Creator discovery overview
Creator Discovery helps you find and evaluate new Instagram creators and influencers to recruit into your program — not just the ambassadors you already have. It's powered by Instagram's Creator Marketplace, so the creator data comes directly from Meta's official source. If you've used the creator search inside Meta's Ads Manager, this is the same Creator Marketplace search, brought into Roster. You can search Instagram creators by location, size, interests, and audience, then open any creator to review their profile, performance, and brand-partnership history before you decide to reach out.
Before you start
- Plan: Creator Discovery is available on the Growth plan and above (alongside full social listening and automated payments).
- Connection: Your brand's Facebook and Instagram accounts must be connected to Roster using an Instagram professional account. See Connect Facebook & InstagramConnect Facebook & Instagram. The first time you open Creator Discovery you may be asked to grant an additional Meta permission so Roster can search the Creator Marketplace on your behalf — approve it to continue.
- Instagram Creator Marketplace eligibility: Creator Discovery uses Instagram's Creator Marketplace, which your Instagram account must be eligible for. You'll see one of these states when you open the tool:
- Ready to search — your account is eligible and set up; you can start searching right away.
- Accept the Terms of Service — your account is eligible but you haven't accepted Instagram's Creator Marketplace Terms of Service yet. Accept them in Instagram, then come back and refresh.
- Not eligible — your Instagram account isn't currently eligible for the Creator Marketplace, so search isn't available.
Searching for creators
Open the search filters at the top of the Discover creators page and combine any of:
- Creator location — the creator's country.
- Followers — follower-size ranges (for example 10K+, 25K+, 50K+, 75K+, 100K+).
- Interests — the topics a creator chose for their Creator Marketplace profile.
- Audience — for creators on the Creator Marketplace, narrow by audience attributes such as age range and gender.
- Keyword — free-text search.
Run the search to see matching creators as cards. Each card shows the creator's profile picture, username, verified badge, follower count, country, and whether they're on the Creator Marketplace (onboarded creators have richer data available).
Reviewing a creator's profile
Click any creator card to open their profile, where you can evaluate:
- Bio, follower count, and account reach.
- Engagement metrics such as Reels interaction rate and engaged accounts.
- Brand-partnership history — whether the creator has worked with brands before, and which ones.
- Audience demographics — age, gender, and location breakdowns. These are available for creators who are on the Creator Marketplace (onboarded); for other creators you'll see a note that demographics aren't available.
- Recent video content — recent Reels and videos. (Instagram only provides previews for Reels and videos, so this section is labeled "recent video content"; standard photo posts aren't shown here but still count toward the creator's performance stats.)
Step-by-step instructions
Open Creator Discovery
- Log in to the Roster Brand Portal.
- In the left-hand navigation (above Contacts), select Discover.
- If prompted, grant the Meta permission that lets Roster search the Creator Marketplace, and make sure your account shows as ready to search.
Run a search
- Set your filters along the top — creator location, follower range, interests, and/or a keyword.
- Run the search to see matching creators.
- Adjust your filters to narrow or widen the results.
Evaluate a creator
- Click a creator card to open their profile.
- Review their bio, followers, reach, engagement, and brand-partnership history.
- For creators on the Creator Marketplace, review their audience demographics and recent video content to judge fit before reaching out.
Good to know
- Creator Discovery finds new creators; it doesn't message them automatically. Use it to discover and evaluate creators, then recruit them through your normal outreach (for example, an application link or a direct invitation). Instagram does not allow automated or cold DMs.
- Onboarded vs. not onboarded. Creators who have onboarded to Instagram's Creator Marketplace have the richest data, including audience demographics. Creators who are discoverable but not yet onboarded show a lighter set of stats.
Need help?
If you need any additional assistance with Creator Discovery, feel free to contact our support team at [email protected]. We're here to help!