Facebook™ seeks increasingly to make itself a friendly platform for brands and thought leaders. It does this by allowing them to create and share content in formats attractive to readers and easily recognisable as belonging to a business or professional. The latest form of such content is Facebook™ branded content.
What Is Facebook™ Branded Content and Who Can Create It?
What makes branded content easy to identify in a news feed is the with tag. This tag is used to show shared content in connection with specific products or businesses. It is, so to say, the Facebook™ version of an advertorial, where people can clearly see that what they read has been sponsored or endorsed by a company.
“This seems like a nice blend of content and advertising, so why am I not seeing branded content all over my Facebook™ news feed?” The main reason is that not everyone on Facebook™ can post this type of content. It’s only made available to verified pages, those with a blue-grey tick mark next to their name.
Verified pages belong to celebrities, media outlets and brands. If your page does not have the Verified badge yet, go here and follow a few simple steps to help you obtain verification.
The Main Features and Benefits of Facebook™ Branded Content
Now that we’ve covered the topic of who can publish Facebook™ branded content, we’ll examine why it is an important element in your social media marketing plan. In truth, this is one of the most direct ways in which your company can get more exposure, by being tagged and shared by important influencers. It is also (for now) a free channel in which you can promote your products on users’ news feeds.
Without any further delay, here are the main features of branded content, which can be shared on Facebook™:
1. A Flexible Medium for Sharing Endorsed Content
Provided you comply with the basic rules for creating branded content, you can really create it in any format you choose. Links, text, instant articles, photos or video, recorded, live or 360 degree video are all fair game. What is really important is that it is properly tagged, so that viewers can identify it as Facebook™ branded content.
Remember, this is third party shared content, meaning that you need to get in touch with influencers in your niche and arrange a barter agreement to share each other’s branded content on Facebook. This brings us to the number one benefit of this type of content: by sharing, the respective influencer is endorsing your business or products, and gives you exposure to their own list of followers.
2. You Can Share Branded Content On Your Own Page
Once the branded content in which your business is tagged is shared on Facebook™, you can re-share it on your own page, and even invest money to promote it as a boosted post. In this way, you maximise its potential exposure to your own followers and, potentially, to other influencers, who will want to re-share it and tag you.
3. Advanced Notification and Performance Insights
Sharing Facebook™ branded content is a win-win situation, both for the page doing the sharing and for the business being tagged and promoted. Both parties have access to an advanced insights panel, showing the performance of their posts, and the third party promoted business is notified every time an influencer tags or shares content about it.
Even if somebody simply shares the content on their Timeline, your Facebook™ page tag will remain intact, meaning you can measure the reach and CTR for every re-share of the content on someone else’s profile.
It remains to be seen for how long this free promotion tool will remain as effective as it is right now. There is no secret to the fact that Facebook™ continually reduces the effectiveness of organic reach in favour of promoted content. Until branded content becomes a paid option, companies with verified Facebook™ pages should try and make the most of it, while they can.