Meta and YouTube Woo Creators

Good morning! I’ll be speaking at Influencer Marketing Show next week in New York. If you’ll be there, let me know and catch my session (Closing the Creative Gap for Optimal Influencer Marketing Success) on Tuesday. There won’t be a newsletter next week, but I'll be sharing updates throughout the week on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Today’s Edition

• Meta announces new updates for creators on Facebook

• YouTube lowers eligibility criteria for its Partner Program

• TikTok tests visual search for product discovery

Meta Announces New Updates for Creators on Facebook

Meta has announced several updates for creators on Facebook to help with content creation, audience growth, and monetization. Here are the highlights:

• Inspirational Hub: A hub in the Professional Dashboard that compiles popular Reels, hashtags, topics, and music, as well as trending Templates to inspire content creation.

• Reels from Long-form videos and Live: Creators can clip segments from long-form videos or Lives to publish as Reels, which drive back to the original video. The Clip to Reels feature is also receiving an update, with Facebook automatically selecting the highest quality clips from a Live and reformatting them into Reels. These features are similar to YouTube's tool to turn long-form videos into Shorts and Twitch's Clips Editor. 

• Professional Mode Features: A daily checklist module with tips is being added to ProMode to help creators use the different available tools. Creators with ProMode can also be recommended to other users in the feed as “Creators to Follow.” When they leave comments on public posts, a follow button will appear next to their name, allowing people to easily follow them, similar to LinkedIn’s Creator Mode.

• Additional Reels Insights: New metrics on the Professional Dashboard will provide creators with a more detailed understanding of their Reels' performance, such as the levels of interaction, consumption by format and followers/non-followers, and followers gained and lost over a specific period of time.

• Monetization: More creators are being invited to the Performance Bonus Program that rewards creators for creating engaging non-Reels or Stories content. Meta is also testing the ability of creators to cross-post branded Instagram Reels and Stories to Facebook, as well as the ability for creators to earn money through Ads on Reels for videos that feature licensed music from the Facebook Audio Library. As popular and trending music can boost video performance, it can help drive higher payouts for creators.

Why it matters and what it means: Meta's latest updates aim to encourage more creators to use Facebook. Although the features, tools, and programs that Meta has been releasing for Facebook are often better than what is available on Reels, Facebook is not a platform that the general creator population is investing in. However, these updates should entice some creators as they offer an opportunity to tap into new audiences they may not be reaching on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, with the added benefit of monetization.

YouTube Lowers Eligibility Criteria for Its Partner Program

YouTube is expanding access to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) by lowering the eligibility criteria, allowing smaller creators to monetize their content through fan funding features. These features include Channel Memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks. They can also sell their own products using YouTube Shopping.

To be eligible to apply, creators must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least 500 subscribers (previously 1,000).

• Have uploaded at least 3 public videos in the last 90 days.

• Have accumulated at least 3,000 watch hours in the past year or 3 million Shorts views in the last 90 days (previously 4,000 hours or 10 million Shorts views).

Additionally, YouTube is expanding its YouTube Shopping affiliate program to US-based creators with a minimum of 20,000 subscribers. Creators can now tag products from over 50 brands, such as Nordstrom, SEPHORA, and Ulta Beauty, in their videos and earn commissions for generated sales. When viewers watch videos with product tags, they can easily tap them to view information about the product, including pricing, while continuing to watch the video. YouTube says using YouTube Shopping also increases the discoverability of videos.

Why it matters and what it means: These options help YouTubers generate revenue through methods other than traditional sponsored content. By granting creators access to some YPP benefits, they can start earning money earlier through fan contributions. Although they may not be able to benefit from sharing ad revenue, focusing on fan funding can be more advantageous in the long run. Creators who can garner support from their viewers can create a more diverse revenue stream down the road.

The expansion of the affiliate program provides creators further in their journey a way to earn money through a pay-for-performance model, which has been picking up. With native support for affiliate marketing, creators can spend less time and effort managing affiliate links and tracking commissions in third-party apps. They can now handle everything in YouTube Studio, where they can monitor insights and earnings, freeing up more time to focus on content creation. The convenience, revenue potential, and enhanced discoverability should encourage creators to opt into the program, particularly those who already produce product review content and are part of affiliate programs.

