User-generated content is becoming increasingly sought after by brands as it creates relatable, lifestyle content which has been shown to perform better than brand-created content. Instagram is making it easier than ever for brands and creators to utilize this content by allowing more UGC formats to be boosted and used as part of a brand's paid ad strategy.
User-generated content (UGC) can help fuel a brand’s social media success. UGC gives brands credible social proof and relatable lifestyle content that can supercharge their marketing strategy. In fact, UGC has proven itself to be more effective at generating sales and engagement than brand-created content and, according to Instagram, adding UGC content to paid campaigns can increase CTRs and decrease CPAs, resulting in more successful, cost-efficient campaigns.
The concept of user-generated content has evolved over the years as its value has been increasingly recognized. Once considered voluntarily shared, organic customer content only, there is now an entire industry centred around creating paid content from creators and influencers. Whether completely organic or paid for by the brand, UGC content is a compelling and powerful tool when used to its full potential.
Along with re-branding Branded Content Ads to Partnership Ads in May 2023, Instagram also made it easier than ever for businesses to reap the benefits of UGC by allowing brands and creators to partner to boost and promote more types of user content in their paid campaigns.
Here are six ways brands can partner with creators and use user-generated content through boosted partner ads—including instructions on how brands and creators can access these tools.
Branded Content Tool Eligibility
Before we jump into the types of user content that can now be boosted and the steps for both brands and creators, let’s first take a look at what types of accounts have access to these tools, what the eligibility requirements are, and how accounts can enable Instagram’s tools.
Creator Accounts
To be eligible to participate in partner ads, creator accounts must:
- Be in good standing with Instagram and comply with Instagram’s Community Guidelines and branded content policies
- Be registered as either a creator or a business account on Instagram
- Find out how any sized account can upgrade to a creator account here
- Enable branded content tools to access partner ad tools
- Find out how to enable branded content tools here
Brand Accounts
To be eligible to participate in partner ads, brand accounts must:
- Comply with Instagram’s Community Guidelines and branded content policies
- Enable the Branded Content tools to access the required tools
- Find out how to enable branded content tools here
6 Boostable UGC Formats and How to Boost Them
1. Paid Partnerships Ads
Brands and influencers are probably already familiar with the Paid Partnership label. It has been around since 2017, and the tag is visible at the top of a post, just under the handle on sponsored posts. First introduced to help disclose sponsored posts, it was limited to certain accounts, but today, any creator or business account on Instagram has access to the paid partnership tag. In fact, Instagram’s Branded Content Policies require all content that has been compensated or gifted to be tagged as a Paid Partnership Ad for full transparency.
Influencer-created content is ideal for boosted paid ads as brands generally allow an influencer to use their unique voice to produce a creative concept, provided with brand guidance, talking points, CTA’s, etc., to ensure the content is aimed at pushing results for specific marketing goals and objectives. When boosted, the brand is able to amplify the unique content along with the desired brand messages.
Creators:
How to publish a post with a branded content tag:
When you publish your post:
- Within the publish screen, go to “Advanced Settings” at the base of the screen
- Tap “Add paid partnership label”
- Search for the brand’s Instagram account
- Toggle on “Allow Business Partner to promote”
When you publish your story:
- Select the tag button at the top of the story creation screen
- Tap “Add paid partnership label”
- Search for the brand’s Instagram account
- Toggle on “Allow Business Partner to promote”.
How to add a branded content tag to an already published post as a creator:
If you’ve already published a feed post, you can add the partnership label after the fact:
- Press the three dots next to your post, and click “edit”
- Tap “Partnership label & ads” OR “Edit” and “Add paid partnership label” under your handle
- Toggle “Add paid partnership label” on
- Tap “Add brand partner” and search for the brand’s Instagram account
- Toggle on “Allow Business Partner to promote”
Tag a branded partner on a published story:
- Tap on the three dots at the base of your story
- Select “Partnership label & ads”
- Tap “Add brand partner” and search for the brand’s Instagram account
- Toggle on “Allow Business Partner to promote”
Brands:
How to approve or decline a pending request
When a creator tags a post as a paid partnership with a particular brand and the creator is not yet approved as a partner, a request will be sent to the brand.
