Facebook has announced a native affiliate marketing tool and new shop features to give creators on Instagram and across its platforms more monetisation opportunities. The company will also reward creators for hitting certain milestones with badges and stars

Currently only a selected group of creators can tag products from brands or display their own merchandise using Shops on Instagram. With the upcoming tools and updates to Shops, Facebook intends to bring these features to all the creators.

“Today’s updates are a big part of a broader effort to support creators as they build their careers. Whether creators want to connect with brands, get paid for their content or earn money directly from their fans, we are committed to building the right mix of tools to help them accomplish their goals. We’re making exciting progress and will have more to share in the coming months,” Facebook announced.

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Facebook will reward creators for meeting certain milestones

Badges bring another monetisation opportunity for creators and Facebook will now set certain milestones with badges and stars and any creator that hits the milestone will earn some extra cash. For example, going live with another account.

Facebook is also launching Stars Challenges, which will reward creators in the form of free stars after meeting certain milestones. For example, broadcasting for a set number of hours or earning a certain number of stars in a pre-decided time period.

Facebook is testing the affiliate marketing tool

The native affiliate tool in Instagram will allow creators to earn commissions from the products they share with their followers within the app. Affiliate posts from creators will feature a ‘Eligible for commission’ tag at the top of the post to help the followers understand that the purchase will support the creator.

Facebook will start testing the affiliate tools in the coming months with a small group of US-based creators and businesses including Benefit, Kopari, MAC, Pat McGrath Labs and Sephora. More partners will be added in the future.

The affiliate tool will also make it easier for brands to partner with creators and reward them for sharing their product and driving sale.

Create Shops easily and add them to your personal profile

Instagram has also made it easier for creators to open a new Shop on their profile. Creators who already have a shop can now also link it to their personal profile, in addition to the business profile.

By the end of the year, creators in US can link their account to one of the four merchandising partner offered by Instagram —  Bravado/UMG, Fanjoy, Represent, and Spring — to gain access to exclusive product launches.

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