Creators now have more ways than ever to make a living online. This report explores how brands should approach and engage creators for partnerships in the new monetization ecosystem.

Here’s how marketers can navigate Q3 2021’s product, commerce, and monetization changes on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.

Creator funds see mixed success: Social platforms offer more monetization tools than ever, but many content providers still struggle to get paid.

Instagram introduces subscriptions as it vies for control of the creator economy: As Instagram’s cachet diminishes among younger audiences, it hopes monetization tools will keep creators from turning to other platforms.

Originally built to attribute compensation on last click, affiliate technology is evolving toward more sophisticated monetization, such as a pay-for-outcome model that rewards influencers for their role in the consumer journey.

Here’s how publishers are developing and expanding their ecommerce monetization strategies, and how brands and retailers can partner with them to drive purchases in the affiliate channel.

Previously, brands had to wait for an influencer to organically post content before they could amplify it, but now brands can send a request to an influencer directly to create the ad on their behalf. Influencers are able to approve the branded content ad before it is published. Branded content ads in Stories can now include tappable elements, like @mentions, hashtags, and location.

The competition: As TikTok and Instagram continue to dominate the overall creator landscape, Twitter’s updates seem to be focused on attracting and retaining a certain kind of influencer: writers, journalists, and mainstream celebrities, particularly intellectual thought leaders.

Influencer Monetization 2021: The Creator Economy Is Expanding. What Does that Mean for Brand Sponsorships? Clubhouse and Social Audio 2021: Straight Talk About When and How Marketers Should Get Involved. The US Short-Video Landscape: What Marketers Should Know About TikTok, Instagram Reels and 4 Other Players in This Fast-Changing Space. Sources. Business Insider. Edison Research. Flurry Analytics.

Twitter’s Super Follows isn’t to attract new creators—it’s to keep the ones it has: As the platform slowly sheds US users, new monetization options and better anti-harassment features are the least it can do.

How creator monetization efforts are faring: Q2 was also a big quarter for creator economy announcements. In addition to creator shops on Instagram, the company also added new tools to streamline branded content creation on IGTV, Instagram Live, Reels, and Stories and an affiliate tool for creators.

It doesn’t seem like Clubhouse’s intention was ever to become an influencer-centric app—it bills itself primarily as a way to engage in two-sided dialogue, rather than unilaterally consuming content from a creator. But it’s quickly learning that creators are vital to its success.

In an April 2021 survey by influencer marketing platform Mavrck, 68.1% of US adult influencers identified brand collaborations as generating the most income for their business. Affiliate marketing was a distant second, cited by 9.3% of respondents, followed by ads (7.4%) and selling professional services (7.1%). None of the newer monetization options are likely to change that.

The major social platforms hit the ground running in 2021, making substantial investments into many of today’s top social trends: audio, influencers, and short video, to name a few.

Many marketers had long underestimated the value of creators in their marketing mix. That’s no longer the case. Most brands today have incorporated influencer marketing into their media plans, and many intend to allocate even more funds to the tactic this year.

Report: Influencer Monetization 2021. Article: How in-app shopping could change TikTok for marketers. Article: More Gen Zers now use TikTok than Instagram in the US.

Down to collab? A look at influencer income

We attribute much of China’s success with social commerce to features like storefronts native to social media platforms, a heavy focus on influencer marketing, and live video monetization. These three features were highlighted in TikTok World’s announcement. Why it’s worth watching: TikTok’s approach to the changing needs of advertisers is customization.

Influencers are integral in getting consumers in the US and China to buy. Brands in China have long turned to influencers, called “key opinion leaders” (KOLs), to drive their social commerce strategies, and now it’s becoming mainstream in the US as well. We forecast that 67.9% of US marketers from companies with 100 employees or more will use influencer marketing this year.

The explosion in vertical video is creating both opportunities and challenges for the Story format. Stories are evolving quickly on Instagram and remain a top venue for influencer activations. But Twitter’s decision to kill off Fleets shows they aren’t popular on all platforms.

Close to half (43%) of US consumers surveyed by Hub Research in December 2021 said they watch influencer videos on YouTube at least weekly, with that share rising to 52% among respondents ages 13 to 34. More than two-thirds of US teens and adults could recall the names of specific brands highlighted in YouTube influencer videos, per Hub Research.

YouTube is the OG of influencer marketing platforms, and it’s still home to some of the world’s top creators. It’s lost some ground to TikTok in terms of brand-influencer partnerships, but YouTube is still a solid choice for brands looking to partner with creators. Creators, Commerce, and Shorts Are the Path Forward.

The “TikTok effect” on influencer marketing is palpable, but Instagram and YouTube are still highly relevant venues for creator video.