Today more than ever, brands are dedicating large portions of their marketing dollars on influencer marketing, and it’s increasing every year.
In a recent survey, 57% of businesses said they were planning on increasing their influencer relations budgets in 2020. Although this is an upward trend, influencer campaigns are performing and generating real results that are having profound impacts.
Meanwhile, 80% of the marketers surveyed said that influencer-generated content performed the same or better than their own content, while 61% of 18-34-year-old Instagram users have at some point been swayed in some form of decision making by digital influencers.
For more influencer marketing data and statistics in 2020 click here
There’s strong proof that influencer marketing works, but brands are still wanting to know that they’re targeting the right audience and which pieces of content will get the most engagement. They also want to see an optimal return on investment and be able to measure these results in a concrete way.
However, only 18% of marketers say that they can integrate influencer marketing into their overall ROI calculations at the end of a campaign. This is where Instagram’s Branded Content Ads are most valuable.
The Branded Content Ads function is a new way to target your audience, track performance and get the most out of influencer campaigns. Because this is a newer Instagram function, many marketers still don’t know or understand how it works.
Below is an overview of Instagram Branded Content Ads, how they work and why they should be integrated into your next influencer campaign.
Branded Content Ads Overview
Branded Content Ads allow brands to turn feed content that’s been created and posted through influencer partnerships into ads, giving the brand a tool to amplify these posts and stories beyond just the influencer’s following.
Even more importantly, Branded Content Ads enable brands to promote the influencer-created posts from under the influencer’s own profile, instead of sharing again by posting from the brand handle. This helps to make a post feel more authentic and engaging.
Posts will still say sponsored, and there will be a paid partnership tag at the bottom, but the simple fact that the post/story comes from an influencer’s account is significant and can lead to improved results.
Shanley Gibb, one of Branding & Buzzing’s Account Managers, has found great success in using Branded Content Ads for her clients.
“Branded Content Ads are a key tactic in increasing the results of your influencer marketing programs. They enable you to tap into the audiences of your influencers in order to expand your own brand’s reach, impressions and engagement. This will also provide you with insight into your influencers’ metrics for reporting purposes.”
The Benefits of Branded Content Ads
• They scale the influencers’ posts to reach both followers and non-followers through organic and paid content
• These ads can be targeted to your specific audience, helping your brand reach more of the people that matter
• Brands can choose influencers who create the very best content, without being preoccupied by their reach
• With Shopping Tags, Branded Content Ads allow for a seamless shopping experience from Instagram to the shopping cart
How to Make Branded Content Ads Work for Your Campaign
1) Be transparent in the contract to let influencers know that you’ll be using the Paid Partnership and Branded Content Ads option from the start of the campaign
2) Upload your influencer list to Facebook Ads Manager so that the influencers can easily add the Paid Partnership tag
3) Set clear objectives, goals, metrics and KPI’s so that you can successfully measure results at the end of the campaign
4) Review and use the influencer’s organic post performance first, to learn which pieces of content are the highest performing and worth boosting
A high-performing piece of influencer-generated content can often give brands the best idea of what will resonate best as a Branded Content Ad.
How Marketers Can Utilize Instagram’s Branded Content Ads to Boost their Influencer Marketing Results – Social Media Today