TikTok Tests Visual Search for Product Discovery

TikTok is currently testing a visual search tool for the TikTok Shop tab in markets outside the U.S. The tool enables users to take a photo or upload an image to search for similar products, similar to features that currently exist on Pinterest, Google, Microsoft Bing, and Instagram.

Why it matters and what it means: Visual search can strengthen TikTok Shop by providing users with an additional way to discover products, while helping retailers reach a broader customer base. By allowing users to utilize visual components to find products, the platform can present them with more relevant products compared to traditional text-based searches, which often yield a large quantity of less relevant items. This streamlined environment can lead to a faster purchasing process.

Since TikTok Shop is still in its early stages, the results for visual search may not be as comprehensive. However, this is expected to improve over time as TikTok adds more retailers to its platform. While visual search primarily focuses on product discovery, TikTok could also leverage it to suggest videos related to a photo or image that a user takes or uploads. For instance, if a user captures a photo of a popular tourist attraction like Pike Place Market and searches for it, the platform could display videos from creators who have featured that location in their content, such as showcasing a day in Seattle or providing recommendations for things to do at Pike Place Market.

More News

• Instagram has globally launched Broadcast Channels for creators. Additionally, it is testing new features like a Dedicated Channels tab in Inbox, Questions, Expiring Channels, and Share to Stories. With expanded access, more creators can benefit from one-to-many direct messaging, providing opportunities for brands to collaborate with creators in a new format too.

• Instagram added a music feature for Notes, enabling users to share a 30-second clip of a song to express themselves. It also added Notes Translations, which translates a note into a different language.

• Meta is testing the ability for users to browse and watch Reels on Quest in the Meta Quest Explore feed.

• TikTok partnered with GSTV, a national video network for fuel providers, to display weekly 20-second curated TikTok segments on thousands of gas station screens throughout the US. This new touchpoint allows TikTok to reach consumers on the go, tapping into GSTV's 116 million monthly viewers.

• TikTok introduced the Honor Label, a label that displays a creator's area of expertise or occupation on their profile. Currently, the label is only available for artists and Effect House creators. LinkedIn has a similar feature in Top Voices and Community Top Voices Badges. As blue checkmarks on other platforms become more representative of a user's verified identity, look for similar features to be introduced by other platforms to recognize their top and notable creators.

• Pinterest inked a new partnership with Westbrook, an entertainment and media company, to produce branded content for brands for Halloween and the holiday season. Brands can purchase Westbrook-produced content packages that include four co-branded videos with popular creators and one video on Pinterest Premiere Spotlight.

• LinkedIn now has separate tabs for "My Posts" and "Mentions" in notifications, making it easier for creators to track engagement on their posts and posts in which they have been mentioned, similar to Twitter. I predict that LinkedIn will add a "Top Voices" tab to showcase engagement from top creators, similar to how the "Verified" tab on Twitter highlights engagement from users subscribed to Twitter Blue.

• LinkedIn is removing several creation tools, including Carousels, Profile Videos, and Clickable Links.

• Twitch launched a program called Partner Plus that offers streamers up to a 70% share of net subscription revenue up to $100,000 for a year if they have at least 350 paid subscribers for three consecutive months. While this is an improvement over the current 50/50 split, it does not address Twitch's ongoing issues with creators, such as the now-reversed branded content guidelines. 

• Lemon8 added the ability for creators to tag other creators in their posts and in the comments.

• Reddit launched two new advertising features: Contextual Keyword Targeting and Product Ads. The former allows advertisers to associate their brands with specific keywords and insert themselves into active discussions and high-intent organic searches on Reddit. The latter aims to connect brands with consumers through ads featuring product information, pricing, and a call-to-action button that directs users to the brand's product page.

What I'm Reading

• Black creators drive higher media value for marketers, study finds (Digiday) 

• Why short-form creators are prioritizing podcasts - and how brands are following them (Digiday)

• Influencers outrank journalists as news sources on TikTok, Instagram (Business Insider)

• TikTok to invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia to boost e-commerce business (Reuters)

Thank You

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