At a press event in New York this past Tuesday, Instagram product lead, Ashley Yuki, revealed that the platform would be exploring more ways for brands to amplify content from influencers.
In simple terms, this means that brands could soon be able to turn Instagram posts created by influencers into ads on the platform.
At the moment, brands are unable to use influencers' posts featuring their products or services as ads, meaning these posts don't reach more than the influencer's or brand's organic following. But since December, Instagram has been testing new ways in which a brand could use partnership-created content as advertising. So far, the tests have received positive feedback from participants.
Yuki talked to a recent survey that revealed, "69 percent of users said they come to Instagram to interact with celebrities, and 68 percent said the same about influencers," reports Adweek. While this, and the move towards broader advertising rules for branded content, may come as music to some influeners' ears, others may not look upon the change so fondly.
At Tuesday's conference, Yuki was joined by several content creators, publishers and advertisers, who also shared their experiences regarding branded content on Instagram. Food blogger, Christine Yi, told guests that she didn't want to do branded content when she started her account, and that she has reservations about appearing to 'sell' products.
Yoola (a video network and distribution platform) CEO, Eyal Baumel, had a matter-of-fact stance on the changes. "It will help increase the reach for influencers’ content so they get free promotion, and Instagram will have new inventory to monetize," she said.
“It was just a matter of time until social media platforms tried to grab part of the branded content/influencer marketing pie, as they see billions of dollars in transactions that happen on their platforms, and some currently aren’t getting any of that.”
But Instagram maintains that as it begins to allow branded content as ads, the company will continue to focus on four key principles: transparency, integrity, measurement and authenticity.
Adweek reports that the latter, authenticity, garnered the most attention from panelists at the event on Tuesday. Many underlined the importance of moving past the, "transactional nature of branded content and showcase real relationships with people who are true fans of the brands and their products."
As part of this discussion, Yuki confirmed that Instagram is also continuing to develop tools that will help identify accounts using apps to generate fake follows, likes and comments.
This was something that a panelist from Neutrogena was keen to see evolve. “That’s one of the things I wish you guys would work on. I don’t want to hope—I want to know,” she said. “If Instagram could provide better measurement—and the ability to tie engagement to sales—I would love you."
