Instagram Sponsored Post: Why Should Influencers Disclose Sponsored Instagram Posts?

The demography of people actively pursuing and consuming the digital content, are creating an ecosystem for digital supply and demand. At the intersection of this ecosystem - Instagram sponsored posts are gaining tremendous momentum, providing brands a wider & well-segmented audience base of a chosen influencer and interactive content to audiences.

Brands, business, global organizations, etc. despite their global recognition are in need of constant product education to the masses. Product education should not be limited to big corporations and irrespective of business size, every product needs a good branding and marketing in a cost-efficient manner and hence, there is a need of sponsored posts on Instagram.

Instagram is now emerging as a leading platform for brands to scale their business and products. And Instagram influencers play a vital role in leveraging brand recognition and awareness for brands.

• According to Brand Equity, 36.9% of Brands in India, rely on Instagram sponsored posts.

What is an Instagram Sponsored Post

When a person, a brand, or an organization pays for its presence on Instagram feed, story or any space on Instagram for promoting or advertising through a post. These are known as sponsored posts or advertisements.

Also, when the brands pay to Instagram influencers with the purpose of leveraging targeted and segmented audience outreach, then it is also a kind of an Instagram sponsored post.

Let’s explore in detail!

Types of Instagram sponsored posts

1. Promoted posts and ads via Instagram:

here the brands have the liability to create a post and contribute directly to Instagram for a wider access of customized audience. The audience is customized on the basis of attributes which are age, sex, location, interests, etc.

2. Paid sponsorship:

the interaction takes place between the influencer and the brand. The brand pays the influencer to access the loyal audience that they possess. The precision and spearheading potential is higher here, compared to promoted posts. The influencer has the liability to create content and stage it for relaying awareness regarding the product or the brand.

Learn here about Instagram collab post.

How do Sponsored Instagram Posts Look?

The sponsored posts can be easily identified as it is clearly mentioned in these subjective posts. The indicators and content of sponsored Instagram posts are:

• Paid Partnership with [Brand Instagram Username]”: The influencers provide all the necessary details regarding the involved brand so that the audience can differentiate it from the normal posts.
• Photos or Video: In the post, influencer generated content is placed with the endorsement of the product. Based on the type of product and brand, influencers are aware and educate their followers and also showcase it by using it firsthand.
• Caption and description: Caption and description have detailed information of the product which is uniquely created by the influencers to help the followers feel higher connection with the brand or product. Hashtags are also used to reach a wider audience.

Let’s discuss what the Instagram paid partnership rules are and why it is crucial for Instagram influencers to follow them.

Learn here about Instagram verification

Rules for Posting Branded Content on Instagram in 2023

Instagram defines branded content as “a creator or publisher's content that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value”. This even includes any product or service gifted to these creators for free!

While sharing such branded content, Instagram requires creators to use the ‘paid partnership’ label while posting. Instagram defines 3 different scenarios to further elaborate when creators need or need no use the paid partnership label as part of their rules for posting branded content:

Situation 1

A business pays a creator to feature their product or service in their content.

Is the brand content tag required? – Yes, since a brand is paying the creator in exchange for featuring them constitutes an exchange of value. Thus, the paid partnership label is required.

Situation 2

A business sends free products or gifts to a creator and they mention it in their content.

Is the Instagram paid partnership label required? – Yes, since receiving free products or gifts and consequently, featuring them in content equates to an exchange of value. Thus, the partnership label becomes necessary.

Situation 3

A creator promotes their own products or services.

Are the brand partnership labels for sponsored content required? – No, since there is no second or third party involved, this situation does not constitute an exchange of value. Thus, in such a scenario, the partnership label is not required.

This brings us to how influencers disclose their sponsored posts to their followers…

But, before that let’s understand why creators need to disclose sponsored posts on Instagram

Why Should Influencers Disclose Sponsored Instagram Posts

With a big digital community that Instagram has, a simple hidden fact can tarnish the trust of the followers. Truth is always appreciated no matter how bitter it is. It helps in keeping the followers acknowledged and informed, which leads to better decision making. Furthermore, hidden facts can be very disregarding for the influencers too. It can be a direct threat to their credibility and authenticity.

• A direct result of influencers having loyal audiences and followers is that, the spending on influencer marketing globally is projected to grow by 23.4% and 15.9% y-o-y growth in 2023 and 2024.

