Influencers are about to become more valuable to sponsors even if they don’t have a lot of followers. Instagram announced in a blog post that influencers who post content using the “paid partnership” tool will see an option that says “Allow Business Partner to Promote”.

This means that when influencers partners with a business to create a branded content post, the influencer can give them permission to turn the post into an ad or sponsored post.

Influencer marketing, where people with social media followers get paid to promote sponsors with brands or products, has gotten very popular because sponsors want to take advantage of the trust influencers have built with their followers to capture their attention.

Micro-influencers, who have less than 100K followers have actually gained more recognition because of their higher engagement rate with their audience. One of the biggest factors that are attractive to sponsors that affect their engagement is their authenticity, or their ability to relate with their followers, as compared to high-profile influencers.

Benefits of branded content ads

Creators have control over their posts. As a creator, you will need to use the branded content tag in your organic branded content in order for a post to be used in an ad. Note: You can only tag one business partner per branded content post, though you can work with more than one business partner. Control over organic and paid insights. When a creator’s branded content post is turned into an ad, the creator will be able to see increased engagement from their insights due to ad activity. However, your business partner will not have access to the organic insights of your post. Businesses that choose to boost a post will only have access to the paid insights from their ad in Ads Manager and will not be able to view the organic activity on a post. Businesses can benefit from expanded reach. With permission from a creator, businesses can promote a branded content post using Ads Manager, which will then appear as an ad on people’s Instagram feeds. Advertisers will have the ability to reach people who are relevant to your business, beyond the creator’s follower Branded Content on Instagram | Help Center

For nano-influencers, this is awesome

With this new feature, sponsors will be able to take advantage of more authentic content created by “average” people by turning their posts into ads.

It’s all about the authentic content.

Sponsors will be more willing to work with influencers who can provide any kind of valuable exposure, even if they don’t have a lot of followers if sponsors simply want authentic content.

The rise of hyperlocal promoters

We refer to creators and influencers as promoters on Paid Exposure, our influencer marketplace, because we believe that influencers play a different role once they decide to monetize their “influence” or their content.

Average people in a local area will be able to “promote” local businesses where their post’s effectiveness can be amplified to reach more of the local audience.

An apparel brand like Fükitt can launch a campaign associating with action sports by getting content from local skateboarders, surfers or snowboarders, that can be turned into ads even though they don’t have many followers.

Conclusion

This new Instagram feature that allows brands to turn Influencer posts into ads is going to be very beneficial for influencers without a lot of followers. Don’t underestimate the value of exposure that nano-influencers can provide for your business. It will be one of the most effective strategies for content marketing by producing authentic content that will resonate and build trust with your customers.