Facebook aims to give more transparency around brand-influencer relationships

Facebook is updating the language for its Branded Content tag — putting more transparency around brand-influencer relationships — and rolling out the Brand Collabs Manager tool in more countries. The company says it’s also testing new ways for brand Pages to tag other Pages belonging to influencers, and looks to roll out new tagging features next year.

Why marketers should care

Previously, Facebook’s Branded Content tag included the work ‘Paid’ at the top of the posts.  Now, the tag will include the words “Paid Partnership” and have an “About this Partnership” icon that links to more information about the relationship between the Page sharing the post and the company behind the branded content.

With these latest updates, Facebook is giving brands the opportunity to better disclose relationships with collaborators on the platform by giving followers more context on branded content posts.

“In all of this, our guiding principle is transparency: to ensure that people correctly understand the nature of the relationship behind the content in their feed and for brands and content creators to easily and accurately share partnerships on Facebook,” writes Maria Smith, Facebook’s director of product for News Feed and media monitization.

Brands have long used influencers to help promote content on Facebook, but disclosure of such relationships has been lagging. Two years ago, Facebook dropped its branded content policies, allowing publishers and other verified pages distribute branded content for free. A year later, it updated its branded content policy, giving more Pages the ability to share branded content, but adding the word ‘Paid’ to posts with branded content. Now, with the new language on the Branded Content tag and the “About this Partnership” link, brands and influencer relationships will be more transparent.

Facebook is also expanding access to its Brands Collabs Manager tool internationally in the coming weeks, rolling it out in India, Germany, Mexico, Thailand and The United Kingdom. First launched in the U.S. in June, the Brands Collabs Manager helps brands identify and partner with creators to promote sponsored content.

More on Facebook’s branded content news

• Facebook says it is looking to roll out new features next year that would make it possible for Pages to tag other Pages — an option that’s not currently available outside of the branded content tool. For example, a Page belonging to a professional sports team could tag a professional athlete’s Page in a “non-financially motivated” post.
• The company is also testing new ways for marketers to disclose sponsor relationships and affiliate marketing relationships, making it possible to denote such partnerships within the content of a post versus a label on the post.
• Facebook reports posts that included the Branded Content tag delivered an average ad recall lift of 13 percentage points for brands.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.