Want to reach new audiences on Instagram without running ads? Have you considered branded content but weren’t sure where to start?
In this article, you’ll learn five simple steps to create, launch, and promote Instagram branded content campaigns to reach new people.
What Is Branded Content on Instagram?
Here’s what you need to know before you dive into the world of branded content creation, influencer marketing, and Instagram settings.
Branded content is one of the most powerful tools for Instagram marketing. It bridges the gap between organic content and paid ads, commercial partnerships and authentic recommendations. But as you might imagine, building that bridge takes some skill.
You need to find the right partnerships, set guidelines for your content, and finally, have a plan for boosting and resharing branded content.
Let’s start with some definitions. You might think that any content you produce as a social media manager is branded content: It’s content by a brand.
But Instagram thinks differently. Within this social network, “branded content” has a specific meaning. It’s content that markets your brand but it’s not created or posted by you.
Influencers or creators create this content on your behalf. They receive “an exchange of value” in return, whether that’s payment, product samples, or gifts. And that exchange of value has to be disclosed by using the branded content tools on Instagram.
Want to reach new audiences on Instagram without running ads? Have you considered branded content but weren’t sure where to start?
In this article, you’ll learn five simple steps to create, launch, and promote Instagram branded content campaigns to reach new people.
What Is Branded Content on Instagram?
Here’s what you need to know before you dive into the world of branded content creation, influencer marketing, and Instagram settings.
Branded content is one of the most powerful tools for Instagram marketing. It bridges the gap between organic content and paid ads, commercial partnerships and authentic recommendations. But as you might imagine, building that bridge takes some skill.
You need to find the right partnerships, set guidelines for your content, and finally, have a plan for boosting and resharing branded content.
Let’s start with some definitions. You might think that any content you produce as a social media manager is branded content: It’s content by a brand.
But Instagram thinks differently. Within this social network, “branded content” has a specific meaning. It’s content that markets your brand but it’s not created or posted by you.
Influencers or creators create this content on your behalf. They receive “an exchange of value” in return, whether that’s payment, product samples, or gifts. And that exchange of value has to be disclosed by using the branded content tools on Instagram.
Emelie Olsson, Director of Artist Relations for Corite, a crowdfunding platform, shares her advice on how artists can best engage with their fans on social media.
Corite’s mission is to keep artists in control of their careers. Speaking with Emelie Olsson, Director of Artist Relations for the company, it’s clear the entire business model is predicated upon empowering independent artists and their fans. A crowdfunding platform based in Stockholm, Sweden, Corite allows fans to “invest with their hearts” and become “true collaborators” across artists’ careers.
The Corite model exists to push the music industry into a future where major-label backing stops being the be-all-end-all. With Corite, artists secure funding, distribution, and marketing support from fans-turned-backers. In return, artists share their revenue in real-time when their music is streamed. An artist sets up a campaign on Corite—complete with a detailed presentation, so fans understand what they’re getting into—setting a funding goal, which is met by their fans and repaid over the course of a year’s worth of streaming payouts.
“Our mantra is ‘Fan Power,’” Olsson explains. “We’re building a world ruled by independent artists, driven by the power of the fans. By inviting fans to be a part of your release, you turn your fans into backers and gather the ones who truly believe in you and actually are willing to pay money for your music.”
Once the supported song is released, backers and artists get access to a detailed streaming dashboard, wherein everyone can track the song’s success. In essence, Corite activates fans in the digital world much like street teams were once the pinnacle of artist-to-fan marketing.
“Everything we do today is about engagement,” Olsson says. “The bridge between the artist and the public is very big. Regular people can, all of a sudden, talk to a famous person. It’s definitely all about how everyone wants to support artists these days.”
For Audiomack World, Emelie Olsson shares nine keys to fan engagement on social media.
Don’t be shy on social media. “With social media, the possibilities for an artist are endless and a great asset. These days you can build, grow, and engage your fans with no or very little money at all. Having patience, being creative, updating with high-quality content, and dedicating time to getting to know and understand your fans will lead to both growth and engaged followers.”
Be consistent with your posts. “As in many other cases, the saying ‘consistency is key to success’ can be applied. Following someone on social media could be compared to following a TV show. The fans and followers are eager for you to post more content, and they’re waiting for you to post the next update.”
