Instagram has announced it is making it easier for advertisers to promote organic branded content posts following a trial running since November last year. It’s one of the biggest requests from brands, according to Instagram. So why have they made this move?
Simply put, brands want to reach more people, influencers' (Instagram calls them Creators) content attracts more favourable results than when amplifying their own content and this is good for brands and the Facebook & Instagram family business.
Our data repeatedly shows audiences respond up to three times better to influencers' content, outperforming the brands own content almost always.
This effect is also replicated when amplifying those posts too. Giving brands a compelling reason to re-route more advertising dollars to Facebook or Instagram.
A percentage of every influencer plan’s budget should include a content amplification budget too reach a much wider pool of people with the content the brand and influencer have worked hard to co-create.
Even a meek media budget can elevate the program to reach into the millions. Amplifying influencers posts on behalf of our clients is something we always recommend because of the strong results we see.
Practically, this change will make our lives much easier executing those programs (which is a very manual and fiddly process at times right now), it will give the sponsoring brands much more integrated access to the data and gives Influencers the opportunity to get much more exposure than we have seen to date with brand partnerships.
It’s also a really positive demonstration from the social giant that Influencer content is not just effectively organically, but as "advertising content".
With potential to engage beyond just their own loyal followings and reach more mass audiences effectively. Judging by the continuing support Facebook is showing, it’s also a trend they believe in and the strength of the content will help their advertising solutions work harder for brands and unlock more ad dollars.
This development could also bring a better level of accountability for Measurement around Influencer Marketing activity, which many still measure on ‘potential reach’ based purely on the number of followers someone has.
Anyone with any experience in Social Media will know that it is a rare anomaly for anyone, influencer or brand, to reach 100% of their followers organically. (I invite all marketing teams to question that metric if it is ever presented to you).
Dashboards should now measure accurately on metrics like erach, engagement and where the audience receiving that content is in the world.
The potential downside? This development does mean Facebook and Instagram will have a bigger grip over Influencer performance and there is a risk they will become more subject to the will of algorithm changes.
However, those who work hard to maintain a strong connection with their audiences through organic content will continue to see strong engagement which in turn, should keep them in feed for their loyal followers.