Instagram advertisers can now promote bio-branded content from creators as ads – Adweek

The text "Paid Partnership" will appear in these ads as they appear in the Instagram feed, with the brand name included in each message, which Instagram describes as "an important part of our continued investment in the transparency of ads. "

All advertisers will have access to these new branded content ads in the coming weeks. Instagram said the option would be extended to Stories in the coming months.

"Branded content is an evolving ecosystem," wrote Instagram in a blog post. "As we work to create the right tools for companies and creators involved in branded content transactions, one of the biggest demands of brands so far is the ability to integrate publications." of branded content in their advertising strategies. "

Some agencies welcomed the new offer. "It's a brilliant initiative," said Scott Harkey, co-founder and managing partner of the marketing agency OH Partners. "Influencers exist because they provide authentic experiences. If you can convey a more authentic message, it's a win-win for influencers and brands. Influencers get more distribution and brands have more authentic content. "

Quynh Mai, founder of the digital agency Moving Image & Content, said: "This update continues to build on Facebook's strategy to center its platform on people and not on brands … From our experience, the most engaging publications always feature "real people" in a content lifestyle – a winning formula that influencers always deliver. They help customers contextualize their products in real life, which the advertising industry has had a hard time embracing. "

According to an Ipsos survey commissioned by the parent company Facebook, Instagram indicates that 68% of Internet users go on its platform to interact with creators. With this new advertising option, brands can tell their story through the voices of these creators and take advantage of Facebook's targeting capabilities to reach people other than those who follow the accounts of the brand or creator in question. The measurement tools of the social network will help these brands to optimize their campaigns.

The clothing giant Old Navy is optimistic about the new advertising offer. Liat Weingarten, vice president of brand communications, said in Instagram's blog: "Promoting content directly from the pseudonym of the influencer confers on it more authenticity than that of one." pseudonym." see significantly higher engagement rates with this strategy. "

David Shadpour, founder and CEO of the user-generated content platform, Social Native, told Adweek: "Brands are currently recruiting influencers based on an assumption of their audience, but the deployment of the Facebook's new brand content tool allows them to target specific audiences with the content of influence. This largely eliminates the uncertainty of influence marketing and will make it easier for brands to get their message across to the right audience. "

Once brands have access to the new option, they must follow two steps. First, branded content creators must allow their business partners to promote their messages as advertisements, which they can do in advanced settings. Once this is done, business partners will see their content under the existing publications in Ads Manager, where they will be able to choose to serve them as ads in the feed and, possibly, in Stories.

Tuesday's Instagram initiative could also indirectly appease influencers who are unhappy with the platform's recent experience of removing similar accounts from its publications.

"It's certainly a way to fight against the lack of likes on influential positions, as this will expand the overall reach of their positions," said Jessica Ottaviano, digital media supervisor at marketing agency GYK Antler. "The problem is that the word-of-mouth feel provided by the influencers could still be lost. From a scope standpoint, this should represent a significant step forward, as influencers can expand the audiences they target, which they could technically do anyway with sponsored notes embedded in the program. ;application. "

Amber Zent, ​​partner and vice president and director of social media at Marcus Thomas, said, "For a contributive brand, when these platform changes work in tandem, this allows the engagement metric the more fundamental: the almighty. as – be replaced by more substantial measures of success, such as analyzing comments and clicks … the engagement of influencers will not go away, but in a world where the likes are not in the foreground and where there are new ways to increase the reach of paid messages. , sets us up for an industry movement focused on stronger branded content that resonates more deeply with our audiences. "