Facebook announced new rules for people who publish sponsored content on their Facebook pages late last week. Before we dive into the Facebook branded content policy update, let’s take a look at Facebook’s history with branded content.
Branded Content is Facebook-speak for sponsored posts, as stated in their Branded Content Guidelines: “We define branded content as a creator or publisher’s content that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value.”
Last year Facebook rolled out new rules and a branded content tool to use when posting branded content to a page. The tool was limited to pages with blue check verification. Influencers and page owners immediately began applying for verification, with mixed results. We saw huge pages with over 1 million followers turned down, and small pages with only a few thousand approved, and then, a few months ago, they took away the ability to apply for verification. This was frustrating to page owners who had not yet received verification, but wanted to be able to share branded content.
Enter the newly updated branded content rules…
What You Need To Know About Facebook’s Big Branded Content Update
Facebook has decided to make the branded content handshake tool available to pages that aren’t verified. The Facebook branded content tool application can be found here. You will be asked to choose the page on which you would like to share branded content from a dropdown of all the pages you admin.
When you click send on the request, you will get a pop up box telling you Facebook will process your request in 2 business days, and you will be notified if accepted. This notification will appear in your regular Facebook notifications, as well as in the support inbox for the page which requested access to the branded content tool.
The Updated Facebook Branded Content Policy
It’s important to read through the entire branded content policy to make sure you are not violating Facebook’s rules before you create a branded post on your page.
What happens if your post doesn’t follow the rules? Facebook says:
Pages that post branded content in violation of our policies will get a notification letting them know what needs to be corrected. We will no longer remove violating posts; instead, violating posts will still appear on a publisher’s Page, but will be hidden from News Feed. Publishers can restore News Feed visibility by fixing the violation.
How To Use The Facebook Branded Content Tool
Once your page is approved for the branded content tool, you will see a new icon that looks like a handshake when you compose a post on your page.
Click on the handshake icon to tag your sponsor’s page.
The post will show up in your followers feeds with the sponsor’s page linked and will include the word “paid” by the time stamp.
Important note about disclosures: You still need to follow the FTC guidelines for sponsored social shares and include “AD” or “sponsored” in your post. If your post includes a link, the disclosure must appear before the link.
The sponsor will be able to see the same analytics for your Facebook post that you see as a page admin. They will also have the option of creating an ad with your post (boosting it).
So far, we are seeing pages get approved very quickly, within the two business days, so hopefully you won’t have to wait long after submitting your request for the tool. It will be important to have this in place when you are sharing branded content on Facebook moving forward.
Have you started using the Facebook branded content tool on your page? Share your experiences in the comments. We’d love to hear about any issues or successes you have had with branded content on your pages.
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I actually applies 3 times because I never received the notification that I had been accepted. Until check my post box and seeing the handshake – I had no clue. So just note they may or may not actually notify you.
Hi Joely, Great article! Q: Say your post mentions a brand you sell in our store. You are not being compensated for the post in any form (eg. you are just a reseller). Do we need to use the Branded Tool then? Does this apply to paid ads as well? Thank you in advance! Karen
This is really helpful–thank you for sharing!
I can’t get my blogs page to pull down when I clicked on the link to choose which page to apply for. It pulled down my works page which I manage for them, and an old deactivated “fun” page not even active. but not my blogs page. i can’t figure out how to apply for it. I do have it linked to my personal page, but it does have it’s own personal fb log in as well. anyway to figure out how to apply for this?
Try logging in with the other credentials and see if it is available on the dropdown. If that doesn’t work, I would try sending a message to Facebook letting them know!
Hi Tracie,
I am just posting this because it is relevant to your conversation. I’m sure you will be allowed to post the link to your post there as what you have observed NP.
Sarah is a lawyer friend of ours and there has been some developments that are stomping on the little people. I believe this is just a ploy to insure that big brands get more.
Here is the link to the thread. ~ https://www.facebook.com/hawkinssara/posts/1448159901881908
We love Sara. 🙂
Thanks for sharing the link – that’s a great conversation happening on her page.
I sometimes share information about a product or share recipes from a brand I love (with their consent). But I don’t receive any compensation or product in exchange for the post. Can I still promote my post on Facebook without using the branded content tool? Example: “Today on the blog I’m sharing three recipes from Kraft”. Link would go here. I would tag Kraft and link to my blog post.
If you are not being compensated by money, product, or any other value, and you are highlighting a product you love organically within your blog post, this should be fine.
It is quite possible that Facebook will think the post is sponsored, and will flag it, due to the mention and tagging of the brand. If that happens Facebook will send you a notification letting you know the post will appear on your page timeline but will not be served to your followers’ newsfeeds. You would then need to send an appeal letting Facebook know the post was not branded content.
For this example, it may be easiest to share the post on your blog without tagging the brand, so you don’t risk having the post flagged. This would be acceptable since the post is truly not sponsored and there is no exchange of value.
Any insight into how to handle affiliate links?
If you are sharing an affiliate link on Facebook, you will need to use the tool, tagging either the affiliate company (example: Amazon) or the product brand (example: Playschool Toys).
I suggest following up with each affiliate network you partner with to see how they would prefer you to handle tagging, and to ensure you can operate within their TOS while also following the FB guidelines.
Question: What if I am NOT being paid to create the post that mentions a brand?
Scenario: If I receive product to create a blog post (not money), and then I also share that blog post on Facebook (not b/c the brand requires it but b/c I like to share all my posts)… does that have to use the branded content handshake? B/c I am not getting “paid” to create that FB post.
So I guess my question is – does this apply to ANY AND ALL content that so much as mentions a brand? Or just to social shares that have specifically been required and compensated by the brand? TY!
Julie from my understanding of FTC Guidelines which Facebook says we must still follow in regard to their “Handshake” tool, we ARE required to include “in kind” (trading services, product, etc) work.
Anytime you represent or work for or through a brand, media group, etc even if you state you did not like the products, you are still working for someone, even if all you got was “stuff”.
When you are NOT given product, or paid, say you decide to write about something you already had in your home or something you paid full price for, then you do not need to do this as there was no direct brand involvement.
Joely is completely correct! If you receive the product from the brand for free, in exchange for a review, you will need to use the branded content tool on Facebook when you share your post (and disclose with a FTC-compliant disclosure). In this instance, you would need to use the tool even if they didn’t require the Facebook post.
If you are mentioning a brand without any compensation or product exchange, you should not use the tool.
I wasn’t aware of this change, thanks for outlining it. No, I haven’t used the branded content tool yet.