Instagram Brings Marketplace Tool Connecting Creators And Brands To India

India is one of the countries that Instagram has zeroed down on for introducing its marketplace tool to connect brands with creators for paid partnerships or ads.

The other new markets that will get access to this marketplace include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Brazil.

According to a report in TechCrunch, Instagram first started testing this platform in the US in 2022 and had later said that it had onboarded “thousands” of creators and brands. In 2023, the company added API features for creator outreach and structuring briefs and invited agencies to use the platform.

The parent company Meta has reportedly said that apart from making the platform available to the brands in these eight countries, it will also invite Chinese export brands to connect with creators outside of China.

How Does The Instagram Marketplace Tool Work?

Over the next few weeks, it will invite both brands and creators to join the marketplace in these eight new regions. Marketers can approach creators for a paid partnership or even a partnership ad, which allows advertisers to boost organic content as ads, says the TechCrunch report.

Creators will be able to highlight their content and list brands that are of relevance to them, once they join the platform through the professional dashboard in the Instagram app. The Insta marketplace helps brands match with relevant creators for a particular marketing campaign through its machine learning algorithm. Brands will be able to search manually for creators and apply filters — in creator and audience categories — and ad experience to refine the results.

Creators can see all the requests and conversations with brands initiated through the marketplace in a new folder on Instagram called “Partnership messages” and will be able to review the details of the marketing campaign within the app as well.

YouTube and TikTok already offer creator marketplace functionality. In India, where Instagram is gaining in popularity exponentially, this could well be a game changer for creators and brands alike.