Then last year, Instagram turned it up a notch. For brands and influencers that were using the Paid Partnership tag, they offered a new service, Branded Content ads. This allows you to turn influencer posts, tagged as a Paid Partnership, into ads. Brands can now easily amplify branded content beyond a creator’s organic following, straight from the creators who posted it. The best way to look at it is an influencer marketing add on, that will take your campaign results to the next level.

Branded Content ads look a little different to normal Instagram ads. Normal ads say ‘sponsored’ and looks as though it’s from the Brand. Whereas the Branded Content ad feels more native. Instead of the brand’s, you see the influencer’s handle and profile picture, so the user has that same ‘influencer marketing experience’ that a creator is sharing something with you. Of course it still says sponsored and there is the Paid Partnership tag in the caption, which lets the user know that this is in fact an ad they are being targeted with, so transparency remains intact.

The benefits of Branded Content for your brand

Why would marketers invest in Branded Content? Firstly, there’s reach. If a brand invests in Branded Content they – understandably – want people to be able to experience it. Branded Content ads can scale a creator’s post to reach users beyond their following. While influencer marketing relies on organic reach, Branded Content extends beyond that and gets your brand into the feeds of people who don’t follow that particular influencer.

Then there’s targeting. As a brand, you’ll have a target audience in mind - their age, gender, and geography - and so it’s unlikely an influencer’s following will match that identically. This means content may only be reaching part of its intended audience, limiting the ability to achieve your goals. Branded Content ads can be targeted with precision, helping to reach more of the people that matter to you. With this option, brands are free to choose influencers who create the very best content, without being preoccupied by their reach.

Finally, thanks to shoppable tags, it enables a frictionless shopping experience. The rise of mobile and social commerce is changing the way people shop. If a user sees something they like, they want to tap and buy, without being redirected. Branded Content ads give brands the opportunity to seamlessly turn a browser into a buyer in a matter of clicks. The majority of influencers can’t make their posts shoppable just yet. But Branded Content ads take that same engaging, relatable content and make it entirely shoppable.

You may find the Branded Content process to be more manual than other, more established ad options. But there are things you can do to streamline the process:

Instagram views Branded Content ads as art meeting science - your influencers are the artists and the targeting mechanisms behind the tool is the scientist. Experiment this new Instagram feature during your next influencer marketing campaign and watch your results sky rocket.

Learn more about what the branded content tool is and why marketers should be using it here, how creators can benefit from Branded Content Ads here, how to approve creator partners here and how to request the paid partnership tag here.