The Lion's Den
Influencer Whitelisting: Everything You Need to Know
Instagram Marketing
The growth of any marketing strategy is the different stages of evolution it undergoes, which is presently the similar phase of influencer marketing. Is there more to influencer marketing? Of course! What if I told you there’s a much better way to improve the effectiveness of this strategy? What if you had the opportunity to leverage your influencers’ wider reach without crowding their timeline or feed? Hold on, we’ll spill everything soon.
Daily, lots of monetization opportunities arise for content creators and brands in the influencer marketing industry and one innovative way through which this is achieved is through influencer whitelisting. Facebook and its not-so-little sister app, Instagram, have expanded their features that support a better partnership, enabling both brands and creators to optimize authentic ads.
So yes, there’s more potential in this branch of marketing with whitelisting and here we’ll be exploring this newest trend in the influencer marketing industry.
What is Influencer Whitelisting?
Whitelisting is a situation where an influencer grants or permits a brand partner to run ad campaigns under their social media accounts. Simply put, whitelisting occurs when an influencer grants a brand advertising permission through their social account. It’s a win-win strategy for both creators and brands.
One word this partnership largely depends on to be successful is trust. Trust is absolutely needed to be able to make the most out of whitelisting and that is why you must invest in finding the right influencer and building a genuine relationship. Once an influencer grants this permission, their page identities are open to the brand marketers so they can run campaigns from their ad manager.
Ideally, the permission can be granted either manually through their Facebook ad manager or through the service of whitelisting providers. Either way, you can easily optimize the ad content however you want it; edit copy or image, add CTA, etc.
How Brand-owned ad is Different from Whitelisted ad
Influencer marketing is about paid or sponsored posts on influencers’ accounts. It has far long been the most popular way to partner with social media influential creators over the years. Remember those tags on an Instagram post just below an influencer’s name —like, “paid partnership with (Brand)? Yeah, those are examples of sponsored ads or IGC.
However, whitelisting brings in a better partnership opportunity, when a brand takes these influencers generated content and flips it into a brand-owned ad. For example, the leverage to run and optimize ad content under this influencer’s account or handle. More so, whitelisting allows what is called dark post.
Dark posts are sponsored Instagram or Facebook posts that don’t show up on the creator’s timeline, page, or stories —that’s why the term “dark”. These posts also aren’t visible to the creator’s followers, unless the ad content was targeted at them, the influencer’s followers. In other words, brands can create as much ad content as they want without disturbing the influencer’s feed or page.
Benefits of Influencer Whitelisting
This high-performance, guaranteed, partnership comes with massive advantages to both parties —both parties because whitelisting is a mutually beneficial partnership. Some advantages or benefits include;
Wider Reach
One major benefit is the maintained organic approach and constant growth through compelling content that suits their audience. Brands usually pool together so many funds in creating video ads and other traditional marketing channels.
But what we have seen so far is that influencer content appeals more and can generate higher conversion. So, by opting for whitelisting, brands will have to spend less on ads while getting a greater result. This is because when these contents are created through the brand channel, they elicit more responses and visibility owing to the brand’s prestige, value delivery, and reputation over time.
Therefore, as a reward for giving access to the brand, the influencer’s content and personal brand identity will begin to gain massive traction, more interaction with loved up intending followers, and more following which means more money in the end. The cycle repeats and both parties go to the bank smiling. This way, everybody wins.
Attract Similar Audiences
This is another upside to whitelisting and is popularly referred to as LAL (Lookalike Audiences). In this case, the concerned brand partner can utilize influencer content and make it available to more people who are likely consumers of that content.
It’s a strategic, targeted option, as you get to see how much impact your content can make while the brand gets to critically analyze how many persons out there will be likely to consume these contents. They leverage on this, gain more responsiveness from similar audiences while you enjoy your reach without having to be a bore to your followers. They get to do all the hard work so you don’t have to.
Limit The Need To Exhaust Followers
One major magic this strategy brings to the table is that it helps in limiting the need to exhaust or bore your followers. Specifically, this means that brands create a post known as a dark post, which is a kind of social media ad post from Facebook or Instagram where the news feed of the influencer remains undisturbed as the created content doesn’t appear on his/her timeline, page or stories.
So, the influencer wouldn’t have to appear with multiple ad pages in the faces of their audience all day long because you wouldn’t need to post every ad directly to your page. This way, you don’t end up irritating your hard-earned followers and now you can go ahead to get multiple gigs while leveling up your brand game and making more money.
Measured Progress
We already know how important these partnerships can be and how expensive they could be when compared to traditional advertising. Therefore, it’s highly expected that this unique approach meets the set targets. Whitelisting promises measurable progress as it is structured in such a way that the concerned ads can be fully tracked and measured.
It’s more like knowing exactly where every dime from your paycheck is going. This means that the brands set up digital structures through google analytics to monitor impressions, click-to conversions, and even successful call to action. Everyone gets to see practically how much progress is made over time and what needs to be improved for more impact, reach, and finances.
.jpeg)
Choosing The Type of Content To Promote As Whitelisted Ads
Deciding to choose among alternatives can be a difficult choice, we are so careful not to make our choices a flop and it is quite understandable. However, when it comes to content creation, visibility and acceptance, one has to be really practical and try out some experimental stuff.
Though, you should always bear in mind that any strategy you choose to utilize should be one that doesn’t distort your central message and should also be one that has brought successful results in previous times. Certain factors in the test-and-invest methods when it comes to whitelisting potential contents for ads include;
Niche: Every influencer comes with their uniqueness and style. So coming up with content that meets your standard of a whitelisted ad can be way subjective. It makes sense to try out different influencers/creators and find out who is on the same page with your target audience. Bringing creators from different niches would not only spice up your brand message but would give you an idea of who’s got your audience’s heart.
For instance, you’d be amazed that your audience feels more engaged seeing content with a more crazy and flashy color mix rather than the bold natural aesthetic. Keep experimenting, till you’ve got a hold of what works best and garners the most engagements.
Copy & Creativity: This is also another critical factor to consider while thinking of shortlisting a post for whitelisted ads. This is because our proposed audience has different reactions to content, while some love written content, some might just prefer visuals more to notes. Therefore, becoming a sort of ache to you. In your best interest, experimenting in times like this shouldn’t go old. Try a variation of long captions, short captions, catchy headlines, visuals, and others analyzing critically to find that magic wand that keeps your audience most glued to your contents.
Call To Action: Also referred to as CTA, this is one of the most important when it comes to whitelisting as a whole because it’s the last step before a major action is taken by your audience. Action of purchases, correspondences, product reviews, and the likes is made possible through the call-to-action option. Strategically, try varying call-to-action prompts such as “Shop Now” instead of “Read More” to see what drives the most impact for you. Getting a good knack on this could make all the difference.
.jpeg)
Conclusion
Whitelisting remains a very powerful influencer marketing strategy when it is done the right way. It unlocks a chunk of possibilities to both the influencers and the involved brands, possibilities such as larger targeted reach, lower ad spending, more patronage. More so, certain practices such as a detailed written agreement between both parties, communication, tracking of progress, and building of trust can be a handful in ensuring a profitable successful partnership.
For Brands
We’ll help you find the perfect partners for your brand. Let our network of limitless Influencers build brand awareness and drive your digital traffic goals.
Book a demo
For Agencies
Finally, a platform that removes the heavy lifting of Influencer campaign management. Free your time to focus on your client’s creative strategy.
Book a demo