Get creative with your social strategy, and have fun. “The reason the ‘tired’ social media tactics don’t work is because it’s no fun following them. And if you don’t think it’s fun, the fans will notice.
“Find your spark in what you’re doing. What lights your spark? Is it writing, video editing, telling stories, or perhaps going live on Instagram? Do what you think is fun; everything that isn’t will never work, and if none of that is fun to you, maybe finding someone who can help you with social media will make it easier.”
Be generous with your followers. “In its essence, it’s all about being generous towards the ones who follow you, whatever that means to you. It doesn’t necessarily mean being personal, but inviting your fans to be a part of your creative journey, your life from the studio until the performance on stage.
“Find your true connection with your fans by figuring out what you have in common. What matters to them? Ask your fans what they want more of on your social media, and take your time talking to them, answering their questions, and small things like liking their comments could make your fans’ days.”
Develop your social media voice. “This is so the fans immediately recognize your posts in their feeds. This could be done by always using the same font and color when you update on TikTok or Instagram, using a specific filter or combination of colors in your pictures. It could even be a personal greeting you always start with. It’s the same way that big brands think to build brand recognition, like how we connect colors with the McDonald’s brand.”
Storytelling is key. “Everyone loves a good story, so make sure you have yours written down and that you have put thought into it. Being an artist who loves music will not make you stand out in any way, but your story will!”
Be prepared to blow up. “Music today is largely driven by single tracks that are trending on social media, so it’s something that everyone tries to figure out and struggles with. You should always be prepared for your music blowing up or going viral. That way, when it happens, you already have the next release in mind to keep the momentum going. I think most artists dream about it happening, but when it does, there isn’t a plan, and you could even get more anxious with what you should put out there or what the next step is.”
Collaborate and network. “Reach out to artists in the same genre and try to build a relationship with them. Try to get them to listen to your music. If the music is great, they will definitely like it and are more likely to show it to their fans.”
Over-communicate your message. “Lots of artists tend to believe that once they’ve said something once, they’ve said it enough, and everybody knows about it. Most of it gets lost in the loud noise where everyone fights for attention. You have to repeat your messages over and over again for them to stick.
“I think Justin Bieber is a good example of an artist who successfully managed to get the story out there. Even if you’re not a fan, you probably know that Justin Bieber made his way to success by being scouted on YouTube when he was very young. We’ve heard the story so many times that we can connect the music to it once it’s being played, putting everything in context and aligning it with his story itself.”
Though it got a good start in 2020, 2021 is the year branded content will truly come into its own according to Ottavio Nava, co-founder and chief executive at We Are Social Italy and Spain. To make a success of the medium, he says marketers should glean lessons from the likes of Ben & Jerry’s, Lavazza and Circles.Life.
Branded content reached new heights in 2020. Long seen as a valuable add-on to marketing campaigns, and particularly effective when combined with traditional paid-for models, we are at now seeing just how powerful the medium can be as a strategic brand building tool.
With all the smartest marketers paying attention, I feel safe predicting that 2021 is going to be a memorable year for this highly creative marketing technique.
The pandemic has forced more people then ever consume content digitally at home, which has let brand content has come into its own in recent months. This shift can be put down to the crisis accelerating a number of important on-going trends, just as much as it can be attributed to brands having access to a more captive audience.
Pre-2020, consumer habits were already changing as a result of the ubiquity of smartphones with content available to read, watch, listen to and interact with via a great choice of applications and in a wider array of different contexts than ever before. Brands, meanwhile, were seeking ways to engage in the face of declining engagement by many viewers in live TV advertising – just one result of growing fatigue with traditional media.
Both of these drivers have been significantly uplifted by behavioural changes spurred by Covid-19. People’s digital activity increased significantly, resulting in more eyeballs coming into contact with more brands online. In turn, this has cemented the increasingly central role branded content is now playing in the advertising ecosystem – a role which – when you consider how peripheral it once was – has now changed significantly and irreversibly.
Here are three lessons learned from those brands who have used branded content most effectively in recent months point to how branded content can, and will, evolve further.
