Influencer marketing has brought about a slew of options for brands looking to get their name out there and promote their products and services to the right audience. Amplifying content in the right way is paramount to growing your brand, especially if your focus is on social media – and with the rapidly changing and competitive landscape we find ourselves in, it’s important to try out and embrace new methods of advertising to help your business grow. In this article, we’ll be giving you the rundown on one such method that you may want to incorporate into your influencer marketing arsenal: influencer whitelisting.
What is influencer whitelisting/creator licensing?
Influencer whitelisting, otherwise known as creator licensing, refers to the practice in which influencers and content creators grant explicit advertising permissions to brands or marketing agencies, who can then make use of the influencer’s Instagram account (i.e. their content as well as their personal brand/social media handle) to run a form of paid advertising.
This method is slightly different from the typical approach because this type of direct access means that brands are using the influencer’s account itself for amplification of content featuring their brand, and not their own social media channels or platforms. It’s an interesting tactic that can somewhat be described as a crossover between authentic, organically-created content and paid social media advertising.
It may sound a little confusing at first, but don’t worry – we’ll clear up the differences and help you understand how this method works compared to typical influencer-brand partnerships.
Whitelisting vs sponsored posts
Generally, when thinking of influencer marketing on Instagram, brand sponsorships and paid-for posts come to mind. You’re probably familiar with these, wherein brands hire influencers to create sponsored content on their social media platforms to promote their products or services. This can also be in the form of an exchange where brands gift influencers with a new launch or something similar in exchange for the creator making content surrounding the brand or launch item, thereby promoting it to their audience directly. These posts will usually directly state ‘paid collaboration with [brand]’ somewhere and indicate that a brand collaboration is the reason the content was made in the first place. These sponsored content pieces are posted on the influencer’s digital channels under their name.
This kind of content is often repurposed by brands and is then referred to as UGC, or user-generated content – whether paid for or not, brands typically use UGC to create promotional posts on their own social media feeds or other digital channels such as newsletters, websites, and more. These posts can then be boosted using paid advertising methods, which is when you would see adverts appearing in your timeline under the brand’s social media handle or account name itself – not under the name of the influencer. In other words, this is your run-of-the-mill sponsored post that is explicitly created and posted by the brand in the form of a paid-for ad on social.
Compared to the above, influencer whitelisting is a little bit different. Once a brand has requested to begin this sort of arrangement with an influencer, and contracts and terms are discussed and set, the brand will use a form of ad management software such as Meta Business’ Facebook Ad Manager to assume control of the influencer’s social media account to run promotional ads directly in their name. This means that the ads for the brand will show under the direct name and handle of the influencer, and not of the brand itself. This means that users will see ads coming directly from the influencer’s social media channel, and featuring the brand, but the influencer does not need to control the advertising in this way – the brand does.
What does dark posting mean?
Now, this might sound interesting to you at first – wouldn’t this mean that the influencer’s social media feeds and stories would become overrun and cluttered with ads being run by the brand? Well, not exactly – that’s because these whitelisted ads are run in the form of dark posts, which are simply posts that don’t appear on the timelines of followers of the influencer themselves. These posts are instead only shown to the audiences being targeted by the brand using their ad management software and avoid the needless spamming of an influencer’s followers with tons of promotional content. This means that brands can create numerous versions of the ads and target them at different audiences to conduct testing and try out different approaches, or in other words, optimize their strategy by tailoring the content to different groups and directly promoting themselves to the audience they want to reach most.
Dark posts are a common phenomenon that you’ve likely come across on a variety of social media, as they exist on everything from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter, LinkedIn, and many more platforms.
Benefits for brands
There are a host of reasons why a brand may want to adopt the approach of this form of creator licensing on Instagram rather than going with traditional influencer marketing methods. For starters, influencer marketing is very saturated today as brands flock to social media to get the word out via content creators in their industry. Of course, this has also created an issue where audiences are less trusting of inauthentic, copy-paste content, particularly amongst younger generations who are spending lots of time on social media and are faced with hundreds of sponsored posts daily.
Therefore, the fact that the method of whitelisting influencer content provides the opportunity for varying iterations and deeper contextualization of posts to audiences makes it more likely that ads will resonate with them and make them more favorably received. It also means brands don’t solely have to rely on organic content to reach audiences, as this form of paid advertising inserts them directly onto the right people’s timelines.
Brands exhibit a greater degree of control over the content thanks to the ad management software, so they can edit or tweak influencers’ posts in terms of copy, whereas with traditional sponsored posts, the brand can’t change a thing once it’s been posted. It also means that the longevity of the ad is improved as it gets boosted over a period of time, relying less on the algorithm to show audiences the ad as opposed to traditional sponsorships, or stories that expire after only one day.
