Instagram Creator accounts will provide the platform’s creatives and influencers unprecedented power over their presence.

Influencer marketing is far from dead, and Instagram’s latest beta test is out to prove it. Recognizing that their unique community of creators and influencers was poorly served by their business profile options, the platform is currently testing a new type of profile for its influencer community. The statistics it makes available for creators helps them hone their content strategy, but also could make it easier for brands and marketers to vet prospective collaborators.

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to share the news of Instagram’s pilot program, currently being tested by a “small group of high-profile” users. Designed to attract a different type of user from their verified user status, its analytics and features were developed to more efficiently track growth and impact. Prior to this, influencers could track certain metrics with a Business account, but many found it an ill fit for their needs.

Creator accounts aim to make this fit between influencers and the platform a more seamless and intuitive one. “Growth Insights” will give creators daily and weekly data about how many followers they’ve gained and lost, flexibility over how they’d like to be contacted, and the ability to rank pending requests by either time or relevance. Several additional features, like the ability to filter feeds and DMs, feel similar to those offered to verified Twitter users; in a space where increased visibility can come with a cost, these sorts of features allow highly visible individuals more control over their experience on the app.

Ashley Yuki, a product manager for Instagram who oversees media solutions and IGTV, recognizes how powerful Instagram can be for influencing the purchasing and behavior patterns of their nearly 1 billion users. “We want to make sure that Instagram is the best place, and the easiest place, to build fan communities and also build [creators’] personal brands.” The testing and eventual deployment of Creator accounts is the first step toward that goal; Yuki has not ruled out additional steps in the near future.

Creator accounts will likely give marketers and brands an easier method by which to assess prospective influencer partners. With the ability to see consistency in followership over time across posts, Stories, and IGTV, brands can make more educated decisions about who they develop relationships with. Amy Luca of theAmplify spoke at Social Media Week London about a need to better vet and assess the influencers that brands and marketers choose to build relationships; as companies aim to mature the strategies they use to collaborate with these powerful creators, it’s a pleasant development to see their platforms of choice developing along with it.

Article written by: Amma Marfo