Meta has announced a new set of creator monetization incentives and tools just in time for the holidays, which focus specifically on its Stars creator donation process, while it’s also working to improve its payout systems to get money to creators faster, and improve their connection with its platforms.
First off, Meta’s looking to encourage more use of Stars over the holiday break, with a range of new incentives and offers for the program.
From now until the end of the year, Meta’s offering limited-time, holiday-themed virtual gifts to make Stars donations even more enticing, while it's also added new Stars Party bonus incentives for creators, which will help them generate even more revenue via Stars promotions.
As you can see in this example, through the Stars Party bonus program, creators will receive additional Stars from Meta if they reach certain thresholds (in this case 10k Stars), which will help entice both creators and their audience to push towards those higher goals.
For context, 10k Stars is currently valued at just over $150 USD, depending on the package/s that you buy.
Though that’ll also be different, with Stars being offered at cheaper price points over the next few weeks.
“Fans will be able to get an additional 5% to 20% more Stars, depending on the pack they purchase. People can buy Stars at a discount in videos and in the Stars store. The sale will be offered across Live, On Demand, and Reels.”
Meta would of course prefer that you go to the Stars store to make a purchase, as that will help it avoid Apple’s 30% in-app purchase tax. But either way, you’ll now have more, cheaper options to buy Stars, with Meta hoping to use the extra engagement opportunities over the holiday season to boost awareness of its creator donation tools.
Meta’s also looking to make it easier for creators to acknowledge those who send Stars, with a new filter in Comments Manager which displays all comments that were sent with Stars.
As you can see here, creators will then be able to reply to multiple Stars comments at once – which feels a little impersonal, but dependent on the scale of responses you need to send, it could be a handy way to recognize each contributor, and help to enhance community connection.
Meta’s also rolling out themed virtual gifts to Facebook Reels, beginning with popular Reels topics, including pets, cars, fashion and dance.
It’s also looking to encourage more Stars usage in Reels by giving some Reels users free Stars to send to eligible creators.
Meta’s also automatically enabling Stars on selected public creator content, including within Facebook Reels. That’ll help to raise awareness of the option, and get more people making money from their content in its apps.
On ads, Meta continues to test Overlay and Post Loop ads in Reels, with a view to expanding Reels monetization, offering new opportunities for creators and brands.
On another front, Meta’s also looking to improve its payments process, and get creators paid sooner, by lowering the threshold for US-based creators to get paid from $100 to $25.
“This will help small, earlier-stage creators get paid sooner. The new payout threshold will apply to Stars and Facebook Subscriptions, and will be available for additional Facebook monetization products in the coming weeks.”
It’s also added a new Subscribe button on Facebook Watch to encourage sign-ups, as another incentive to drive audience growth and engagement.
Oh, also this:
“We’re expanding access to live chat agent support to eligible creators on Pages and Professional Mode in the US with 10,000 or more followers, connecting creators with live support to help resolve their monetization issues.”
Live support, from Meta. Amazing to see. You know it’s taking creators seriously when it adds direct contact options.
Which makes sense, because Meta needs creators to help it build the next stage of digital connection, with its metaverse project set to rely on creative contributions to build more immersive, creative and engaging digital experiences.
As such, Meta needs to work now to improve its creator monetization tools, and build stronger bonds with emerging stars, which will then enable it to guide top talent into its next-level experiences.
Immediate monetization, and playing a part in the broader ‘Creator Economy’ is a key focus right now, but the bigger picture, as always, is how Meta can convert its current key trends into the metaverse experience.
If it can establish stronger bonds, and entice creators to build more reliance on its platforms, that will hold in good stead to use these connection to promote its metaverse experiences.
You can read more about Meta’s latest creator tools updates here.
