Over the past few years, Instagram has changed the lives of countless creators and entertainers by giving them a chance to monetize their passions, and it continues to do so to date. This trend is about to receive a boost in 2022 as all creators welcomed the latest announcement by Instagram Head Adam Mosseri. On Wednesday, Mosseri announced the launch of the first version of the ‘Subscriptions’ feature on Instagram via a video he shared on Twitter. He revealed that Instagram is already testing this feature with a handful of chosen creators from the United States.
“Creators do what they do to make a living, and it’s important that that is predictable. And subscriptions are one of the best ways to have a predictable income,” said Mosseri. He added that this feature isn’t dependent on how much reach you get on any given post, which is bound to fluctuate over time.
The idea is simple — any creator on Instagram can place a subscribe button on their profile and choose a monthly price for the subscription. This will enable them to have a steady source of monthly revenue and give their fans access to exclusive content. According to the information available, the subscription price will range between $0.99 and $99.99 monthly.
Exclusive Stories
Mosseri explained that Instagram subscriptions would come with three major integrations. The first feature will give creators an option to create stories exclusively for their subscribers. These stories will be “marked with a purple ring, so you know that it’s just for you,” revealed Mosseri.
Subscriber Lives
The second integration would be ‘subscriber lives,’ whereby an influencer will have an option to go live solely to their subscribers. This means that subscribers will have the exclusive privilege to interact live with their favorite creators.
Subscriber Badge
The third and final integration would be the ‘subscriber badge.’ This badge would be “a little purple indicator, so the creator knows that you are a subscriber when they see you in comments, in DMs, or anywhere else across Instagram,” said Mosseri.
Although all Instagram creators widely welcomed this announcement, the critical question is what the subscriptions feature will actually bring to the table for them. According to Nik Mulani, Chief Business Officer of Facilius Inc., a new income structure is the first and obvious advantage.
“Creators who manage to establish a faithful subscriber base can count on a rather stable monthly income. This stability would give the smaller creators some much-needed assurance and encourage them to create even better-quality content for their fans,” said Mulani.
Another huge advantage, per Nik Mulani, would be the option for creators to build a community and strengthen relationships with their subscribers. “Exclusive content like live Q&As and stories are only the beginning,” he added.
“Since creators would be able to identify each subscriber by their badge, it’s only normal that subscribers would have priority over other followers. That doesn’t include only exclusive content but also prioritizing messages and comments left by subscribers,” Mulani continued.
“Popular Instagram influencers get hundreds and thousands of DMs daily. This simple badge will allow them to filter content faster and focus on replying to their subscribers. It would save the creators a lot of time while helping them build the community and strengthen relationships with fans,” explained Mulani.
Adam Mosseri further announced that Instagram plans to expand these features over time. “It’s important that subscriptions are integrated throughout the entire Instagram experience,” he said.
“We also believe that creators should own their relationship with their subscribers,” said Mosseri. That’s why the social media giant is also working on ways that creators can take their subscribers off of Instagram to external apps and websites built by other companies.
Presently, only ten US creators have got the chance to test the Subscription feature. If everything goes as planned, we shouldn’t have to wait long to see subscriptions available for all creators on the network. That could happen as early as in a few months, especially since the competition is fierce and constant evolving is necessary if Instagram wants to keep its position as one of the go-to social media platforms for brands and creators.
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