How to use (and monetize!) Instagram Close Friends

Instagram’s close friends feature allows you to upload content on your Stories that can only be seen by a specific audience. You get to pick who goes on your ‘close friends’ list, and you can directly share Stories to this group, as you upload.

When you are on your profile, tap the three lines in the top righthand corner, and click ‘Settings’. Select ‘Account’ and then select ‘Close Friends’. You will see a list of all the profiles that you are following and you can select to add or remove these people from your close friends list. You can also search for profiles by username if you don’t see who you’re looking for. This list can be edited whenever you like if you want to add or remove anyone in the future.

Once you have created and saved your close friends list, you can start sharing Stories to it. Upload a Story as normal, and when you go to publish it, you will see an option in the Story editor to add this to your close friends, or your personal story. Select close friends, and your Story will be uploaded to this group.

More frequently, we’ve seen Creators monetize their close friends list, by offering it as a premium subscription service, for their fans to see exclusive, early access or unreleased content. To do this, you can use a platform like SoClose which allows you to set up a subscription service for your fans and followers to subscribe to your close friends. You can also search for your favorite influencers and celebrities, to see if they are offering this premium service if you want to subscribe yourself.

Now, you’re ready to start setting up your close friends list and adding all that content you only want some people to see (we won’t judge). Want to see something else added to our Instagram toolkit? Let us know!