How to Use the Paid Partnership Feature on Instagram & Enable Businesses to Promote Your Content

An increasing amount of influencers are using Instagram’s “Paid Partnership With” feature to grow their audience, and brands are also utilising Instagram 'sponsored posts' to reach a wider audience than is achievable through purely organic reach.

Instagram is now one of the best channels for the promotion and distribution of paid social ads. In fact, Instagram's ad revenues are poised to reach over 18 billion US dollars by 2021. We've all seen the increase in prevalence of influencer marketing in our feeds, and know the power of UGC and influencer recommendations. Paid partnership put the power of both of these features into one handy tool for marketers and influencers to use.

The paid partnership feature increases transparency with the audience, offers access to insights and eliminates the risk of negative consequences from sponsored posts, such as any confusion around disclosure or issues with AANA or ACCC.

There are a number of effective techniques and strategies that you could implement to promote your branded content on Instagram; however, we will discuss how brands can use paid partnership feature to reach new audiences and increase engagement rates.

Enable Businesses to Promote Your Branded Content

A paid partnership on Instagram occurs when an influencer or brand advocate shares a post or story on the platform and tags in a business account as a Business Partner. When applied correctly, the paid partnership tag appears at the top of the image or story where the area/location normally sits.

Creators will always have complete control of whether a business can promote a branded Instagram post. The Influencer will have to give permission before businesses will see the option to promote the branded content posts.

Note that the influencer and the business being promoted all have to agree on the specifics of the partnership before it can progress - this includes agreement on any additional rates for 'boosting' of the post.

For brands, the paid partnership function provides direct access to insights on the influencer and the engagement they are bringing to the brand. This function helps brands to gather information and statistics on how the sponsored content campaigns are performing on Instagram, allowing brands to make better decisions for future Instagram marketing campaigns.

As an influencer, the paid partnership function assists in building a more transparent, trusting relationship with the audience through the disclosing of sponsored posts.

So, let's get started with how to create that brand handshake! Before you begin, make sure your Instagram app is up to date.

For influencers: To tag business partners in your branded content for Live, Reels, IGTV videos & Instagram feed:

1. After you’ve selected a photo or video and added a caption, effects and filters, tap Next.
2. In Live: click Title.
3. In Reels, IGTV videos & Feed: Tap Advanced Settings.
4. To search for the business, tap Tag Business Partner.
5. Tap the name of the business you want to tag in your post.

To allow a business partner to promote through the Instagram app:

1. Create a post.
2. On the screen where you write a caption, tap Advanced Settings.
3. Tag your business partner using the Branded Content tag.
4. Tap Allow Business Partner to Promote.

Your business partner can now promote your branded content post in Ads Manager. Note: You can only tag one business partner per branded content post, though you can work with more than one business partner.

To tag business partners in your branded content for Instagram Stories

When you go to publish your Story, select the link icon located at the top of the story creation screen to open the ‘More options’ screen. Tap ‘Tag Business Partner’ and search for the brand’s Instagram handle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3qHoDQwTIk

And now for Brands:

Step 1. Add partner approvals for branded content

Once your brand has been granted access to this feature, you’ll need to begin by turning on your partner approval setting.

1. Go to Options and find Business Settings. Scroll down and find Branded Content Approvals.
2. Approval is currently automatically off. Toggle on to approve.
3. If you want to find additional creator accounts to approve, they live below the Require Approvals toggle button.
4. Any approved creator accounts will show up.
5. Once all creator accounts are approved, your brand approval tray will be empty.

Step 2. Tag notification and tag removal

Once the campaign goes live, the business partner will receive a notification via Facebook, Instagram, and Instagram Direct if it is a Branded Content post on Stories.

Step 3. Set up branded content ads

Once the influencer has shared the post or story you want to promote, Go to your Ads Manager and create an ad. This process will remain the same as it usually does, however, when choosing your media, click on ‘Use Existing Post’. Here you’ll see the list of available branded content posts and stories in the ‘Creative’ section. These are the branded content posts and stories that a creator has given you permission to promote. You'll be able to see the results just like you do all of your other Facebook ads!!

Instagram Paid Posts: Instagram Ad Types That Help Increase Brand Awareness

There are a number of tools that brands can utilise to start their paid social media campaigns on Instagram to reach their target audience. For example, theright.fit enables a brand to collaborate with a content creator or influencer if they want to advertise on Instagram through organic content posting. By utilising the 'In Paid Partnership' feature, you're amplifying the already successful organic content, and further increasing your influencer marketing ROI.

Circling back to how advertising via Instagram ads started

Instagram didn't previously offer an option for direct monetisation of user-generated content (UGC). Since Facebook owns Instagram now, Facebook business page owners found themselves wondering how they can leverage the business potential of this social media channel. Hence, 'Branded Content' partnerships between influencer UGC and Brands was born.

The main advantage of Instagram advertising over other social media channels is that it actually provides businesses with an opportunity to reach Instagram users through creating sponsored posts with beautiful, high-quality photos or engaging video ads that show the product or service in real life scenarios, being used by real customers or influencers of the product. When people look at an Instagram feed, they see such visual assets in their full glory and instantly understand what you do and who you help. Its a rich visual storytelling platform, and influencers help add additional reach and credibility to your brand.

Publishing tips when creating ads on Instagram

If you're a brand looking to grow your social following, increase conversions, or drive traffic to site, then look using influencers and additionally the In Paid Partnership feature could be a great option for you. Theright.fit allows you to find & work with influencers in a huge range of verticals, and identify those who are high quality content creators who's content is likely to perform well as amplified advertising. It's a fast and affordable way to reach new audiences and create UGC at scale.

Here are some tips when sharing promoted posts on the 'Gram:

• For both brands and influencers, don't just rely on mutual tagging when publishing regular posts or carousel ads. Use relevant hashtags that describe the product and make it easier for your targeted audience to search for you.
• Publish Stories ads, video post ads, IGTV ads or other ad delivery types that are designed to attract attention and encourage people to engage. You have to evoke a feeling in your audience and its important that the content feels authentic to the influencer, and that they have been given creative freedom despite it being a paid campaign.
• Make sure all the relevant people are credited and tagged -this is good etiquette but also increases discoverability by ensuring your post shows up on their page too
• Think about audience - make sure you're targeting the right people with relevant content. You can find a relevant influencer for every niche, so take the time out to make sure you pick the right influencer to target the ads to
• Refresh your content regularly - as consumers are targeted by more content than ever, its important to refresh your content regularly so people dont get ad fatigue. Another great reason that influencer content is a great way to fill your businesses content needs!