Whitelisting on social media seems to be the new buzzword these days. It has captured the fancy of one and all. Our friends in the software industry are well aware of the terms whitelist and blacklist, or as some prefer to call it, allowlist and blocklist. But for commoners, it’s googly. Not many are aware of how social media platforms work. A majority of the elderly population still believes that entertainment is the sole purpose of social media platforms.
Looking at the influencer-generated content through the prism of advertising has been an eye-opener for many of us. But it still is a relatively new concept. It is evolving with each passing day, and so are we. Marketers keep trying out new methods to drive up the sales for brands.
The digital marketing world is so full of marketing jargon and terms that it’s hard to keep up with the ever-growing list. But as an influencer, you should be aware of what is happening in your field. These days everyone seems to be talking about concepts like influencer whitelisting, dark posts, and KOL.
As an influencer, there’s more value attached to your word if you are a KOL. Here’s how you can become a KOL!
Are you ready to take a dive into these uncharted waters and understand what these terms mean?
Yes?
Then let’s explore all about social media influencer whitelisting and start with the most obvious and basic question:
What Is Influencer Whitelisting?
In a world where the word of the finger rules, this is another paid ad strategy. In whitelisting, an influencer grants permission to their partner brand to access their back-end social media ads manager. This gives the brand the freedom to run ads through the influencer’s social media profile. The brand can target specific audiences, amplify influencer’s content to drive sales up.
Using influencer whitelisting brands can:
- Control a post put up by the influencer.
- Create a dark post. For starters, dark post means content explicitly created for paid advertising, but these don’t show up on influencers’ feeds.
- Edit your posts. Brands can make minor tweaks to the paid content posted by you.
- Increase the life of the post. Dark posting gives brands the ability to reach even more people.
On the brand’s side, get a glimpse into what Dark Posting is and how it impacts your campaigns!
Whitelisting is largely mutually beneficial for both influencers and brands. While brands can reach like-minded audiences through social ad targeting, influencers get exposed to a broader engaged, new audience. Both parties can check performance metrics. While brands get insights into campaigns, influencers get a deeper understanding of what followers like. Whitelisting helps build trust between brands and influencers.
What Is The Difference Between Whitelisted Ad And Brand-Owned Ad?
Under the paid-partnership deals, influencers often post content marked as “paid partnership” or “ad”. Brands then repurpose this user-generated content as brand-owned paid ads across various channels on their account.
On the other hand, influencer whitelisting lets brands run ads using an influencer’s account, making it look like an organic post. And you already know by now that they can even alter the original post.
What Are The Benefits Of Whitelisting For Influencers?
Likes and comments on influencer content are great for organic engagement and brand awareness, but those metrics do not entirely convert to sales. And here is where whitelisting comes in to improve RoI. At a glance, whitelisting seems to bolster brands’ position even further, but it’s not entirely true. Influencers too can enjoy a few benefits:
1. Enhanced reach
While the brand boosts the post to generate ROI, you can enjoy better reach and engagement.
When it comes to social reach vs engagement, here’s everything you need to know about how they differ from each other!
2. Increase in follower count
Whitelisting can multiply your fanbase many times over, as a brand shares your content with a wider audience.
3. Build reputation
Whitelisting can be a great opportunity for you to gain recognition. Associating with a trusted brand can help you get more jobs too!
4. Long-term relationships
If you run a campaign – and run it well, it gives you a chance to forge a stronger bond with the brand. They can consider you for future campaigns.
5. Greater insights
Whitelisting allows you to get better insights into how the audience is connecting with your content. This can give you a better understanding of the values of your followers, besides driving results for the associated brand.
Challenges Of Whitelisting For Influencers
Getting on board with whitelisting could be a difficult decision to make for any content creator. But the challenge doesn’t end here. Here are some roadblocks an influencer can encounter:
1. Trust factor
Trusting the brand enough to grant access to your profile could give anyone chills. Not that brands like to take influencers for a ride, but considering that your privacy is at stake, granting access to your account is a big challenge. Before you click on allow, make sure you trust the brand.
2. Contract terms
Vague contracts can create issues even before the partnership begins. Ensure that you refine the guidelines like the level of access, duration, frequency, additional payments, besides specifying which posts brands have advertising rights.
3. Editing rights
Having clear guidelines regarding editing rights could be a pain point. If the brand’s edits to your post don’t align with your image, it could ruin the relationship. Clearing all these well in advance is the only way out.
4. Other pacts
Before you sign the deal, you must ensure that this pact won’t come in your way in getting new gigs.
5. Inundating the audience
With whitelisting you jeopardize inundating your audience with the same post showing repeatedly. It can harm the reputation of both the brand and the influencer.
Best Practices
- Having a trusting and healthy relationship is a must for both influencers and brands. Starting with clear guidelines is a good practice.
- As in all relationships, here, too, communication is the key. Specifics written in clear language are a must for a healthy campaign.
- Putting everything in writing can save you from any future embarrassment. Contracts are essential for any sustainable collaboration.
- Keeping track of your metrics and results helps you define your success and get more jobs in the future. The whitelisted posts run through the Ads Manager and can be fully tracked and measured, from impressions and clicks to conversions.
How To Sign Up For Influencer Whitelist?
Brands and influencers can come together with whitelisting on Instagram and Facebook. As of now whitelisting is not available on any other social media platform, but you can manually replicate the process over TikTok and YouTube. So, if you are ready to give permission to the brand to access your posts on social media platforms, things are not very difficult. Here’s all that you need to do:
For setting up whitelisting on Facebook:
- Go to business.facebook.com and log in to your Facebook account.
- Create a Business Manager account if you don’t already have one.
- Connect your Facebook account.
- Select business settings and add your Facebook page.
- Grant access to your business partner
Getting the maximum ROI on your Facebook ads is important and you can achieve that in a few simple steps.
For setting up whitelisting on Instagram:
- After creating the Business Manager account, connect your Instagram account.
- Click on “Assign Partner” and add the Business ID of your partner brand.
Influencer whitelisting can be tricky. Are you, as an influencer, ready to up your game with whitelisting? When you scale your clout, consider a whitelisting strategy, as it can give you sway. You can reach a bigger audience without really having to spend a dime!
But the ultimate decision has to be yours and yours alone, as at atisfyre, we believe influencers are their own bosses! Our AI-based platform can crunch all the numbers for you all in one place, and backed by our precise machine learning, we can connect you to the right brand. For all these services and more, you need to simply sign up! Guess what – it’s free!
