How to find influencers on Instagram’s creator marketplace

Have you noticed your competitors' have leaned heavily into the power of Instagram's partnership opportunities lately?

Did they find a creator who has elevated their brand's vibe, driving influence and greater authenticity? If so, it's time to explore the perks of the platform's creator marketplace. 

Picture this. Before your next skincare product launch, you partner with a makeup artist who aligns with your brand's mission — green, sustainable products. You collaborate and launch an unboxing campaign to generate pre-sale hype. You then provide that creator a unique promo code to share with their audience. On your launch date, an additional 10% in sales comes directly from that influencer. For your next launch, you then collaborate with another two creators and see real results. 

This strategy can be highly effective, but how do you connect with the right creators? Your partnerships need to make sense to achieve a good ROI, which is where Instagram's new creator marketplace comes into play. 

Meta developed a creator marketplace where brands can find influencers and other creators to partner with. Within this creator marketplace, brands can negotiate deals with potential partners and easily manage their collaborations. 

Creating a seamless process to build branded content partnerships that convert is Instagram's way of keeping creators and brands happy! Since it's the top influencer marketing platform with more than 500,000 active influencers, it might be time for you to take the creator marketplace plunge. 

Here's what to consider before you get started.

What is Instagram's creator marketplace?

In 2022, Meta began testing a new creator marketplace in the United States as a tool for brands and creators to connect and collaborate around partnership opportunities. Since then, the platform has onboarded thousands of brands and creators.

To join this marketplace in the United States, you must have a professional (creator or business) profile to access Instagram's professional dashboard. This dashboard allows you to track performance, discover tools and more.

Once you join the creator marketplace, you'll benefit from brand-creator matching, thanks to machine-learning algorithms. However, you can also take a more hands-on approach, searching manually for creators by applying filters in various categories. 

Related: AI is coming for creatives (in a good way)

This creator opportunity is expanding to 8 new countries

In 2024, the creator marketplace will open to business and creator accounts in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, Brazil and China (Instagram will invite Chinese export brands to collaborate with creators outside China). 

In late February 2024, Meta announced it would invite brands and creators from these countries in the coming weeks. The platform is expanding into these new markets and will continue to test its recommendation algorithms (in the United States).

Location is one requirement as is:

• Age (must be 18 years or older).

• Remaining compliant with Instagram's Community Guidelines and Content Monetization Policies.

• Following Branded Content Policies and Partner Monetization Policies.

Meta's strategy to help creators make money

When comparing various platforms, they each have unique selling features for creators seeking monetary opportunities. These incentives inspire great content and open doors for brands seeking branded content partnerships. 

Google and YouTube share ad revenue with top creators, whereas Meta keeps creators on the platform by making it easier for them to partner with relevant brands and vice versa. The creator marketplace is one way Meta (Instagram) does this. This mutually beneficial partnership can help brands and creators connect, collaborate and grow. 

While social networks benefit from a growing user base, they also strive to keep creators and businesses happy. They develop and launch products and services to attract and retain both. So, you can use that to your advantage whether you're focusing on Instagram, TikTok, X or any other social platform. Take advantage of the opportunities that make sense for your brand. 

Partner discovery process

With Instagram's creator marketplace, more easily connecting with creatives is a major selling point. The partner discovery process means you can find creators who fit certain requirements. You can filter creatives based on variables such as:

• Gender

• Interests

• Age

• Number of followers

You can also filter creators based on audience demographics. 

The icing on the cake is the ability to narrow down influencers connected to your brand, ensuring the partnership is authentic. For example, a creator may have tagged you before, so filter based on that criteria. Whether it's creators who follow you or have expressed interest in the past, Instagram makes it easy to find influencers you’re already familiar with. 

Where to find Instagram's creator marketplace

The Instagram creator marketplace is part of the Meta Business Suite.

Creators can join using the platform's professional dashboard and select brands and interests that are relevant to them. So, keep an eye out for possible matches. Creatives can also build a creator portfolio, making it easier for you to select authentic partners. 

The creator marketplace will continue to evolve as technology advances. As of this writing, here are your options to find creators:

• Meta is testing custom machine learning-powered creator recommendations for brands. 

• Search for creators using filters based on creator and audience categories. 

• Check out portfolios once certain creators express interest in your brand. If they are a good match, you can easily connect and collaborate. 