The first is a mindset shift to creating content from the get-go to thrive in a more organic, long-term way, irrespective of platform or format. Ben & Jerry’s is a great example of this. It recently launched ’Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America’ – a podcast series comprising six 30-minute episodes about white supremacy in America, developed in partnership with Vox Media.
The SuperSimpleStuff app for Pfizer, which uses a series of micro games where players can fight coronavirus while finding out the best ways to prevent the virus spreading, is just another example of creative content execution. It’s also proof impactive brand content doesn’t just mean video. Elsewhere, Australian mobile network Circles.Life recently paraded a 1.2m sculpture of a hand giving 2020 the middle finger around Sydney as part of its ’Unfuck 2020’ campaign; showing how paid-for content can be funny, engaging and generate organic headlines of its own.
The second lesson for brands is to think and create like entertainers by embracing the rules of publishers and media companies, instead of simply working to a marketing playbook.
Publishers understand who their audiences are and create a product for them. To make effective branded content, CMOs must do the same. The best marketers understand what kind of brand they have and what needs to happen for it to grow.
The ambition here is to create campaigns on the same level as the entertainment people consume, as we did for Lavazza with Coffee Defenders: A Path from Coca to Coffee, which tells the story of a Colombian farmer from a region devastated by civil war who turns land formerly used to cultivate cocaine into a coffee plantation.
This 30-minute video documentary blends the sustainability and communities work championed by the Lavazza Foundation with top entertainment production values. And it was distributed through a carefully considered strategy built to extend brand reach beyond TV ad audiences by focusing on long-form content platforms.
The third, and final, lesson for brand content’s further evolution lies in the growing use of the ‘creative newsroom’ – an approach that allows a brand to blend brand marketing needs with what’s happening in the world and in pop culture.
For our film for Barilla, The Roof Top Match with Roger Federer, a creative newsroom approach informed the idea of bringing together Roger Federer with two girls from a Ligurian village whose rooftop tennis matches during lockdown had become a viral phenomenon. It also shaped a creative strategy that allowed what happened next to naturally unfold, rather than attempting to control it.
These last two examples of successful branded content, in particular, obeyed another publishing rule. For as well as helping to generate profits and hitting KPIs, both – like the best brand content – add real and tangible value to their audience.
While much of 2020 is best left behind us, this revitalised approach to branded content is something that marketers should embrace longer term.
Feature Image Credit: Australian mobile network Circles. Life recently paraded a 1.2m sculpture of a hand giving 2020 the middle finger around Sydney
Want to partner with influencers and brands to create content on Instagram? Wondering how to best manage and assess your influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram?
In this article, you’ll learn the difference between branded content and sponsored posts, how to manage and analyze the partnerships with brands or creators you work with, and how to tag a business partner in an Instagram post and Instagram Stories post. You’ll also discover a tool to help you find potential creators to partner with.
To learn how to tag and manage Instagram branded content, read the article below for an easy-to-follow walkthrough or watch this video:
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What Is Instagram Branded Content?
Branded content is when a creator or publisher posts content and discloses that they’ve received compensation for that post. This disclosure in branded content isn’t optional. FTC regulations require you to disclose if you’re promoting content that you’ve been compensated for in some way.
Instagram branded content isn’t an ad, though; sponsored posts are what you see when it’s ad content. Branded content or a paid partnership just means that the person creating the content received some sort of financial support.
6 Things We Learned About Branded Content from our Storytelling Partners
1. It’s Ubiquitous
According to research done by Digiday, 88% of publishers are driving at least some of their revenue from branded content, making it the second most popular source of income after display advertising. eMarketer estimates that the market for branded content will be worth $20 billion in 2021.
Source: Digiday+
2. But Every Team Approaches It Differently
While many branded content teams react to RFPs, some teams take a different approach. In a recent interview with the Keywee team, Thrive Global’s Head of Branded Content told us that his team built a suite of content ideas that the sales team can sell directly to brands. With this proactive approach, the Thrive Global team is able to guide the cultural conversation with their branded content efforts while still meeting brand needs.
The team at The Studio at The Knot Worldwide also takes a more hands-on approach. Often, they’ll have their brand partners come in for multiple meetings: to look at their past work, meet the creative team, and brainstorm ideas together. After that process, the two teams will sit down together to write a brief.
