If you pride yourself on keeping up with the latest and greatest in everything social media, then you’ve probably heard about the recent launch of Subscriptions, Instagram’s newest feature. This suite of tools allows creators to charge their followers for access to exclusive content and benefits, giving them a new way to make a living off the popular platform.
Now, as of this writing, Subscriptions is still a brand-new feature, so it’s not necessarily available to everyone just yet. However, once it is, influencers and brands everywhere should be ready. Subscriptions may be just what you need to really take your business – not to mention your profits – to the next level.
While it is still early, let’s take a look at what we know so far about Instagram’s newest feature.
Why Does the Name “Subscriptions” Sound Familiar?
Facebook was actually the first to launch its Subscriptions feature in 2020. Since Meta received strong creative feedback from Facebook’s version of this business model, they decided to bring it to Instagram.
How Does Instagram Subscriptions Work?
Well, if you happen to come across one of those creators who currently have access to Subscriptions, you may notice a “Subscribe” button on their profile. Once followers click it and officially become subscribers, they’ll have access to the following benefits:
- Subscriber Badges let creators know who their subscribers are in their inbox and comments section. This is currently a purple-coloured badge.
- Subscriber Stories allow creators to drop exclusive stories for their subscribers. They also have the option of using interactive story stickers.
- Subscriber Lives let creators get some personal live time with their subscribers.
It’s important to note that, once you subscribe, you’ll have access to all the exclusive content from that creator. That means you can also check out their previously released exclusives, so you’re not necessarily missing out if you don’t subscribe on day 1.
How Much Does Instagram Subscriptions Cost for Subscribers?
As of right now, creators can choose from 8 different price points for their subscription content. Subscribers can expect to pay anywhere from $0.99 USD to $99.99 USD a month. With such a wide range of prices, it will be interesting to see how much creators decide to charge for their exclusive content.
How Much Does Instagram Subscriptions Cost for Creators?
In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg declared that they would be keeping Facebook Subscriptions free for creators until 2023. And now, with the launch of Instagram Subscription, it appears that they will be doing the same.
Now, you may be wondering, what will that mean for the future? They clearly won’t be keeping it free forever. Well, while they have yet to announce any specifics, that same Zuckerberg post linked above mentioned that their revenue share will be less than some of their competitors. According to him, companies like Apple currently take somewhere around 30%, so it will be interesting to see what price point they end up settling on in 2023.
With the introduction of Instagram Subscriptions, it seems like the creator economy is going to be bigger and better than ever in 2022. If you need some help creating content, contact Content Refined today.
