Instagram now offers subscriptions for your favorite creators. These Charlotte influencers say it’s a waste.

From streaming platforms like Netflix to makeup boxes such as IPSY and on-demand workout classes like Obé Fitness, people will dish out a monthly subscription fee for just about anything — even toilet paper subscriptions exist.

Why it matters: The subscription landscape, albeit oversaturated, shows no sign of slowing, Axios’ Kimberly Chin previously reported. 

What’s happening: Now, social media platforms like Instagram have jumped on the subscription bandwagon. I spoke with three Charlotte-based influencers offering Instagram’s subscription feature to their followers.

• Instagram initially rolled out its subscription feature in January 2022 to only a few select creators. 
• A year later, most creators now have access to the feature and can set a monthly subscription rate anywhere from $.99 to $99 — $4.99 seems to be the most common.

In short, Instagram’s subscription service offers a way for creators to earn additional income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content.

• Subscribers get a ‘subscriber badge,’ essentially a superfan signal that pins their comments to the top of a creator’s post. 

Zoom out: The subscriber feature aims to support smaller creators who struggle to survive in a competitive creator economy.

[Go deeper: Survey: Creators describe tense relationship with social media]

Yes, but: While subscriptions work well with the right selling point for users, social media subscriptions are fairly new to the subscription commerce game. 

• It seems, at least locally, the jury is still out on whether the feature is worth it for both creators and subscribers.

Adam Ali: @americanincome

The 21-year-old Charlotte native runs American Income, a social media account that discusses salary transparency through man-on-the-street interviews. 

• He posted his first TikTok last April and has now amassed nearly 800K followers on TikTok and Instagram combined.

Ali launched the subscription feature on his Instagram account in September. Since then, he’s accrued around 20-30 subscribers per month. 

• He offers subscribers behind-the-scenes content and even assists in networking with subscribers to help them find employment. 

Ali told me he enjoys getting to work more closely with his followers through subscriptions. But it’s “not worth it financially,” he said, adding that he makes about $150 a month from the feature. 

[Go deeper: Charlotte TikToker tackles salary transparency].

AndrewLoves: @andrewloves_

Editor’s note: He goes by AndrewLoves, and he doesn’t want his real last name mentioned.

AndrewLoves is a Charlotte-based food blogger whose Instagram Account has over 33K followers.

• A chef-turned-food reviewer, Andrew said he’s still trying to figure out how to reap the benefits of the feature. “Quite frankly, I want to find a way to make it work, but I don’t love it.”

Between the lines: As part of his subscription service, Andrew partnered with local restaurants like Prime Fish and John G’s Barbeque to launch secret menus that subscribers could order from. So far, he says it’s been a struggle to implement. 

• Subscribers were sharing these secret menus to non-subscribers, who would then request the menu items at restaurants. 

• “Instagram doesn’t really have any protections for content creators,” he said. “So anything that you put on there, people can screenshot and share around which has been a huge challenge for me.”

Andrew cited social media users being averse to long-term financial commitments as the other issue. 

• “They say, ‘hey, if it was a flat one time fee, I’d sign up no issue,'” he said. “Trying to get people to sign up for a recurring charge is very, very difficult.”

Mel Fox: @workforyourbeer

Mel Fox is the face behind Work For Your Beer, an Instagram page she launched in 2016 that covers fitness, craft beer and some travel content. 

A female beer influencer, Fox says 70% of her following is also female, which is unique considering “if you look at any other female beer influencer in the game, (their audience) is generally 90% 95% male,” she said. 

• But out of those 31K followers, Fox hasn’t seen a strong conversion to subscribers. She said she polled her audience and the interest wasn’t there. 

For now, she’s focusing her energy on building out her main page in paid partnerships and collaborations with other local influencers and Charlotte breweries.

• “For me, if I know that I’m going to be putting in extra effort to serve subscriptions, I want to know that people are going to be biting,” she said.

The bottom line: Instagram’s subscription feature is new, and I expect it to change as the platform gets more data and user feedback. 

• Subscribing as a means to support your favorite creator certainly doesn’t hurt. But as the local influencers note, the subscription fee doesn’t yet seem to offer the best ROI for either you or them.