3. Distribution is Informed by Content
Today, almost every branded content campaign is distributed on content distribution platforms in addition to the publisher’s website. Which channels, though, depends on the content.
Recently, there’s been an industry-wide focus on creating short-form content to meet consumers on the platforms where they spend most of their time. Branded content is no different; It’s now on marketers to create content that’s easily consumed on platforms without sacrificing impact.
According to Thrive Global’s head of branded content, “We’re all scrolling through social platforms. You need to think: what not only gets your thumb to stop, but what gets you to engage with a piece of content?”
5. But Brands Want More Reporting
As brands get more sophisticated, they expect more from branded content campaigns than just “brand lift.” That’s why the branded content team at The Guardian US starts every partnership by understanding the KPIs the brand is trying to achieve, and only then creates the content and distribution plan.
According to VP, Custom Content at The Knot Worldwide, more and more brand partners are asking for guarantees. This means less risk for the brand, and requires campaigns to be measurable and attributable. While this shift can be frustrating for creative teams, it has led to a much more efficient industry, with more oversight on how dollars are being spent. Now, “we’re not just thinking about what we’re making, but how it’s living and being delivered, too.”
At Keywee, we’ve seen branded content campaigns with goals around impressions, clicks, page views, video completion rates, and even lead generation.
Of course, at the end of the day, brands turn to publishers for their expertise. According to the Head of Gear Patrol Studios, “Obviously, clients are very tuned into performance metrics and targeting capabilities, and we definitely bring that to the table. But on top of that, we provide a compelling, beautiful story – that’s usually the primary reason people are working with us.”
6. Branded Content is 99% Communication
A branded content campaign is a partnership between a brand and a publisher, but it’s also a partnership between many internal teams. At Gear Patrol, the branded content team has its own content producers and editors, but still collaborates closely with editorial, video, design, and photography teams to execute on projects. This makes communication key to a successful campaign. According to the Head of Gear Patrol Studios, it’s all about process, communication, and empathy. Her team relies on Slack for real-time communication in addition to a healthy dose of working together in person.
Nicki Kornbluth, Keywee uses Natural Language Processing and AI to connect storytellers with their ideal audiences on Facebook. It works with hundreds of publishers to help them achieve their business goals efficiently and at scale. Website: https://keywee.co/
While YouTube continues to frustrate creators by continuing to demonetize their videos based on the nature of their content, Facebook is looking to attract more videomakers with promises of prosperity. The social giant has announced several new and expanded monetization options for its creators, including the launch of a marketplace that connects brands to like-minded influencers.
The marketplace, titled Brand Collabs Manager, had previously been available to a small group of users but will now be opened up more widely. It gives brands the opportunity to search for creative partners with whom they can make deals. It’s a tool that sounds a lot like other branded content matchmakers on the social web, such as Google-owned FameBit.
Facebook has also announced expansions of both its ad breaks and fan subscriptions features. The former tool, launched last year as an answer to YouTube’s pre-roll ads, are now being offered to a larger group of creators in the US, particular those who specialize in long-form content. The recently-launched fan subscriptions, which let buyers unlock additional features on creator channels by paying a $4.99 fee each month, will be rolling out to more hubs as well.
By developing both of those features, Facebook is offering multiple monetization solutions in order to meet the needs of a growing and diversifying creative community. “We want to provide different ways for creators to make money on Facebook, so they can choose what makes sense for their content and community,” reads a blog post co-attributed to Facebook VP of Product Fidji Simo(pictured above). “For example, creators with longer content that fans come back for can monetize effectively through ads. Creators with super-fans or niche content canearn money directly from their audience through fan subscriptions or digital goods.”
For creators who, according to the post, upload “longer, authentic content that brings people back, that are focused on building a loyal community of fans, and who meet our monetization standards and follow our content guidelines for monetization,” Facebook is launching the Facebook for Creators Launchpad, a program that will help those videomakers further their digital careers. Applications for that program are available here.
By announcing all of these new ways to make money on its platform, Facebook is sending a clear message: If you’re a creator who is dissatisfied with YouTube, come to us. To hammer home that point, the social giant is expected to have a big presence at VidCon, where some of its top stars will hold court at a booth on the Exposition Floor.
