If you’ve ever felt like brand deals on Instagram are a mix of luck and timing, you’re not imagining it. A lot of the matchmaking happens behind the scenes, and small profile details can decide whether you show up in a brand’s shortlist, or never get seen.
Meta has announced updates to Creator Marketplace that are designed to help brands find the right creators faster using better recommendations, clearer signals, and smoother shortlisting.
For you, that means a bigger opportunity to be discovered for paid collaborations on Facebook and Instagram, as long as your profile and recent content make it easy for brands to understand what you do.
What’s changed?
Meta has announced changes to its Creator Marketplace that make it more useful for brands to search and shortlist creators, which matters because it changes how you get discovered. Instead of brands relying on DMs or stumbling across accounts manually, the marketplace is getting better at surfacing creators who look like a strong fit for a campaign. Here’s what that means for you in practice:
- You’re more likely to show up if you’ve already interacted with a brand. Meta says brands will see more creator suggestions based on signals like creators who have tagged the brand before or shown interest in partnering. So simple habits like tagging relevant brands (when it makes sense) could now have more upside.
- You can get discovered through ‘lookalike’ searches. Brands can search for creators similar to ones they’ve worked with before, including creators who resemble their top-performing partners. If your content style fits what a brand has previously seen results from, you’ve got a better chance of being pulled into that shortlist.
- Your performance signals may matter more in discovery. Meta is adding indicators like ad performance-style badges, and a badge for creators predicted to drive strong results. The takeaway isn’t to obsess over badges, it’s to make sure your profile and content clearly communicate what you do and who you reach, so the system can classify you properly.
- More brands can use the tool. Meta says it’s expanding Creator Marketplace access to more businesses globally, which could mean a wider pool of potential partnerships over time, especially if you work with international brands or audiences.
Why this matters for creators?
This is one of those updates where the improvements are aimed at brands, but creators feel the benefits. When discovery gets easier for brands, it usually means more shortlists and more outreach, and less time wasted scrolling through random accounts trying to find someone who fits.
It also nudges Creator Marketplace toward being a more official route for collaborations, instead of everything happening through DMs and emails. When Meta makes the workflow smoother and gives brands more confidence in the process, creators with a clear, up to date profile tend to benefit first.
And there’s a bigger knock on effect here too. When brands can find the right creators faster, more deals get done and money moves through the ecosystem more smoothly. That matters because better creator pay tends to create a positive loop.
Filmbro co-founder Arnaud Melis explains the creator benefit like this: “Because platforms like YouTube promote and invest in creators, people actually spend more time on creating better content, which means more people watch.” The easier Meta makes partnerships, the more chances creators have to reinvest in their work and build momentum.
Uppbeat’s take: make it easy for brands to say yes
This is a solid move for creators. Anything that helps brands find the right people faster usually means more paid opportunities overall, and fewer “spray and pray” briefs that don’t match your audience.
The catch is that the marketplace can only surface what it understands. So your job is to make your niche, style, and value obvious at a glance. Here’s what we’d do next:
- Finish your Creator Marketplace profile properly. Be specific about your niche, audience, and location. Add clean examples of your best work so a brand can “get it” in 10 seconds.
- Post a few pieces that look brand-ready. Not ads, just polished Reels that clearly show your format, tone, and what a sponsor would be buying into.
- Tighten your profile branding. Bio, visuals, pinned posts, and contact settings should all point to the same lane so you’re easier to shortlist.
- Reply fast when brands reach out. Faster responses build trust and can genuinely increase repeat briefs.
Use your own performance data as your pitch. Keep an eye on what gets saves, shares, and follows, then lead with those formats when you’re trying to attract collaborations.
If you want your videos to feel consistent across brand and organic posts, having a small go-to set of royalty-free music and sound effects helps you keep your style recognisable without overthinking every edit.
