Well, it seems pretty easy to post that, but for brands, it’s really a difficult process. Well, Instagram is now allowing companies to create sponsored posts on behalf of influencers.

How Does This Work?

This feature will allow advertisers to publish sponsored posts from the influencer’s account – with their permission of course.

Branded content ads were introduced on Instagram last year as a way for influencers to identify which of their posts were sponsored by a company or a brand. Disclosing this information is important as stipulated in the privacy policy. 

The sponsored posts look like organic posts published from the influencer’s account, however, it states “Paid partnership with…”. 

The creation of these ads requires a fair bit of coordination between the brand and the influencer. As previously mentioned, it is a pretty difficult process as the content has to be published as an organic post first, and then the brand would have to scrabble around Instagram to promote the post as an ad, so you need to have a clear strategy before starting the process.

Now, with the new update, Instagram is allowing the process to be streamlined on both sides. 

“Now brands have more flexibility with fewer constraints when they want to run Branded Content ads,” Instagram states in an announcement. 

There are three steps to Instagram’s new process of publishing ads:

.

1. The advertising brand sends a request to the influencer for ad creation. 

You can send the request for ad creation access by going into settings>business>branded content> request ad creation access. From here, the advertiser can type in the influencer’s name and send off the request. 

.

2. The request is accepted for the ad creation.

Once the creator gets the request, it will show up in the activity tab where all other notifications can be found. 

After tapping on the notification, the influencer will be taken to a screen where their approved ad partners and pending requests will be seen.  Tapping “Approve” will establish a partnership between the two parties. 

The influencer will be able to see what they are approving access to by the notice at the top.

Once the influencer approves the request, the advertiser can begin submitting ads for review immediately. 

.

.

3. The influencer receives a notification for an ad for their approval.

After the advertiser has carefully crafted the ad, they will submit it for the approval of the influencer. Tapping “Approve” will allow the ad to be published from the influencer’s account. 

As Instagram has noted on the approval screen, the ad is posted from the influencer’s account but will not feature on their main profile page. The influencer can “decline” the ad if they are not satisfied with it.

.

Additional updates to branded content ads

As if the new process for publishing branded content ads were not enough, Instagram is also rolling out the following updates:

• Reels will not feature branded content ads. 
• Stories with branded content ads will now feature tappable elements, such as location, @mentions and hashtags.
• Product tags can be used to promote branded content.
• Influencers and advertisers can set age restrictions for their branded content feed posts. 

.

Why do we care?

Utilising influencer connections your company is bound to reach a multitude of new eyes to streamline the increase of brand awareness. This new feature will assist advertisers to ensure their branded content is crafted the way they want it to look and to ensure it reaches the correct audience. 

Another great social media tool businesses can use is none other than YouTube, as it’s a great platform to capture leads and gain exposure, even more, read more about it here.

Tags: digital marketing, Instagram