Branded content can entertain people or teach them something, resulting in better brand engagement.
There was a time when branded content was the realm of advertising. It was clearly delineated from news and entertainment content, and boasted a distinctly commercial feel. In the modern age of information immersion, however, brands are finding new, better ways to engage with consumers.
For branded content to succeed today, it has to be more than an advertisement. Consumers are so inundated with ad content that their eyes glaze over at the first sight of anything that feels like an advertisement. How are marketers responding to this? By finding ways to meaningfully engage audiences and attract attention in ways that aren’t explicit sales pitches, marketers are developing clever, intriguing, or entertaining branded content to build a connection that leads to the conversion pipeline.
Interruptive advertising is a dying breed
Traditional advertising is now widely being panned as “interruptive advertising,” because it takes audiences out of whatever it is they were focusing on, be it their social media feeds, video streams, musical enjoyment, and so on. People find these advertisements annoying, for obvious reasons. The brand will be associated with regular interruptions of content that audiences actually enjoy. When entertaining or informative content is everywhere and available at the click of a button, the last thing consumers want to see is a commercial.
Today’s consumer is information savvy and knows how to do their own research. So, let them do it. You know the old expression from Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come?” That is precisely the philosophy with a strategy driven by branded storytelling. Explicit calls to action that shove products and services into consumers face are no longer the primary tactic by which companies promote themselves. Today’s smart money is on developing content that is educational and actionable, or truly entertaining.
Playing the long game with branded storytelling
You might think at first glance that spending resources on developing branded content that doesn’t even really make a cursory mention of products and services is a waste from a marketing standpoint, but the real waste is creating content that people ignore or skip over. Entertaining or engaging educational content, on the contrary, draws audiences in and introduces them to a brand in a way that starts the conversion process early. It’s a high-funnel tactic, but one that lends authority and familiarity to your brand.
As branded content evolves and relationships between brands and audiences shift from soap-boxing to storytelling, companies are finding more meaningful engagement with their customers. Take for example the art of content marketing. If you read a brand’s blog, you might not find any direct plugs for their products, services, or even their own company. What you will often find is smartly written and well-produced educational content that offers quality information about the relevant industry or current trends.
“Companies, both large and small, are starting to realize that the traditional mediums for reaching their target audience are no longer as effective as they once were and the marketplace is getting that much more crowded,” said Gila Stern, communications director of Worldwide Business and Modern Living, two television series hosted by model-turned-entrepreneur Kathy Ireland that exemplify a branded storytelling strategy. “To stand out, they need to do something different, something impactful and something that will allow their message to come through loud and clear, in a credible way.”
There’s also the entertainment route, by which brands create fun content that targets the interest of a specific audience. One of the most memorable and early forays into this kind of branded content was led by McDonald’s, with its cartoon “The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald.” Another classic example of branded storytelling that ultimately drives sales is the Disney universe, which has developed into a multi-billion dollar empire.
At its core this strategy is about forging a connection with audiences first, and giving them a reason to return to the brand’s content. It’s not about making a sale then and there, but earning the attention of the consumers you ultimately want to convert. Once an emotional relationship is forged with the brand, either through the use of humour or quality educational material, it’s far easier to cultivate brand loyalty and drive repeat conversions. Compared to the old school method of “sell, sell, sell,” branded storytelling offers a nuanced, effective strategy for generating leads, converting them, and cultivating repeat customers.
Over the last three years, Lastminute.com has scaled up its programmatic capabilities and found new sources of revenue in letting other advertisers plug into its adtech stack. Now, it wants other brands build their own microsites that will be powered by its adtech.
The group’s media arm Travel People, which services both the sell-side businesses of wider business as well as the buy-side for clients, has developed a content management system (CMS) that other brands can buy into.
The tool was created after it found that 53% of senior marketers and business leaders said they refrained from creating custom website templates because it requires too much technical support.
Dubbed ‘ContentHub’, the feature is aimed at letting e-commerce and travel brands design their own microsites with built in digital advertising, being pitched as an alternative to “clunkier” offerings that require external plug-ins to run programmatic campaigns.
