Instagram unveiled new features aimed at helping creators earn money

Hi, this is Amanda Perelli and welcome back to Insider Influencers, our weekly rundown on the business of influencers, creators, and social-media platforms. Sign up for the newsletter here.

In this week's edition:

• Instagram unveiled three new features aimed at helping creators earn money

• A YouTuber with 1 million subscribers shares how much he earns per month from his videos

• The top strategies for fashion brands seeking to go viral on TikTok

• And more including creator economy startup news and YouTube star Trisha Paytas quitting the "Frenemies" podcast.

Send tips to aperelli@insider.com or DM me on Twitter at @arperelli.

Mark Zuckerberg unveiled 3 Instagram features aimed at helping creators earn more money

On Tuesday, Instagram launched its first-ever "Creator Week," a three-day virtual event.

To kick it off, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled new tests and features aimed at helping creators earn money.

Sydney Bradley broke down some upcoming tools Zuckerberg announced.

Here are three key takeaways from Instagram's livestream:

• Instagram will start testing native affiliate-marketing tools for creators. Brands will be able to set their own commission rates, Zuckerberg said.

• There will be more tools for creators selling their own products and merchandise. Creators with their own products will be able to link to their shops in their personal profiles.

• Creators will be able to earn extra money through tips. Instagram and Facebook are adding tipping features that allow fans to pay creators.

"Our goal is to be the best platform for creators like you to make a living," Zuckerberg said on the livestream. "And if you have an idea that you want to share with the world, you should be able to create it and get it out there easily and simply - across Facebook and Instagram - and then earn money for your work."

Check out the full story on new tools Instagram is releasing for creators, here.

How much a YouTube creator with 1 million subscribers earns

Nate O'Brien is a YouTube creator who films videos about personal finance.

O'Brien started posting videos on YouTube in 2017. And in 2019, he decided to drop out of college to focus on YouTube full time.

Now, he has about 1 million subscribers.

I spoke with O'Brien about how much he makes on YouTube from ads per month:

• February: $39,200 (1.7 million views)

• March: $31,500 (1.6 million views)

• April: $25,700 (1.2 million views)

"I don't think it's ever really too late to start," he said of building a YouTube career.

Check out the full story for a breakdown of O'Brien's influencer business, here.

A new report from a 'Gen Z' influencer agency breaks down 4 strategies for fashion brands seeking to go viral on TikTok

Fashion content is a popular category on TikTok, where users post outfits and buy featured items.

Molly Innes wrote about a new report from the Gen-Z influencer agency Fanbytes that breaks down how fashion brands can go big on TikTok.

Here were three key takeaways:

• Gen-Z consumers are looking to incorporate sustainable fashion into their wardrobes.

• Fanbytes found that "#haul" and related hashtags saw a 28.9% increase in views between January and April 2021.

• The #designerfashion hashtag amassed 31 million views in the year to April 2021, and an engagement rate of 11%, according to Fanbytes.

Check out more on how fashion brands can go viral on TikTok, here.

More influencer industry news:

• Chris Hansen, Seth Francois, and a James Charles accuser launched a project meant to expose alleged abusers in the influencer industry.

• YouTube star Trisha Paytas says they are quitting the popular "Frenemies" podcast after ownership disputes.

• Livestream-shopping platform ShopShops has raised more VC funding to grow its reach with English-speaking shoppers.

• A crypto influencer on TikTok explains his bitcoin investing strategy.

Creator economy startup moves of the week:

Dispo, a photo-sharing app that went through a leadership and investor shake-up earlier this year following Insider's investigation into the conduct of its cofounder David Dobrik, confirmed it had closed a Series A round. The round included investors Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six, Unshackled Ventures, Annie Leibovitz, and Raven B. Varona.

The company's CEO said its team wants to be deliberate in how it builds its product to avoid some of the pitfalls other tech startups have faced.

"The early days of social media were all about 'move fast and break things,'" Daniel Liss told Fast Company. "Our thought is, 'move fast and build things.' How can you create something that is additive and not just destructive for the sake of growth?"

Every week, Insider gives a rundown of news on hires, promotions, and other creator company announcements. This week includes new hires at Snap, Fanbytes, and FaZe Clan's latest signing.

Read the full rundown of creator industry moves, here.

TikTok's top trending hashtag of the week:

Every week, we highlight a trending hashtag on TikTok, according to data provided by Kyra IQ.

This week's hashtag: foryourpride

• The percentage uptick for the last 7 days: 4,715%

• This uptick is centered around Pride month starting and creators celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community.

Here's what else we're reading:

• The iconic "Doge" meme will be auctioned as NFT (Kalhan Rosenblatt, from NBC News)

• Young creators who have found fame on TikTok are burning out (Taylor Lorenz, from The New York Times)

• How photo app Dispo is making a comeback after David Dobrik stepped down (Nicole LaPorte, from Fast Company)

• Why Snap's users and investors have such different ideas about what the platform is for (Terry Nguyen, from Vox)

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