To review a pending partnership ad request:
- In the Instagram app, tap Settings and Privacy
- Tap Creator or Business, depending on your professional account type
- Note: Some accounts may see Creator tools and controls or Business tools and controls instead
- Tap Partnership ads
- Tap Ad partners
- Tap Pending requests, then tap Approve or Decline
Brands can approve creators up front:
- In the Instagram app, tap Settings and Privacy
- Tap Business tools and controls
- Tap Branded Content
- Tap Approve content creators
- Type in the creator’s handle and tap “Approve”
2. Branded Collaborations
Branded collaboration posts are partnerships between two or more parties that don’t necessarily involve compensation or gifting. Instead, they involve working jointly toward a shared goal, generally in a way that will provide similar value to all parties. Often, these posts are geared towards gaining awareness and reach.
A collaboration post is authored by one account, inviting additional accounts to collaborate. Popular examples of collaboration posts include co-branded giveaways and co-branded events or product launches, but can also include when two content creators team up, or a brand and creator work together to create a collab post. All partners’ handles appear at the top of the post, which is shared with all partnering account followers; post engagement is shared, allowing all parties to equally share the benefits and view the shared analytics.
As of May 2023, Instagram allows brands to boost collaboration posts. The content of this type of post is often geared toward generating awareness and reach, making it ideal to boost for ad campaigns with top-of-funnel goals.
How to boost Collaboration posts:
A collaboration post can be authored by either the brand or the creator. If authored by the brand, they have full access to boost the post on their end. If authored by the creator, there are a couple of scenarios:
- The content creator can boost the post
- The content creator can provide the brand with a partnership ad code, which gives access to the brand to boost the post
How to create a Partnership ad code:
- Tap the three dots in the top right corner of your post, story or reel.
- Tap “Partnership label & ads”.
- Turn on the “Get partnership ad code toggle”.
- Note: You can stop a code from being used by turning the toggle off again.
- The code will appear. Tap “Copy” to save it to your clipboard, or tap “Share” to send the code in a direct message to the brand’s Instagram handle.
Brand:
From the brand’s side, the brand’s account must be a business account with branded content tools enabled.
How to create a partnership ad in Ads Manager using the partnership ad code
- Go to Meta Ads Manager and select +Create.
- Select one of the following objectives eligible for partnership ads:
- Awareness
- Traffic
- Engagement
- App promotion
- Sales
- Leads
- On the ad set level, select your budget and schedule, audience, placements and optimization and delivery. Click Next.
- At the ad level, under the Identity section, turn on the partnership ad toggle.
- Under Identity, click Enter partnership ad code.
- Paste your code. You will see a preview of your ad.
- Choose the Partner identity you would like to appear as a second account in your ad’s header.
- Tap Done.
- Finish setting up your ad, choosing your creative, call to action and destination. Click Publish.
- Once you’ve created your ad, it will be reviewed by Meta and you’ll be notified when it’s approved
3. Mentions
A brand mention happens when a customer makes a post and mentions you with either a tagged mention (@mention) or just types out your brand name. Customers typically mention brands when talking about or sharing their experience, which creates valuable, organic social proof and a genuine customer review for the brand.
Unlike with influencers or other brand-created content, mentions are genuine and voluntary customer-created content, which can increase brand trust and credibility with potential new customers. Consumers are increasingly turning to social sites to research brands and learn more about them before making purchasing decisions. Customer-created social proof is a way potential customers can confirm that a brand lives up to its promise from actual customers.
Tagged mentions are one of the easiest ways a brand can find voluntary, organic customer-created content, and as of May 2023, brands can now boost them as part of their brand-paid ad campaign.
That said, good quality and on-brand mentions may be challenging to come by, so brands should be on the lookout. Brands are notified when tagged mentions (@mention) are created but will need to manually search for mentions where their brand name is written in the caption. Brands should keep an eye out for genuine, on-brand mentions that perform well on the creator’s account to boost to a paid ad campaign. We always recommend reaching out to the user via DM or comment and asking for permission before reposting their post or using it in an ad. Once permission is granted, you can send them the instructions below.
How to boost mentions:
Creator:
Once eligible on the creator’s end, the creator can then generate a Partnership Ad Code to provide to the brand which gives them access to promote the post.
How to create a Partnership ad code: see the Creator’s Partnership ad code instructions in point #2 above.
