Why Branded Content Makes Sense for Your Facebook Advertising Strategy
If Facebook marketing has one known attribute to advertisers, it’s how extremely competitive it is. Competition isn’t always a bad thing though. It drives the free market, demanding that brands and businesses continue to be creative and stay ahead of the curve to out-sell their competitors.
For decades, brands competed against each other for shelf space in large retailers. In the last decade they have competed for placement in Google search results and placement in social media news feeds. Now, access to consumers is no longer controlled by retailers or large tech companies, but rather consumer attention is often in the hands of the widely accepted “influencer,” someone who is quite literally defined as “a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.” The solution? Collaboration and partnership in the form of ‘branded content.’ Someone who quite possibly used to be in a brand’s target demographic is now elbowing their way into the digital ad space backed by brands big and small.
Branded content occurs when an influencer (or creator or publisher as Facebook calls them) posts content on Facebook or Instagram that is paid for by a business partner (i.e. a brand or business.) Facebook requires the influencer to “tag” the business in their post so that users are clearly aware when they are being shown an ad. This relationship is mutually beneficial for the influencer and the business partner. The influencer is able to achieve credibility by partnering with, and therefore being validated by, a known brand. They also benefit by receiving compensation, often monetary, allowing them to continue making content. Brands often save a lot of money when partnering with influencers because they eliminate the cost of production by having the influencer simply showcase their product in their normally scheduled content. Branded content also takes some of the guesswork out of advertising by essentially guaranteeing a target audience for a business' product when the influencer posts about it to their followers. I’d be lying if I didn’t say some of my favorite skincare items were sourced from online personalities I trust!
Branded content has become such a successful form of advertising Facebook has created its own program to help facilitate the relationship between creators and brands, known as “Brand Collabs Manager.” Brand Collabs Manager lets an influencer or creator make a profile that showcases information such as their audience following, the type of content they post, and business partners they’ve worked with in the past. This way, brands are able to quickly sort through and easily contact creators they think would be the best fit for their brand. It also allows creators to manage collaborative posts by setting approval permissions for things such as boosted posts and adding custom call-to-action buttons. Learn more about Brand Collabs Manager here .
Facebook provides insights and performance metrics on all branded content to both the influencer and the business including:
Reach
Engagement
Total spend
CPM
Facebook also provides a set of guidelines that must be followed in order for branded content to be published. The following post formats are acceptable for branded content:
Photos
Videos
Links
Text
Live broadcasts
Carousels
Stories
Facebook does not allow branded content to be “interruptive” and therefore the following post formats are NOT allowed:
Banner Ads
Interstitial Cards
Roll Ads
Businesses that advertise with influencers through branded content are able to reach consumers through a more direct distribution channel. The more collaborative relationships a brand has, the more potential customers they are able to reach. Branded partnerships enable businesses to save costs, reach a broader audience, and help increase brand awareness making branded content the next big player in the advertising space.