Instagram has introduced Branded Content Ads on the platform that will enable advertisers to promote organic branded content from creators as feed ads.

Businesses can reach a more targeted audience by creating branded content ads via Facebook ads platform. These ads appear in feed and stories of Instagram users with a “Paid partnership with” tag.

In-feed branded content ads will be available to all advertisers in the coming weeks and will be available for Stories in the coming months.

“68% of people say they come to Instagram to interact with creators. With branded content ads, businesses have an opportunity to tell their brand stories through creators’ voices, reach new audiences and measure impact,” Instagram stated.

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To create branded content ads, business partners need to be allowed by branded content creators to promote their post as an ad, which can be done through Advanced Settings.

Once that is done, the posts will be available to the business partner on Ads Manager under Existing Posts. They can then choose a post and run it either in feed or stories.

“And by running ads, they’ll have access to measurement and can optimize and test their campaigns against their set goals for more effective marketing campaigns.”

How to create Branded Content Ads (for Advertisers)

To begin with, advertisers will need to approve creators that they wish to collaborate with to tag their businesses in branded content posts. Follow the steps mentioned below to do that.

• In the Instagram app, go the advertiser profile and tap on the ‘options’ button (located above the ‘edit profile’ button.
• Select Business Settings and toggle Require Approvals as desired.
• If it’s off, no further steps are required but if it’s on select Approved Accounts
• Now add the Instagram handle of the creator that you wish to collaborate with and tap on Done.

To be able to create a branded content advert, creators need to tag the business and Allow Business Partner to Promote their branded content post.

When creating a branded content post, businesses can pick either one of the following objectives to boost their post: Reach, Brand Awareness Objective (BAO), Video Views, Traffic or Engagement objective.

Once tagged by Creator, here’s how to create Ads

• Go to Ads Manager and tap on create an ad.
• Pick an objective for Branded Content ad.
• Set your targeting and then select Instagram Feed at Placements.
• Now your Branded Content will appear in the Use Existing Post section — tap on it.
• Click on Select Post/Change Post in the Creative section.
• Tap on the Branded Content tab under Select Post window. Here you’ll see the list of branded content posts that you’ve been allowed by the creator to promote on Instagram.
• You’ll see the preview of the ad. If everything seems as you want it to be, click on Confirm.

Once a Branded Content Ad is created, it’ll be reviewed by Facebook. Once approved, you’ll be notified and the ad will start to appear on Instagram feeds of the targeted audience.

Likes and comments that appear in the promoted branded content post can’t be managed or deleted.

How to create Branded Content Ads? (For Creators)

Aforementioned, creators can now allow businesses to promote their branded content posts as ads in feed on Instagram.

For creating a new branded content post, follow the below-mentioned steps:

• Select a photo or video for uploading alongwith a caption. Apply any necessary effects and filters.
• Tap on Advanced Settings.
• Now tap on Tag Business Partner and search for the business you’re collaborating with. This will add the Branded Content tag on the post.
• Toggle on the Allow Business Partner to Promote under the Branded Content Partner Permissions. This will allow the brand or business to promote the Branded Content post as an ad.
• Tap Done

For using an existing post that doesn’t have the branded content tag, follow the below mentioned steps:

• Go to the post and tap on the three dots located at the top right.
• Tap on Edit.
• Next tap on Add Partner.
• Now to add the Branded Content Tag on the post, tap on Tag Business Partner. Search for your business partner.
• Toggle on Allow Business Partner to Promote under Branded Content Partner Permissions to enable access to businesses to promote your Branded Content post.
• Tap on Done.

When a business partner promotes your post, it’ll show a ‘Sponsored’ tag below your profile/page name.

“We’ve long seen that customers want to discover fashion through trusted sources who have credibility, but organic reach on that content has become increasingly limited. So we’re consistently looking for more sophisticated ways like Branded Content ads to serve partner content to the right shoppers, instead of just throwing it into the social ether,” said Liat Weingarten, VP of Brand Communications, Old Navy. “Promoting content directly from an influencer’s handle inherently gives the post more authenticity than coming from a brand handle, and we’re seeing significantly higher engagement rates using this strategy.”

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