Instagram allows creators’ organic branded posts to be promoted as ads

Instagram has introduced branded content ads, allowing advertisers to promote creators’ organic branded posts as feed ads. The ads, however, will appear as “paid partnership with” along with the brand name on each post to maintain ad transparency. This comes after Instagram said it received numerous requests from brands to incorporate branded content posts into their advertising strategies.With branded content ads, brands now have the opportunity to tell their brand stories through the voices of creators and engage new audiences, Instagram said in a recent blog post. Using the tools available on the Facebook ads platform, brands can reach targeted audiences beyond the people who follow the brand and creator accounts. By running ads, brands will have access to measurement and can optimise and test their campaigns against their set goals for more effective marketing campaigns.Instagram added that the branded content ads for feed will be available to all advertisers in the coming weeks and for Stories over the coming months. It said in the post that it will continue to invest in branded content to provide even more value for consumers, creators and brands. To create branded content ads, creators must first enable their business partners to promote their post as an ad via “Advanced Settings”. Once that has been enabled, the business partner will see the post on Ads Manager under “Existing Posts” and can choose to run it as an ad in the feed or Stories format.Last month, Instagram decided to boost awareness for IGTV and Shopping with a new navigator bar in its Explore section. Shortcuts to IGTV and Shopping are pinned to the front of the navigation bar, making it easier for users to find products and videos from brands and creators they love. Instagram first moved into long form content last June with the roll out of IGTV. With this offering, it aims to expand its offering from just hosting bite sized content, to watching long-form vertical video from Instagram creators.Read also:Instagram’s data breach: Another blow to FB? Or are consumers just numb to it?Facebook probes into data exposure of influencers on InstagramInstagram mulls removing number of likes: How will it impact influencer marketing?Top 10 brands plagued by fake followers on Instagram(Photo courtesy: 123RF)