplace has been relatively quiet, according to several influencers who Insider spoke with last month. Insider talked to a dozen creators with access to the feature, and only one said the marketplace proved successful for inking a new deal.

"I honestly hope that I get more via Instagram since it was so seamless," said Najm Loyd, the creator who had gotten a deal through Instagram's marketplace.

Part of Instagram's latest update will also streamline the process of whitelisting content, which is when a brand boosts a creator's post as an ad on the app. Creators will soon be able to provide brand partners — who often have deals with the creators — with a code that the brands can use to easily run their content as ads.

As platforms become more invested in social shopping, it makes sense that Instagram would get more involved in brand partnerships.

Instagram dabbled in affiliate marketing with a native-to-Instagram program, but the company sunset the program in August after testing it for a year and announced it would be redirecting its resources to its creator marketplace.