The product has so far only been piloted by Lastminute’s own brands including it’s flagship site. However, the company claims that the cloud-hosted platform is particularly well-suited to advertisers who need to manage multiple brands or languages consistently and at scale.
For instance, if a company like Emirates (which has not been named as a partner by Lastminute.com) wants to create content around things to do in Dubai, the brand could use the CMS to build a page to host that information but it could also emulate the design and copy in several languages in just a few clicks.
The big pitch to brands is that they can then also use Lastminute’s programmatic stack to “‘drag-and-drop” IAB and native ad formats on these content hubs and, in doing do, start to quickly generate publisher revenue for themselves.
Sites built using the tool are also optimised for mobile, SEO and SEM. Video, social feeds and other media can be easily embedded onto pages too.
See the video below for a demonstration of the technology.
So far, Lastminute.com has been trailing the tech on its own site, using the content solution to build branded microsites that highlight travel destinations or host seasonal campaign content. During this experiment, it’s been integrating digital ads and travel deals from its travel social network, Wayn.
The group’s chief commercial officer, media and partnerships, Alessandra Di Lorenzo explained: “We know how important it is for travel or e-commerce companies to have a solid content strategy that supports customer engagement and drives up customer return rates.
“Yet many brands we’ve spoken to face the same challenges as we did when it comes to managing their content and rolling out dynamic, data-driven and ad-optimised microsites at scale.
“That’s why we’ve combined our competencies and experience in media monetisation as well as travel, technology and design to produce a platform that is functional and aesthetically pleasing – but also very competitively priced.”
Lorenzo was tasked with separating the “lookers from the bookers” and monetising the former when she joined the business from eBay in 2015.
Last year, revenues for Lastminute group’s programmatic and media division were up 30% year-on-year, with the company having run some 1500 campaigns from over 300 different advertisers.
While Lorenzo didn’t reveal this year’s target, The Drum understands the business is on track to meet it.
The future of advertising via people’s cellphones is more about branded content – or ads that look like editorial articles – over internet display ads, a new report by researcher WARC suggests.
Businesses are still grappling with how to advertise to people via their phones, with 380 million mobile devices using ad-blockers worldwide. Consumers are blocking ads on their cellphones in greater numbers than on PCs, with 236 million desktop devices using the software, according to analytics company PageFair’s most recent statistics, published in February.
More than half (55 percent) of the North American marketers WARC surveyed cited mobile-based branded content as a main focus of their marketing in five years’ time, with 47 percent of those in the EMEA region stating the same.
Meanwhile, only 19 percent of North American marketers said mobile internet display advertising would be a focus for future marketing, and 25 percent of EMEA marketers said the same.
This is partly because of new cellphone screen designs, WARC reported. “This is likely to stem from the expectation that screens and devices will become increasingly suited for consuming longer-form content, with mobile-optimized websites the norm,” it stated.
Businesses are also likely to be spending their marketing dollars on making sure their websites are high on Google mobile search results, with 33 percent of North American marketers predicting that this would be a focus in 2023 and 38 percent of EMEA marketers saying the same.
Going mobile
People are spending increasing amounts of time looking at websites on their smartphones. In 2012, the average amount of time people browsed online using their cellphones was 1 hour 17 minutes a day, and in 2017 that had risen to 3 hours 2 minutes daily, according to WARC.
TV is still the number one medium for advertising, with $138.3 billion spent this year, according to WARC data from 12 countries including the U.S., Brazil, China, Japan and the U.K. Advertising via mobile phones comes second, with $98.3 billion spent this year, ahead of desktop ads for the first time with $77.8 billion.
Marketers using other media for advertising are also experimenting with how best to communicate with people. Earlier this year, Viacom‘s Comedy Central TV channel started running two-and-a-half minute branded content spots once a month, instead of a series of shorter ads. It created a “Handy the Series,” short comic skits in which different brands could feature. Viewers don’t mind watching ads as long as they are entertaining, according to Chris Ficarra, Viacom Velocity’s executive vice president of integrated marketing.
“Let’s make them laugh,” is the channel’s approach, Ficarra told CNBC in February via email.
WARC’s report surveyed 616 marketers from brands and agencies in North America and EMEA online for its Global Ad Trends report published this week. WARC also sourced data from research partners in 12 countries.
