Included in your iHomeschool Network campaign is the sharing of the bloggers’ work on their Facebook pages. We also provide Instagram shares at no extra cost upon client request.
Naturally, your team will comply with both the FTC’s disclosure laws and Facebook’s terms of service—namely the branded content tool. (Facebook owns Instagram.)
To make sure that your team’s posts get shared on Facebook (and Instagram where applicable) in a timely manner that is compliant with both the FTC and Facebook, please take note of the details below. As with anything, going straight to the source (Facebook or Instagram help, in this case) is always your best way to learn and confirm the most up-to-date details.
This post is merely a starting point to help you or your Facebook page manager make the most of your investment in an iHomeschool Network blog post campaign. Read more about branded content directly from Facebook help and Instagram help.
What Your Bloggers See When Using Facebook Branded Content
When bloggers share their sponsored post on Facebook, they are required by Facebook’s rules to tag your business page (if you have one) with the Branded Content tool, indicated with the two hands shaking.
However, depending on the settings on your business page, they may or may not be able to actually publish that branded content share on Facebook. If you have not added them to your list of approved pages or if you have not allowed anyone to tag you in branded content, they will see warnings such as the screenshots below saying, “You don’t have permission to tag this business partner.” They can still publish their post, but it will not have the correct attribution back to your page as the partner.
When they get this message, it causes them frustration and sometimes concern that they’ve done something wrong. But the problem lies with your account settings.
Your Responsibility as a Business Tagged in Branded Content (on Facebook or Instagram)
To make sure that your bloggers are able to publish their branded content shares of their sponsored posts without any confusion or frustration, please have a plan. There are three ways to do this.
1. Turn Off Page Approvals Altogether
This option is easiest for the bloggers, and may be easiest for you if you don’t have someone to monitor your Facebook page closely through the campaign period.
If you leave page approvals off, then your bloggers will be able to tag you without any error messages. There will be no delay. You may turn off approvals during the period of your campaign and then revert the setting once your campaign is over, if you like. This is a good option if you don’t monitor your Facebook page at least once daily and want to have the broadest and soonest Facebook reach of the sponsored posts in your campaign.
Please be assured that even if you allow any page to tag you in branded content, you can always remove tags from individual posts that you don’t want tagging you. You maintain final say.
Adjust these settings for Facebook inside Brand Collabs Manager. Go to settings, and look for Tagging Approvals.
2. (Leave Page Approvals On But) Add the Facebook Pages of Your Bloggers to the List of Approved Pages
This option is equivalent to the first from the perspective of the bloggers, but it does require setup a few days before your campaign begins.
If you don’t want to allow any page to tag you in branded content and you also want the bloggers’ work to post as quickly as possible, the best option is to proactively—before your campaign begins—add the Facebook pages of your team to the Approved Pages section of your Branded Content Settings.
During the set up of your campaign, iHN will provide a list of your team’s Facebook pages. Then you can add those pages as APPROVED PAGES to tag you in branded content.
Again, please remember that even if you allow a particular page to tag you in branded content, you can always remove tags from individual posts. You maintain full control.
Adjust these settings for Facebook inside Brand Collabs Manager.
Branded Content on Instagram
For Instagram, the process is pretty much the same. You can turn approvals on or off. However, the settings are found only when logged into your business profile using the app.
SETTINGS →BUSINESS → BRANDED CONTENT
Perks of Branded Content
We realize that these rules on the part of Facebook make things a bit more complicated and time consuming. But we have to comply with Facebook’s terms of service. And you get massive benefits when the bloggers use branded content.
From your Branded Content dashboard or inside Ads Manager, you have the option to use those posts as ads or boost them to your audience.
I find it works best to go into your ads manager or business manager and select the post from the existing post area if you want to create an ad from a branded content post.
The boosted post will show in the newsfeed as coming from the original author not from you (although you are tagged in it as per the branded content tool).
This kind of ad has strong appeal with most homeschool audiences as it’s less direct and coming from a user instead of directly from you. Try it!