Instagram paid partnership: A new era of Influencer Marketing

• The rising curve of influencer marketing on social media platforms like Instagram has brought in the kind of authenticity brands have forever sought after.
• Paid Partnerships, now, can give marketers a chance to value the performance of their partnerships with influencers, giving more opportunities to others seeking to collaborate with the brands they love.
• Dharika Merchant, COO, Alchemy Group and WORD writes down the benefits of recent Instagram tools and the importance of transparency in today’s world.

Businesses have understood the art of influencing through social content creators, and the value they bring in. The rising curve of influencer marketing on social media platforms like Instagram has brought in the kind of authenticity brands have forever sought after. In this game of creating like-minded conversations among tight-knit communities on Instagram, questions around true transparency came into the picture. Keeping that in mind, Instagram tested out tools to bring in transparency and consistency to all paid content that went up on their platform.

The idea of ‘Paid Partnerships with…’ was therefore born out of the need to officially create paid content, all while amplifying the reach to newer audiences through collaborative advertising via branded content. Strengthening the collaboration between brands and creators though the ‘Paid Partnerships with…’ tag promises an upgrade in the experience of all the parties involved, including consumers of content.

The ‘Paid Partnerships with..’ tag not only allows content creators to inform their followers about their partnership with a brand but also helps businesses get access to the insights of the branded content campaign. For paid Instagram feed posts, businesses will be able to see the reach (portioned out in terms of age, gender and location), likes, comments, and shares in Facebook’s Ads Manager. Whereas, for paid Instagram stories, they will have a 14-day window to see the reach, taps forward, taps backward, replies and exits. In fact, what’s interesting is that if brands love the branded content, they now have the option to purchase the advertising rights to promote the content to newer audiences. In the process of leveraging the influencer’s brand identity and value, brands and influencers get access to potential customers who get to interact with the content.

Now, why is this important in today’s digital environment?

Well, as consumers of content, we should be aware of the type of content that comes to our feed. The ‘Paid Partnerships tag…’ promises exactly that. When influencers put the tag, they inform their followers of their paid partnership, promising transparency and, most importantly, credibility. It’s sort of like giving an opportunity to their followers to trust the genuineness of their work and giving consumers the right kind of advice before they make purchase decisions.

More than that, it’s the merging of both the influencer world and the advertising world that is going to make influencer marketing more exciting from now on. From the influencer’s POV, they become more valuable to marketers and have opportunities for long-term partnerships. It is incredibly beneficial to the influencer because they now can earn more money by selling their rights when they promote their post under the ‘Paid Partnership with…’ tag. Unless the influencers toggle off the ‘Allow Business Partner to Promote’, they’re eligible to promote the content again by the same business partner. Furthermore, it protects influencers from any future altercation involving the advertisement law. Although few influencers may feel discouraged to disclose their brand partnership, they should understand that once they do, Instagram’s algorithm automatically recognizes them as an indispensable asset that provides value. More recognition equals more value addition.

Paid Partnerships gives marketers a chance to value the performance of their partnerships with influencers, giving more opportunities to others seeking to collaborate with the brands they love. Marketers can have a better understanding of their audience through detailed insights. They can also see the posts that resonate well with their audiences. In fact, they can even buy the rights of the content from the influencer and turn it into an Instagram Branded Content Ad with the help of Facebook’s ad-targeting tools. What this does is expand the reach of the post to newer audiences who can become potential customers to the brand and potential followers to the influencers. Scaling the reach beyond the creator’s audience and pragmatically understanding audience insights with the help of an ads platform creates an organic outcome. Brands who wish to promote their messaging from the influencer’s perspective can always invest in branded content as part of their influencer marketing strategy.

The bigger picture though is to promote an open-minded conversation about brand-influencer relationships so that consumers aren’t sidestepped, all while driving collaborative outcomes through Branded Content Ads. It gives marketers the chance to understand the kind of influencers they should partner with and an insight into the minds of their target audience. Leveraging the name of the influencers to specifically target core audiences directly from Ads Manager is key to growing organically. It gives influencers a chance to grow their audience, and monetarily benefit from the transaction. With this feature, we can definitely see a rise in paid partnerships and better relationships. It is a great step towards ensuring credible relationships that allow for a transparent business of influencing.

- By Dharika Merchant, COO, Alchemy Group and WORD