by Google
Advertising has become a common part of social networks, and Instagram is no different. Influencers engage in various paid collaborations, create sponsored posts or stories, but the unclear rules of this social network can be confusing for creators, and they often don't know how to properly label an ad. For this reason, we decided to conduct a survey, study the rules, and create a simple guide for you, the creators, on how to do it.
• When do you (not) have to label an ad?
• Tagging using the paid partnership function
WHEN (NOT) DO YOU HAVE TO TAG AN ADVERTISEMENT?
Not every ordinary person finds it easy to recognize an advertisement on the Internet, especially if it is not visibly marked. Before we explain the correct way to label advertisements, it is important to look at what is considered advertising. Using a very simple definition, we can define advertising as the promotion, publication, support or communication of a product, information or opinions about a product or service, or an organization, with a focus on sales. That is, any promotional activity aimed at selling a product or service. This includes any commercial collaboration such as: paid collaboration, barter collaboration, discount codes, ambassadorships, PR packages, brand gifts, PR events, competitions and others.
EXAMPLE OF COMMERCIAL COLLABORATION:
All of the above types of commercial collaborations are considered advertising and must always be marked without exception. You can even receive a very high fine for not marking an advertisement on Instagram.However, if it is not a commercial collaboration, but voluntary support of the brand based on excellent experience, then the creator does not have to mark his post as advertising and that is completely fine. What do we mean by this and how can we tell the difference?
Imagine this situation. A Swedish furniture company approaches an influencer with an offer to participate in a campaign aimed at spreading awareness of their new menu item, vegan balls. The influencer accepts the offer and, in return for a fee or other benefits, promotes the new menu on their social media. In this case, it is advertising and the creator must mark such collaboration.
From our own experience, we can show you an example of when we received free products through collaboration, which we presented on our social media. And since it was advertising, we added a visible tag #collaboration #ad to the story.
EXAMPLE OF LOVEBRAND SUPPORT:
In another case, this situation may occur. The influencer often and happily eats lunch at a Swedish furniture company in addition to shopping. He notices that they have a new item on the menu, vegan balls. He orders the new item, tastes it, and lets his fans know about it without any compensation. In this case, it is not a commercial collaboration and no advertising tag is required.
Another example from our practice was a situation where we bought cookies from a local pastry shop and, since they were very tasty, we decided to share them with our fans. However, since there was no collaboration, we did not use any of the advertising hashtags in the story. Can you see the difference?
While in the first case the influencer was approached with the aim of creating an advertisement for a given product for a fee or other benefits and actively participated in the advertising campaign, in the second case the influencer was not part of any pre-arranged marketing collaboration and let his fans know about the product spontaneously because he simply liked it.
HOW TO PROPERLY LABEL AN ADVERTISEMENT?
Now that you know what is considered advertising, it is very important to ensure that it is always visibly marked. There are several different labels on Instagram depending on the type of advertisement. In general, we could distinguish 2 basic ways of labeling commercial collaborations, namely labeling directly using Instagram tools built into the application or via hashtags.
TAGGING USING THE PAID PARTNERSHIP FUNCTION
In the case of Instagram tools, creators have the option to tag an ad using the “tag a business partner” function. They can do this both in posts and in stories on this social network, and the “paid partnership with XY” notification will appear in the upper left corner of each tagged photo or video. When using this type of tagging, influencers can also grant permission to promote their posts and stories to brands they work with.
TAGGING WITH HASHTAGS
The second and in Slovakia much more widely used way of tagging commercial collaborations are advertising hashtags, they often appear in Slovak or English under advertising photos or videos. Common advertising hashtags include:
1. #SPOLUPRACA OR #AD
You will never mess anything up by using #spolupraca or #ad. These are clear and universal hashtags that can be used for all types of ads. However, considering the audience you are addressing, we recommend considering which # will be placed in the post or story. If the influencer has an international audience, we recommend using #ad. On the other hand, if the creator is addressing Slovakia and the Czech Republic more, it would be more appropriate to choose #collaboration, or ideally both hashtags for a combined audience, in order to avoid a language barrier that can cause ambiguity in the advertising label.
2. #GIFTED
This hashtag is ideal for situations when an influencer receives a PR package or other gifts from various brands. It is important to mention that companies send PR packages to influencers for the purpose of visibility, i.e. advertising, and therefore even if the influencer does not receive any fee for mentioning the brand, it is still advertising and it is in the creator's best interest to clearly communicate to their fans that it is a PR package.
3. #PREVENT
Presenting a new product or opening a new business can also look like this. PR events. Their goal is nothing more than building awareness of their product or service, and therefore it is advertising. Influencers are often invited to PR events to use their influence on social networks, let their audience know about the news and thus contribute to the visibility of the brand. In this case too, it is impossible to forget to label the advertisement, for example in the form of #PRevent.
Hashtags such as #collaboration, #ad, #gifted or #PRevent are among the most used, but they are not the only # that can be used when labeling advertisements, their similar variations are also allowed, such as #advert, #advertisement, #PRday and many others. It is more or less up to the influencer to decide which advertising hashtag to use. The most important thing is that the advertisement is clearly and distinctly labeled.
With influence comes responsibility, including in the form of labeling commercial collaborations. We hope that today's post has clarified the topic of Instagram ad tagging for you, and we would be happy if you let us know which type of tagging you will be using. If you found this article helpful, please help us spread the word by sharing it.