Brand:
From the brand’s side, the brand’s account must be a business account and have branded content tools enabled on the account.
How to create a partnership ad in Ads Manager using the partnership ad code: see the brand Ads Manager instructions in point #2 above.
4. People Tags
Similar to mentions, customers and users can also tag your brand in user-generated content through a people tag on their photo or video, and as of May 2023, you can now boost people-tagged posts as part of your brand’s paid campaigns.
Like a mention, customers often tag a brand when they share their experiences with their products, services, or physical location, making people tags a valuable opportunity for customer-focused social proof, relatable lifestyle content, and searchable branded content for those wanting to learn more about your brand.
Boosting tagged content can work for any brand on Instagram, and content can easily be found in the tagged tab on the Instagram profile. Boosting tagged content provides the opportunity to boost on-brand lifestyle content and customer reviews and amplify results through paid ads.
How to people tags mentions:
Creator:
Once eligible on the creator’s end, the creator can then generate a Partnership Ad Code to provide to the brand, which gives them access to promote the post.
How to create a Partnership ad code: see the Creator’s Partnership ad code instructions in point #2 above.
Brand:
From the brand’s side, the brand’s account must be a business account and have branded content tools enabled on the account.
How to create a partnership ad in Meta Ads Manager using the partnership ad code: see the brand Ads Manager instructions in point #2 above.
5. Product Tags
If you are an e-commerce brand and have an Instagram shop with an active inventory, any Instagram user can tag your products in their content, depending on how you’ve chosen to manage branded product tags. Customer content that includes product tags offers loads of value to a brand by featuring a product in a genuine way and transforming the post into a digital storefront for the brand, making the shopping experience even easier for new customers.
Brands can manage how people use product tags by allowing anyone to tag them or approving certain creators and removing product tags from individual content when necessary. Brands receive a notification when someone tags their products, and tagged posts can be found in the tagged media tab on a brand’s Instagram profile, making this type of content easy to access.
Using product-tagged UGC content in your paid ad campaigns allows your brand to boost shoppable posts that feature genuine and authentic opinions from real customers. It provides valuable social proof while streamlining the shopping experience and making it easier for customers to browse your products and make a purchase.
How to boost product tags:
Creator:
How to create a Partnership ad code: see the Creator’s Partnership ad code instructions in point #2 above.
Brand:
How to create a partnership ad in Ads Manager using the partnership ad code: see the brand Ads Manager instructions in point #2 above.
6. Account level partnerships
There are often cases where brands work with several brand ambassadors, have contracted a creator to be the face of their brand, or have long-term, ongoing partnerships with creators and influencers.
There are many benefits to these relationships, but one of the largest benefits is that creators develop their content independently, meaning creators can produce ongoing content tailored to their accounts and followers without the brand devoting ongoing resources to manage the content.
With this type of partnership, brands can be granted account-level partnerships from the creator’s account and have access to boost any content from the account where the brand is tagged. This allows the brand to have continuous access to boost content as content is created.
Creator:
Brands can request account-level access to branded content.
How to approve or decline a pending request
- To review a pending partnership ad request:
- In the Instagram app, tap Settings.
- Tap Creator or Business, depending on your professional account type.
- Note: Some accounts may see Creator tools and controls or Business tools and controls instead.
- Tap Partnership ads.
- Tap Ad partners.
- Tap Pending requests, then tap Approve or Decline.
Brands:
Brands can send account-level partnership ad requests in Meta Business Suite.
How to send a partnership ad request in Meta Business Suite:
- In Meta Business Suite, click Settings in the top right corner.
- Select Ad partnerships.
- Click Add partnership in the top right corner.
- Search for the partner’s username, then select their account.
- Click Next.
- Now, you can select your business’s Instagram account. Partnership ad permissions will be toggled on by default.
- Click Next, then click Send request.
- The partner will now receive the permission request in-app. Once they accept, the partnership will be established, and your brand can create partnership ads with this partner without any additional permission requests.
Instagram is making it easier than ever for both brands and creators to take advantage of creator partnerships and user-generated content.
Creators have been given additional opportunities to leverage their influence and expand their opportunities when creating content, while brands can better optimize their ad campaigns and content strategies with more access to organic user-created content.
