A Quick Guide to Facebook's "Branded Content" Feature (And Why You Should Use It)

What is Branded Content on Facebook?

Facebook defines Branded Content as "a creator or publisher's content that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value. Creators are celebrities, influencers or public figures. Publishers refer to media companies and entities. Business partners include brands, advertiser, marketers or sponsors."

Basically, Branded Content is a Facebook post that two different entities partner up on. In practice, Branded Content is a way for Facebook users to know when brands have paid influencers and others for special placement. You can tell if an organic post is Branded Content because it has a "paid" signifier next to the page name (if it's an ad, it will still say "sponsored").

Why Does it Matter?

At first, branded content sounds a lot like what happens when one page simply *tags* another. This also isn't really that different from when an influencer includes an #ad hashtag on their partner posts.

But the big benefit for brand marketers is that this feature gives both parties access to insights for each post. This means that neither party can hide the real metrics from the other. Your partner's posts will actually show up in your page's Insights tab as if you posted them yourself, and vice verssa. You'll also be able to share those posts natively on your own page—and include additional ad spend if desired.

Top Branded Content benefits:

• Both pages get post insights (on the post and in each page's Insights tab)
• Both pages can publish cobranded posts natively (without sharing)
• Both pages can boost the post with their own ad spend
• Brands can untag themselves from posts if needed
• Helps ensure your posts are compliant with Facebook rules

Note: In order to allow the partner to boost the post on their end, the original publisher needs to check the "Allow business partner to boost this post" box. (I'm not sure why you wouldn't check that, to be honest.)

  

Branded Content for Influencer Marketing

It's a safe bet that this feature was created with influencer marketing in mind. It gives brands great tools for controlling and amplifying an influencer partner's content. 

For example, let's say you're a clothing company who has partnered with a Facebook/Instagram influencer to reach a targeted, fitness-oriented audience. Part of your deal could be that they tag you in their post using the Branded Content feature. Once it's live, you'll then be able to increase that post's reach by boosting it on your end. The creator will be the author and the business partner will be listed in “Why Am I Seeing This Ad?”

On the other hand, you could also create your own post and tag the influencer as your Branded Content partner.

One potential downside to this? Some marketers may see the "Paid" signifier as having a negative impoact on the influencer's authenticity. Whether or not that's true, this is the safest approach given the recent FTC crackdown on nondisclosure. It's also, ya know, kind of nice and a little more ethical to be upfront about your ads. 

How to Use Branded Content

As of the past few weeks, the dooley media Facebook page has an admin menu item dedicated to controlling our page's Branded Content. This should automatically be available on your Facebook page, too, as long as it's blue verified. You can also request access using this form.

This new page lets you require approval before another page can tag you as a business partner. You can then white-list certain pages, too.

You'll start to see analytics about your Branded Content posts in the new Insights menu:

Once you have access, all you need is a partner! With the right team in place, you'll have access to create pretty much any type of Facebook post and share it as Branded Content on both pages. The accompanying ads can use most ad objectives, too.

Additional Resources

Here are some pages where you can learn more about this feature:

• Read Facebook's Branded Content Policies
• Read more about how it works.
• Read this Social Media Examiner article for an even deeper dive. (Note that it's from 2016 so a few things may be different.)
• Check out how to compose and publish posts.

Any questions? Had any success or failures with Branded Content yet? Let us know in the comment section, or shoot us an email.