Since Facebook’s unveiling of its new Branded Content Policy last month, our inbox at Social News Desk has been stuffed with questions. Here are some of the most common along with answers that will help your station or publication figure out how to comply.
1. What are these warnings? Is Facebook punishing our Page in the algorithm now?
Facebook has issued a statement to Social News Desk which explicitly states that they are NOT punishing branded content posts…yet.
As our branded content policy very recently rolled out, we are focused on education of our users right now, before we start a more stringent enforcement in the coming weeks. Pages are receiving a checkpoint for educational purposes only. Right now, that message does not impact distribution, nor your ability to post on Facebook at all. -Facebook Branded Content Team
So if you’re posting “sponsored” content and getting warnings, don’t freak out. We anticipate at least another month or so before those warnings start impacting your Page performance.
2. When will there be an API for the Branded Content tags?
Now! As of Friday, Facebook has released the API for Branded Content tags. This is the milestone everyone, including Facebook, knew was needed in order for a station or publication like yours to truly take advantage of this opportunity to post branded content while also following the rules:
We understand that you post through the Graph API and cannot comply with the policy until Graph API support is enabled. – Facebook Branded Content Team
The next step is for 3rd party posting platforms such as Social News Desk to integrate with the API. And we’ve already started! [EDITOR’S UPDATE: The Social News Desk integration with Facebook’s Branded Content API is now live. SND Dashboard users can publish a sponsored/branded post with a branded content tag from within the SND Dashboard interface.] Within a few weeks, our SND Dashboard users will be able to post a sponsored or branded post to Facebook with a branded content tag identifying the sponsor’s Facebook Page. This will make it super simple for SND Users to be compliant with Facebook’s new Branded Content Policy!
3. Does this mean we can make money by posting stuff on Facebook?
Definitely! First, be sure your Facebook Page is Verified (we can help), as branded content posts are ONLY ALLOWED on Verified Pages. And second, make sure you’re using the branded content tool. SND is making that super simple through API integration. It will be similar to adding a picture or a link…you’ll just “add a sponsor,” select their Page and the SND interface will automatically tag that Sponsor in the topline of the post as “Jasper’s Market” is here:
There are so many possibilities for you to collaborate with sponsors and build digital revenue with this new policy. Check out SND Campaigns to see how we can help your sales team track, report and fulfill sponsored content! This brand new SND platform allows you to create a campaign, deploy a contest and/or sponsored posts and SND Campaigns then automatically tracks and creates a detailed report.
Got more questions? Reach out to us! We’re in tight communication with the Facebook Branded Content team on this because we know it’s a top priority for our clients and friends in local media!
