Do Instagram Creators Need to Publicize When They are Getting Paid?
Instagram is a huge community where people, content creators, and even businesses come together to share the things they love with others. The community is undeniably tight-knit. However, this fact is also the reason why it is difficult to know when there are invaluable partnerships that might cause you trouble.
To help you avoid getting into trouble, this article will be sharing with you the best practices in line with the significance of transparency when posting branded content. In addition, this will help you know when you need to publicize that you are paying for or getting paid for content.
What Do You Consider as Branded Content?
Branded Content For Businesses
If you have a media partner or you collaborate with a creator to make content and you paid them to promote your brand, product, or service, then that counts as a branded content.
It is important to note that payment does not only mean money. It could also be complimentary gifts or even discounts on products and services. Basically, anything that you give a creator in exchange for promoting your brand, product, or service is considered a payment.
Branded Content For Creators
Creators who post content that promotes any brand, product, or service and got paid for doing so fall into the branded content category. This applies regardless if they received a monetary payment or gifts.
If they mentioned multiple products but not all of those products paid for a promotion, that post is still considered as branded content.
The Proper Way of Disclosing Your Partnerships
Collaborations between businesses and content creators are an important thing to the entire Instagram ecosystem. In addition, they are important for creators as these partnerships help them maintain the trust of their followers and fans. Similarly, collaborations are significant to brands because they allow them to widen their reach and increase their sales.
However, as much as partnerships are important, transparency is, too. For this reason, below are the three ways that you can do to clearly disclose your partnerships:
Make Use of the Branded Content Tag
Instagram’s Branded Content tag clearly says when there is a commercial relationship between a brand and a content creator. In addition, Instagram requires creators to use it when they are posting branded content.
When you use a tag for a paid post, people will see the words “Paid partnership with (business partner),” in the header of the post.
Mention that Your Post Has a Partner
At the very beginning of your content, be upfront by saying that your post is a part of a collaboration, and then mention your partner’s brand name.
Say That What You are Promoting is A Gift
You can also simply say that the product or service that you mentioned in your post was gifted in your Stories, feed text, or videos.
Whenever you are in doubt, the best thing that you can do is to make your content as unambiguous as possible. But remember that it is always best to disclose your partnership with a brand using the three aforementioned methods.
Branded Content Tools For Creators
Transparency is always crucial for Instagram. This is the reason why the social media platform introduced a set of tools that would allow content creators to show their fans and followers transparency whenever they post branded content.
Policy and Enforcement
When Instagram was still in an alpha test for the Branded Content tools, that was the very first time when it adopted a branded content policy. The said policy is the same as Facebook’s updated policy which it announced on March 30, 2017. It will apply to branded content that is not properly tagged.
Access to Insights and Buying Instagram Followers or Likes
The brands that collaborated with content creators will also be able to see the engagement (likes, comments, and shares), as well as the reach, of the branded content that their partner creator posted. These insights will be accessible in their Facebook Page Insights. This is the fuel that rages in the fire of the popularity of Instagram creators who buy Instagram followers or likes.
In terms of Instagram Stories, tagged partner brands will have a 14-day window to see their reach, replies, taps forward, taps backward, and exits. On the other hand, content creators will continue to access these metrics in their app insights.
Partner Approvals
Instagram also launched Partner Approvals. The goal of this tool is brand safety. In addition, it will provide the platform’s business partners with the ability to approve their partner creators in advance before they can tag them in a post. It is essential for businesses to note that during launch, Partner Approval’s default settings will automatically switch off. This is to allow creators to easily tag their business partners without having to face any barrier
However, businesses can still switch on the Partner Approvals feature at any time. This way, they can approve creators before they can tag their business page on Instagram in a post.
The Takeaway
Businesses and content creators can only gain the trust of their fans and followers through transparency. This is the reason why they need to clearly tell their followers if a post on their Feed is a branded content.
The level of transparency that brands and creators show leads to a more customer-centric atmosphere. The more transparent they are, the deeper their relationship with their followers and customers will be.
For brands, the combination of trust and transparency humanizes them and makes their customer feel as if they have a personal connection with the business.
In addition, transparency provides powerful insight into customer satisfaction. Once a business gained its customers’ trust, it will be easier for them to get feedback. Through branded content, businesses can ask their partner creators to encourage those who have already tried the promoted product to share their experience and feedback in the comments section. This way, brands will be able to identify their customers’ expectations. In addition, they will know if there are areas in their products that need improvement.
Needless to say, it is important to value transparency.
Date: January 6, 2021 / Categories: Engagement, / Author: Joy P
