INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook next money-maker could be this tool for connecting marketers to social media creators so they can team up on sponsored-content
The Branded Content Matching search engine lets advertisers select the biographical characteristics of creators& fans they want to reach,
see stats about these audiences, and contact them to hammer out deals.
Leaked screenshots of Facebook promotional materials for the tool
were first attained and published in German by AllFacebook.de
TechCrunch has now confirmed with Facebook the existence of the test of the search engine
Facebook first vaguely noted it would build a creator-brand tool in March, but now we know what it looks like and exactly how it
works.
Even though Facebook will not actually broker or initially take a cut of the deals, the tool could equip brands with much more
compelling and original marketing content
That could in turn encourage them to spend more on Facebook ads to spread that content, while also making more entertaining and tolerable
the ads users see so they spend longer on the social network
By getting creators paid, even if not directly by Facebook, they&ll invest more in the quality of their content and size of their following
on the app instead of with competitors.
How Facebook influencer marketing search engine works
A Facebook spokesperson explained the motive
behind the tool like this
Facebook wants to help businesses find creators who can reach their target audience in an authentic way, while allowing creators a path to
monetizing their Facebook content and fan base
Creators opt in to participating in the test and set up a portfolio showcasing their audience size and metrics plus their best branded
content.Facebook is starting the program primarily with a set of lifestyle brands and creators.
Advertisers in the test can search for
creators with specific audience demographics using a wide range of targeting options
Those include both general and industry-specific parameters, like:
Top countries where they&re popular
Interests
Gender
Education
history
Relationship status
Life events
Home ownership status
Home type
The search engine results page shows a list of creators with each
audience match percentage to the search terms, percentage of their followers they reach, engagement rate, follower count and video views
Advertisers can save their best matches to private lists, and reach out to contact the creators, though Facebook is still figuring out if it
best to connect them through their Facebook Page or traditional contact info
One question is how Facebook will ensure it only connecting businesses to brand-safe creators who won&t get them in trouble by posting
racist, sexist or objectionable content the way star YouTuber PewDiePie did.
The deals for product placement or sponsored content creation
and sharing are then worked out between the brand and creator without Facebook involvement
The platform is not taking any revenue cut during the testing phase, but longer-term will evaluate whether it should
The only thing Facebook doesn&t allow is pure re-sharing deals where influencers are paid to just post the brand pre-made content they
didn&t help create.
The crowdsourced future of advertising
Foreshadowed in the launch of its dedicated Facebook Creator app in November,
this is the company first serious foray into influencer marketing
This emerging industry holds the potential to overhaul the way advertising content is produced
In days of old, brands couldn&t target very narrow segments of their customers because they were using broadcast mediums like TV
commercials, magazine ads and billboards, or endorsements from mainstream celebrities like movie actors
They might only make a few separate styles of marketing campaigns that would appeal to wide swaths of their target audience.
With the
internet and targeting data-rich social networks like Facebook, they can reach extremely specific subsets of their customers with marketing
messages tuned to their identity
But reaching these niche audiences with corporate content that feels authentic rather than fake and smarmy is difficult
That where social media creators come in
Not only do they have a pre-existing and intimate relationship with their fans who&ll take their endorsements to heart, they&ve also already
spent years figuring out exactly what type of content appeals to these specific people
When they team up with brands, the businesses get their products recontextualized and interpreted for that audience with content they could
never come up with themselves.
Twitter realized this early, which is why it acquired creator-brand deal broker Niche for a reported $50
[Disclosure: I got fascinated with this industry because my cousin Darren Lachtman is one of the co-founders of Niche.] But now as Facebook
seeks to attract influencers and their audiences to its social network, it trying to find ways to get them paid
Otherwise, they&re likely to stray to YouTube ad revenue shares and Patreon subscription payments
So far Facebook hastested tipping and subscriptions from fans, as well as letting creators host ad breaks — essentially commercials —
But brands want the creators& help designing the content, not just distributing it.
But what about Instagram and YouTube influencers
The
Branded Content Matching search engine will help brands find those creators… but only on Facebook for now
The tool doesn&t pull in their audience sizes and metrics from other important platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat or
Brands don&t get a holistic view of the value and reach of a creator, who might be way more popular on another platform than Facebook.
And
really, Instagram is where all these influencers spend their time and share their content
Though Facebook owns it, it says it not showing Instagram influencers in the tool at the moment
Adding them in, the same way advertisers can push ads to Facebook and Instagram from one interface, would make the search engine much more
powerful.
There already a whole industry of independent creator search engines and databases for marketers likeHypr, Whalar, Fohr Card, Tap
If Facebook built one with first-party data from across its properties, or even pulled stats from competing platforms, it might squash these
Alternatively, it might buy one to ramp up its efforts here like how Twitter bought Niche.
Facebook is running out of ad inventory in the
It needs to make each ad better and more watchable so it can grow revenue by charging more per ads rather than selling more ads
Meanwhile, yesterday it started testing ads in Facebook Stories, where brands will need help navigating the more personal, vertical video
Awesome content made by creators could be the answer
And Facebook could finally start helping more of these artists, comedians and storytellers turn their passion into a profession.
