Meta wants to keep influencers on Instagram

The Future. Instagram is facing stiff competition for being the platform for influencer/follower engagement, so the company is rolling out several new features to help creators better manage their following. After Meta’s drop last quarter in ad revenue (an industry-wide problem), the company knows that perfecting these new creator tools for maximum engagement and monetization is key to keeping the platform relevant to a new generation of users.

Third-party parties
Instagram wants to make sure that influencers keep their biggest fans on Instagram, per The Information.

• Recently, creators have been directing their fans to engage with them on new platforms like group-chat app Geneva (which is raising a $20 million Series A), texting service Community (which is raising $25 million in new funding), and, of course, Discord.
• That’s because these apps make it easier to communicate privately with groups of followers, share exclusive content, and, most importantly, make money… all the hallmarks of succeeding in a maturing creator ecosystem.

Creators intuitively know the words of Dan Weinstein, partner and co-founder of talent agency Underscore Talent, to be true: “Your community is your currency. How engaged your audience is with you and your content directly translates to your ability to build a business.”

Finding fresh community
Creators that The Information spoke to said that they don’t plan on ditching Instagram any time soon… but Meta isn’t happy at the idea of losing engagement during a financially critical time for the company.

So, Instagram has answered those threats to its engagement with similar features, including paid subscriptions, a special badge for followers that mints them as superfans, and the test of a new feature called Group Profiles, which allows for a more private chat experience (like a Discord server).

A Meta spokesperson said that “audience controls are important and we will continue to explore new tools to give people and creators more ways to connect with smaller groups and communities across the app.” Still, CEO Adam Mosseri did say in an internal August memo that Insta is “behind where we need to be.”