Snapchat’s lucrative Snap Stars program has been the talk of the town for many months now. The program offers advertising revenue sharing with creators, and influencers are flocking to the platform to cash in on the opportunity. In this article, we will take a deep dive into the Snap Stars program, the eligibility criteria, best practices for posting, and much more.

Snapchat’s Snap Stars program was launched in early 2022, allowing public figures and creators to monetize their content on the platform. The program’s key feature is the ad-revenue sharing on stories, which is currently in beta mode with a select group of Snap Stars. High-profile influencers like David Dobrik and Hannah Stocking have reported making thousands of dollars directly through the program.

The program has been so successful that other creators are hoping to be selected for this financially lucrative opportunity. However, the eligibility criteria for the program are not publicly available. Some creators believe that Snap picks people for the ad beta who are well-known in the influencer community, have millions of followers, or have a direct relationship with members of Snap’s administrative team.

One creator who spoke to Insider on the condition of anonymity said that he believed Snap selects Snap Stars for the ad beta who have met Snapchat executives at an event and expressed interest in becoming a Snap Star. After speaking with the team, they verified his account and sent him a document outlining its creator program.

“I was really excited because being a Snap Star really helps with your growth,” he said. “You’re going to see your audience expand, even on other platforms like TikTok because Snap makes you more discoverable.”

The effort to get the most out of the ad-share beta is too much for some, though. Matthew, who is a Snap Star, said he hasn’t been taking advantage of the program, despite the possibility of making money from it. He thinks he’d have to post multiple times a day and feels like he would be “dumping content.”

“If you want it to be a successful thing, I think you’re going to have to post a lot of interesting stories, and it’s going to have to be every single day,” he said.

The ad-share program is one of several monetization programs that Snap offers creators. These include a reward program for those who create short viral videos that are featured in the “Spotlight” section of the app; challenges where creators can earn cash for top-performing content; a program that allows certain creators to syndicate shows on the Stories page; grants for artists; a creator marketplace; gifting, which is available to Snap Stars, and more.

Snap has also sent some Snap Stars guidelines with best practices for posting. One 22-page deck viewed by Insider outlines the perks of being a Snap Star, like access to its gifting tool and a feature to view audience data and analytics.

The deck also includes “pro tips” for optimizing stories and content, which are similar to some “best practices” the company sent Matthew via email when he first became a Snap Star. They have been edited for clarity:

• Focusing on “day in the life experiences” by posting 20 to 50 Snap stories a day, so that subscribers are engaged for longer
• Posting directly to the Snap Map, a feature that allows Snapchat users to see each other’s location, so that users who aren’t subscribed can easily discover your content
• Making a strong “tile” on your feed, which is the most recent Snapchat photo or video taken
• Captivating viewers in the first one to three snaps so they watch the whole story
• Encouraging non-subscribers to subscribe a few times a week, and subscribers to turn on story notifications
• Using captions, since a lot of people watch stories with sound off
• Balancing commercial content with authentic