As influencer marketing continues to gain traction, Meta is enhancing its Creator Marketplace and Ads Manager tools to make it easier for brands to find the right creators, repurpose high-performing content, and manage campaigns more effectively. These updates focus on improving discovery, performance insight, and execution — all areas where marketers are looking for more support as creator partnerships become a key part of the media mix.

According to Meta, 53% of users are more likely to purchase a product if it’s been promoted by a creator on Reels. With this in mind, the new features are designed to help brands maximise their investment in branded content, particularly across short-form video.

AI-Powered Creator and Content Recommendations

At the centre of the update is a set of new AI-enabled tools within the Partnership Ads Hub in Ads Manager. These tools now recommend organic creator content that is likely to perform well if promoted through paid media.

For example, if a brand has been tagged or mentioned in a creator’s post, Meta’s system can surface those posts and assess their potential effectiveness as ads, based on performance patterns seen across similar campaigns. This gives marketers a more data-led way to identify which content to amplify, reducing reliance on instinct or trial and error.

The recommendations are tailored to verticals, so a fashion or beauty brand will see different suggestions from a tech or food brand. This kind of segmentation allows for more relevant insights, and supports smarter allocation of paid media budget.

Improved Creator Discovery in Instagram’s Creator Marketplace

To help brands find the right creator partners more efficiently, Meta is introducing a new keyword search function. This allows businesses to search using natural language phrases like “gadget unboxing”, “soccer mums with dogs”, or “gluten free desserts”. This update sits alongside existing filters, which include 20 predefined verticals such as Fashion, Home and Garden, and Fitness.

Creator recommendations have also been refined, with AI now factoring in a creator’s history with branded content, audience overlap with the brand, and previous ad performance. These updates aim to help brands identify not just creators who are relevant, but those who are more likely to drive meaningful results.

Richer Profile Insights for Better Evaluation

Understanding a creator’s posting style, engagement levels, and previous experience is essential for effective collaboration. Meta is rolling out several new features within creator profiles to support better evaluation and partnership planning:

• Playable Reels previews directly within creator cards, allowing marketers to view recent content in one place.

• Badges to highlight creators with experience running partnership ads.

• Live view of current branded campaigns, so businesses can assess the type of brands a creator is working with and how they approach sponsored content.

• Posting frequency and engagement metrics, offering a clearer picture of a creator’s overall presence on the platform.

• Direct email contact options for creators who choose to make this available, helping to streamline communication.

These updates are intended to make it easier for brands to assess whether a creator is a good fit — creatively, strategically and operationally.

Expanded API Support for Smoother Campaign Execution

Meta is also extending Marketing API support for partnership ads, giving businesses more flexibility in how they manage creator campaigns alongside their broader advertising activity.

Brands can now use existing Instagram posts for partnership ads within placement asset customisation and Advantage+ Creative, helping to ensure a more seamless transition from organic to paid. In addition, partnership ads can now be directed to click-to-message destinations, offering more control over post-click journeys.

This added functionality supports more integrated campaign management, particularly for brands that are already using Meta’s broader suite of ad tools.

Efficiency leaps

Meta’s data indicates that partnership ads consistently outperform traditional creative formats in driving incremental purchases. While these results may vary depending on the brand, vertical, and creator, the updates show a clear intention: to make creator-led advertising more efficient, measurable and scalable.

By leaning into AI-driven recommendations and offering more transparency around creator performance, Meta is giving marketers better tools to make informed decisions. At the same time, simplifying workflows via expanded API support ensures that these campaigns can be integrated more easily into existing paid strategies.

As brands continue to invest in creator partnerships, the ability to identify the right content and collaborators is becoming increasingly important. Meta’s latest updates to its Creator Marketplace and Ads Manager reflect this need, offering more control, greater insight, and improved campaign agility.

These tools are unlikely to replace creative judgement or strategic planning, but they do help reduce the operational friction often associated with influencer campaigns. For marketers looking to scale their creator strategies — particularly on Reels — these enhancements are a welcome step forward.