How to choose the right creators to partner with

If you have not yet explored Instagram’s creator marketplace, follow these steps.

Step 1: Sign up and agree to terms 

Before you choose creators, head to the Meta Business Suite and click “Creator marketplace” in the left-hand navigation bar.

Then, click “Get Started” and agree to the terms associated with paid partnership features. 

Step 2: Search for creators that tick your boxes

You can find creators by searching usernames already on your radar or keywords like “fashion,” “green living" or "sports" — whatever makes sense for your brand.

Finding a "good fit" for your brand is critical for an authentic partnership. You want partners who align with your target audience and marketing strategy. They should genuinely be passionate about your industry, offerings or mission. However, you can take this further by focusing on key metrics. 

When you search for creators, you can assess:

• "Number of followers" (this metric is in development, so the reported number of followers may be delayed). If a creator seems like a good fit, dive deeper by visiting their profile.

• The "engaged accounts" (also in development) metric estimates the number of accounts interacting with that creator's content, including ads. This content covers everything from posts and stories to reels and live videos. 

Step 3: Take a closer look and reach out

You can conduct your own research. However, when using Instagram's creator marketplace, you can find more details by clicking on a creator's name. You can view their creator portfolio; see a breakdown of their engaged audience by gender, age range, country and city; and connect through messaging. 

Upon browsing potential influencers, you can message multiple creators. These messages are managed in your partnership messages folder, helping you stay organized when building several strategic collaborations. 

Tracking the performance of Instagram creator marketplace influencer marketing campaigns

Your brand's ongoing success will depend heavily on how you utilize the data available — whether you're on Instagram, another social platform, or your e-commerce website. 

Performance marketing tools can help you make data-driven decisions that protect your most precious resources, especially when insights are presented in one centralized marketing hub. 

When partnering with creators on Instagram, they may initially seem like the perfect fit and, hopefully, that remains true. However, you'll need to track the performance of your partnership to ensure your campaigns are actually yielding results. If you're preparing to launch your first influencer marketing campaign or are striving to improve, consider the following.

Choose the right metrics

To track the right metrics, you need to first set measurable goalsthat align with your broader social strategy and marketing model. Is your goal to improve brand awareness? Do you want to generate leads, or is it more critical to boost sales?

Decide on your goals and then make them time-bound. For example, using your influencer marketing campaigns, do you want to achieve a 10% growth in sales by the next quarter? This specific goal falls under your broader social marketing goals — in this case, increasing sales. 

Benchmark your influencer campaign against business goals so that you can pivot as needed. 

Popular metrics when tracking influencer campaigns 

There are no "right" or "wrong" metrics as long as the social media metrics you choose effectively measure the impact and success of your influencer campaigns. 

Here are some options:

Reach and impressions

Tracking reach and impressions is one of the more straightforward ways to measure brand awareness. "Reach" refers to the number of people who saw your content, whereas "impressions" refers to the number of times your content was shown or viewed. 

Engagement rate 

Engagement rate is the level of interaction with your content, such as likes, shares and comments, relative to the creator's number of followers. It is the ratio between the number of engagements and the total impressions. 

Click-through rate (CTR)

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people on Instagram who click on the link in your bio or another call-to-action button. If you're trying to increase traffic to your site, this is a great metric to track.

Earned media value (EMV) 

EMV measures the value of media coverage, brand mentions, and social media interactions, helping quantify the tangible impact of influencer collaborations.

Return on investment (ROI)

The ROI of influencer campaigns can be major KPI for the financial success of the initiative. It is calculated by dividing net return (amount earned minus amount spent) over the amount spent.

Tip: You can use UTM tracking to monitor sales generated from influencer campaigns (if you monitor Instagram data in Google Analytics). You can also track using promo codes you implement into your creators' campaigns. This approach is an example of an affiliate marketing program. 

Discover Instagram's creator marketplace

When reflecting on the history of the Instagram app, it's clear this social platform has come a long way. Today, it's a top marketing platform for many brands. If Instagram is part of your marketing strategy, the creator marketplace is an excellent opportunity to explore. This centralized network of creators allows for greater efficiency and more authentic partnerships. 

As this marketplace rolls out globally, those who don't explore the possibilities could be left behind. After all, more than 80% of marketers plan on using Instagram for influencer marketing in 2024. Will you be one of them?

If so, stay on top of creator trends and learn how to make the most of your Instagram data this year and beyond. Happy creator hunting!