Also read here about Instagram creator marketplace

Recent Update in the Instagram Sponsored Post about Disclosure

As social media platforms are becoming more and more creator friendly to ensure fair compensation for them, Instagram is quite ahead in the race. Instagram sponsored content is the most popular way for them to earn on this platform. However, these come with a set of rules influencers and brands need to adhere, popularly known as Instagram sponsored post rules.

Here are a few reasons why it is crucial for Instagram influencers to disclose Instagram paid partnership label:

• Creators who don’t follow Instagram and government guidelines could have their account penalized
• They lose credibility by not disclosing paid partnership among their followers

Best Practices to Disclose Your Sponsored Instagram Posts

Instagram considers the partnership between creators and brands to be highly quintessential to its creator economy & ecosystem. After all, 67% users have no reaction to sponsored influencer content. Thus, adhering to Instagram branded content policies for both businesses and brands is critical to maintain trust & credibility with your followers.

Ways To Disclose Your Sponsored Instagram Posts:

Use the Brand Content Tag

The paid partnership label or brand content tag is a necessity as well as the clearest manner of communication to notify your followers of a commercial relationship between the creator and the business.

Say It Was a Gift

If the product or service being featured was gifted to you or sent for free, as a creator you can disclose that to your followers by clearly communicating so.

Mention It Is a Partnership

In your sponsored Instagram posts, clearly mention that it is a part of a paid partnership with the business early on without failing to mention the name of the brand.

Use Hashtags in Caption

Make sure you use the brand hashtag as well as the paid partnership and sponsored hashtag to disclose your sponsored Instagram posts.

Now that you know the Instagram sponsored post rules and when to use the brand content tag, it's time to explore how you can add this tag to your content…

How to Use the Instagram Paid Partnership Label to Tag Organic Branded Content

Here is how you can add the label to your content when sharing it to your feed, story, live, or reel:

• Once you have selected the photo / video / reel / story, added caption and hashtags, and desired filters, tap on Next.
• Tap on Advanced Settings, navigate to Brand Content, and switch on the Add paid partnership label.
• Tap Add Brand Partners to add up to two brands. You can easily find them by searching.
• You can even switch on Allow Brand Partner to Promote toggle. This will allow the brand partner to use this content to run ads. However, this cannot be availed if there are two brand partners tagged.
• Tap Done when you are ready to post.

Voila! You made a sponsored post on Instagram!

Instagram Branded Content Policies For Prohibited Content

Instagram has very strict brand content policies for certain types of content. These include:

• Any type of content that violated Instagram community guidelines.
• Any content promoting illegal products or services.
• Any product that simulates smoking. This may include cigarettes, vapes, and the like.
• Any product containing illegal or recreational drugs.
• Unsafe products or supplements such as steroids or growth hormones.
• Weapons, ammunition, explosives, etc.
• Any adult product or service except family planning or contraception.
• Payday loans, payslip advances and bail bonds
• Pyramid marketing schemes
• Offerings for difference trading
• Controversial opinions including religion, climate, and politics
• Regional lotteries

How Influencers get Sponsored Posts on Instagram?

Brands look for their industry relevant content creators for promoting their product/services. They look for influencers with consistency, higher engagement, authority or influence over followers.

Or brands and influencers can reach out to Grynow, the best influencer marketing company in India to get the benefits of sponsored posts on Instagram.

What Influencers Can Do to Get the Sponsorship on Instagram?

For an easy and simplified access of post, following are the ways which can help:

• Define your niche: Defining niche is a statement regarding an in-depth understanding and professionalism of the niche. It helps the influencers to get connected with the similar interested audience as well as brands.
• Consistent Content: regular content creation and uploading it helps in boosting engagement and increase in follower’s base.
• Use of hashtags and geotags: Hashtags allows influencers to get connected and appeal audience and other creators outside their follower’s base. Geotags helps in faster connection of like-minded people near your present location.
• Knowing your audience: the audience can be very diverse but united over niche. Understanding the finer details can help in enhancing the efficiency of the post.

Conclusion

To sum up, it is critical for creators to be as unambiguous as possible while sharing across a paid partnership with their followers. This ensures complete transparency among brands, creators, and followers.

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