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chevron-downUpdate as of March 30th, 2017: We’re rolling out updates to make branded content more widely available to more creators, improving the post tag to be clear, and updating the policy to give creators/publishers more flexibility for featuring business partners.
The following is a summary of the three changes. Visit our Help Center to learn more. First, we’re enabling more creators to share branded content on Facebook by making the tool available to unverified Pages. We will add a ‘Paid’ label in the metadata to the branded content ‘with’ tag that will allow people on our platform to understand that branded content posts represent an exchange of value between the creator/publisher and a business partner. Finally, we’ve updated our Branded Content policy to refine the definition of branded content and allow certain promotional elements including the use of graphical overlays, watermarks, and logos in the creator’s post.
Branded content was one of the first forms of television marketing when soap operas were created and sponsored by brands in the 1930s. It evolved to product placement and sponsorships across TV and radio, and now includes digital editorial content that highlights a marketer’s product or service.
On Facebook, we define branded content as any post—including text, photos, videos, Instant Articles, links, 360 videos and Live videos—from media companies, celebrities or other influencers that features a third party product, brand or sponsor.
Today we’re updating our policies so publishers and influencers with verified Pages can collaborate with marketers to share branded content on Facebook through ads or organic posts. We’re also launching a new tool that makes collaboration on branded content easy and gives marketers more visibility into and control over all their efforts on Facebook.
Updated branded content guidelines
Our Pages terms and Ads Policy now allow certain types of branded content on Facebook and require publishers and influencers to tag the marketer in the post to make it clear that the post is branded content. For example, a juice brand may work with a parenting blogger to have their brand or product mentioned in a post on Facebook, or a car manufacturer and a sports network may create a collaborative post aimed at sports fans about the car. Publishers and influencers remain responsible for understanding their legal obligations to indicate the commercial nature of content they post.
In the example above, Intel is collaborating with Lady Gaga on this branded content post.
This update is something that marketers, media companies, public figures and influencers have asked for, as branded content is a growing and evolving part of the media landscape. People will now be connected to more of the content they care most about on Facebook as publishers and influencers gain an incentive to share more quality content—of all kinds—with their fans.
The branded content tool
Starting today, we will roll out a new tool that will enable publishers and influencers to tag a marketer in a branded content post. The marketer will be notified of the post and can access high-level post insights, including engagement and reach metrics, along with total spend and CPM on the tagged post. Marketers also have the option of sharing and boosting the post to drive additional value.
For brands and marketers, the new tool will introduce more transparency and allow them to better understand how their marketing initiatives are performing across Facebook. Additionally, marketers can now leverage branded content creative for ads and actively engage in sponsorships to ensure their campaigns are useful, interesting and entertaining to their target audiences.
Share branded content on Facebook
If you’re interested in sharing branded content on Facebook, connect with a publisher or public figure to develop your post. To build larger, custom content campaigns on Facebook, consider connecting with our Anthology team.
Learn more about getting started with branded content on Facebook in our help center article. Or read more about this update for publishers and influencers on our media blog.
