Instagram announced today that it is expanding access to parts of its creator marketplace via API to make it easier for brands to discover and collaborate with creators on the third-party creator marketing platform they already use. The company is also expanding creator marketplace access to branding agencies.
The social network launched its creator marketplace last July as a hub designed to help brands discover and reach creators across partnerships and campaigns.
With the first new API, brands can easily reach creators in a priority inbox on the creator marketplace through their preferred creator marketing platform. The second API allows brands to publish structured project outlines directly from a third party to the creator marketplace. Instagram is testing these APIs with a small cohort of creator marketing partners, including Aspire, Captiv8, and CreatorIQ.
The company is also piloting dedicated access to the creator marketplace for brand agencies so they can manage creator discovery and collaborations on behalf of their brand clients. Instagram is testing this access with select partners, including Influential, WPromote, Rickhouse Media, Power Digital, Dentsu, OMG, and Brkfst.
As part of this expansion, agencies will gain access to filter creators by gender, age, number of followers, and interests. Agencies can also filter for creators based on the demographics of their engaged audience, such as gender, age, interests, country, and city. In addition, agencies can send messages directly to creators’ dedicated message folders and publish findable projects for eligible creators to sign up for.
“Today, we’re announcing new ways to discover and reach Instagram creators by expanding access to brand agencies and testing integrations with top creator marketing platforms,” the company wrote in a blog post. “With these updates, our goal is to complement and help evolve the robust third-party ecosystem of agencies and platforms that is already helping creators and brands form partnerships.”
Instagram’s take on its creator marketplace is similar to TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, the video app’s internal influencer marketing platform. TikTok’s Creator Marketplace enables brands to discover the best TikTok personalities for their marketing campaigns, which is similar to Instagram’s goal with its marketplace.