Of course, brands can build and strengthen their relationships with influencers by working with them in this capacity, as it helps them build up a repertoire of content creators who reliably make the content they would like to align their brand with. This can aid them in the future if they wish to engage in traditional partnerships or brand ambassador agreements.
Benefits for creators
Influencer whitelisting on Instagram doesn’t just help out brands and advertisers but opens up opportunities for the creators in question too. To echo the above, creators can enjoy deepening their relationships with brands as the other half of the equation, and can potentially secure future work with these brands in more formal capacities such as partnerships and brand ambassador programs. The extra work that participating in whitelisting brings about of course leads to more streams of revenue for influencers, which can help further legitimize their careers particularly if they are small creators, and help build a more secure position within the influencer marketing field.
Beyond this, influencers can enjoy the additional exposure and reach that sponsored ads will result in, as their content is shared widely with numerous audiences, potentially bringing about new fans and followers to their main account. It also frees up their ability to focus purely on content creation, as they don’t need to handle the advertising and sponsorship side of the equation – this means they can work on more enjoyable, highly authentic content that is possibly more creatively freeing for them to come up with, rather than needing to consistently follow strict guidelines and briefs.
Is whitelisting safe for influencers?
Influencer whitelisting can be safe for influencers if they exercise caution and diligence about the brands and campaigns they choose to work with. When an influencer agrees to be whitelisted by a brand, they are effectively granting the brand permission to run direct promotions for said brand, under the influencer’s name – so they need to be 100% sure this is a brand, as well as content that they would be comfortable being attached too.
It is vital for the whitelisting influencer to thoroughly research the brand and its products before agreeing to be whitelisted, to ensure that they align with their values and that they feel comfortable promoting them to their audience.
Additionally, it's also in the whitelisting influencer’s best interest to negotiate clear terms and expectations with the brand before agreeing to collaborate, including compensation, content requirements, and disclosure requirements. This can help prevent misunderstandings and ensure that the agreement is beneficial for both parties, protecting their mutual interests in the case of a breach or otherwise. If these conditions are met, then it’s certainly both safe and highly beneficial for influencers to take part in whitelisting.
How much to charge for whitelisting and licensing
The amount that an influencer should charge for whitelisting and licensing can vary widely depending on a variety of factors such as the influencer's level of expertise, their audience size and engagement rate, the duration of the campaign, and the scope of the licensing agreement.
Typically, influencers charge a flat fee or a percentage of sales generated through their promotions. Some influencers may charge a minimum fee for each post or story shared as part of the campaign, while others may negotiate a set fee for a specific period of time
For a simple way to find out how much you should charge for whitelisting on Instagram, we’ve created a handy tool that you can check out here.
What is an example of whitelisting?
Whitelisted influencer posts can be seen clearly in comparison to their usual sponsored posts based on their format and the name under which they appear – these ads clearly display the influencer’s handle rather than the brand as the main ‘poster’.
Key considerations for successful influencer whitelisting
As with all business endeavors, there are a few things to keep in mind to make your decision to make use of influencer whitelisting a successful one.
Keep communications clear and transparent. A relationship of any kind needs a solid foundation to be built on, and brands and creators need to work together for this arrangement to be fruitful and mutually beneficial. Expectations and terms should be hashed out from the start, which naturally includes a formally agreed-upon contract. Furthermore, any concerns or questions should be raised as they come up and both sides should remain receptive to hearing out the other to make sure things go smoothly.
Find the right influencers to work with. Since the influencer is at the forefront of your paid ad campaigns, it’s important to strike up whitelisting arrangements with the right content creators for your brand. Platforms such as HypeAuditor make this easier by offering Influencer Discovery features to find creators suited to your niche, as well as Analytics tools to vet them and their content to solidify your decision. This is particularly important since the ads are run explicitly under the influencer’s name, so features such as HypeAuditor’s Brand Safety Analysis can help make sure you preserve your reputation by finding brand-appropriate creators.
Don’t be afraid to change up your approach. Take advantage of the fact that influencer whitelisting gives you the freedom to run a variety of ads to different audiences. This will allow you to A-B test varying styles or captions, granting valuable insights for future marketing campaigns and letting you narrow down approaches that are most successful.
Conclusion
Influencer whitelisting has presented brands and agencies with a new and highly effective way to market themselves on Instagram to audiences new and old and should be taken into consideration in anyone’s influencer marketing strategy. Once you’ve established which platforms are the most vital for you and are populated with members or your target audience, you can go about finding influencers who focus on these platforms and begin your ad campaigns. As long as you understand the importance of managing your relations with influencers closely, and take the opportunity to experiment with and trial a range of approaches to these paid ads, you can reap the benefits of this form of creator licensing and use it to increase your presence in the influencer marketing landscape.
