Influencer Whitelisting on Facebook [A Practical Guide]

‘Influencers,’ ‘creators,’ and ‘influencer marketing’ are terms that have become popular in recent years.

Influencers refer to people who use their authority/influence to affect people's purchasing decisions. 

Consequently, influencer marketing is leveraging that ability to advertise your brand and product.

It's a relatively new marketing strategy but an effective one. 

You'll agree if you've used it before.

But what if we told you there's an even better way to harness the influencer's ability to promote your brand?

Enter… influencer whitelisting!

That's what we discuss in this guide.

More precisely, we'll discuss:

• What Facebook whitelisting is
• Its benefits
• Tips to whitelist ads on Facebook

Let's get right to it.    

What is Facebook Whitelisting (Creator Licensing)?

Facebook whitelisting, also known as creator licensing, is the process whereby an influencer gives a brand limited advertising access or permission to use their Facebook account.

So, what does this mean? 

You’ll be able to run ads from your brand’s ad account using the influencer’s handle. 

Here’s a screenshot of what a creator-licensed ad on Facebook looks like:

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Creator licensing leverages the credibility of the influencer you’re partnering with so that potential customers feel more confident engaging with your ad. 

As you can see from the screenshot above, the ad appears to be coming from a popular person.

This is much more appealing and credible to an audience as opposed to when it’s coming from the brand or someone no one knows. 

Influencer whitelisting is like the branded content tool, but in this case, you can edit the post. 

Up next, you’ll see what advantages creator licensing brings to brands.

What are the Benefits of Influencer Whitelisting?

As stated earlier, running influencer marketing campaigns is a goldmine for marketers, brand owners, and creators alike. 

We’re not just saying that.

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You see, over 75% of brand marketers have said that they intend to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2022. 

That’s a 10% increase from the previous year. 

With influencer whitelisting now in the picture, there’s a good chance that this percentage will go up. 

Why?

Well, because of the benefits we discuss below.

 Key whitelisting benefits for brands

• Increased brand awareness and exposure: When your audience sees sponsored ads coming from their favorite influencer or creator, their interest is piqued.

They begin to wonder what's going on.

What are they promoting?

At this point, there's a good chance that they'll have clicked on the post to get a better understanding of what it's about.

That gives your business more exposure and of course, increases brand awareness.

You know what?

93% of marketers said that influencer marketing helped them improve their brand visibility.

• Fully customizable content: Once creators grant you whitelisting permission, you’ll be able to edit whitelisted ads from your ad account before publishing them.  

Here are a few things you can do before hitting the publish button:

1. Change the ad type — maybe from an image, carousel, or video, to a more effective type
2. Rewrite the copy if it doesn't suit your objective
3. Add a call to action (CTA)
4. Target a demographic different from the influencer’s audience 

Customizing the content creates a good supply of creatives for you to test.

Creative testing, in turn, helps you figure out which combination of edits, such as CTA or tagline,  produces a great return on ad spend (ROAS).

• Reaching new audiences: Marketers can reach new customers aside from the brand or influencer’s audience. 

How?

By creating lookalike audiences from the influencer’s first-party data.

This is pretty direct considering you will be creating a new ad set from the Facebook Ads Manager. 

Just as the name implies, the lookalike audiences are a spinoff from the influencer’s followers who are more likely to convert.

• Dark posting: Dark posts are Facebook ads that appear only on the feeds of a specific audience you’re targeting.

Influencer whitelisting allows you to create dark posts. 

But why do I need dark posts?

So you can create content for each audience you intend to reach. 

“I thought it was the creator’s responsibility to create content for the ad.” 

Well, true. 

But it would be overwhelming if they had to create it for all the different audiences you want to target.

What creator licensing helps you do is create dark posts yourself, target the audiences you’d like to reach, and run the posts using the creator’s handle.  

• Better campaign control: Once creators have granted the brand advertising access to their social media account, you’ll have control over the posts they’ve created for you. 

You get to run ads in a way that aligns with your influencer marketing strategy and see how they’re performing in real time. 

If you’re partnered with multiple influencers, you’ll find it a lot easier to identify which of them is converting. 

Plus, you’ll have access to performance metrics and insights into the whitelisted ad. 

•  Appears authentic: Another advantage of creator licensing for brands is that ads appear authentic to your audience.

They’re being run from the influencer’s account and that’s all the social proof the audience needs. 

You’ll be leveraging the trust people have in the influencer or creator to your advantage. 

Influencer whitelisting is a mutually beneficial partnership as both the brand and influencer stand to gain a lot. 

Let’s see the benefits of creator licensing for creators.

Key whitelisting benefits for influencers and creators

• Higher compensation: Creators/influencers who are open to granting brands access to their Facebook accounts are entitled to receive compensation for their consent. 

The compensation can be monetary or reward-based — depending on your agreements.

Now, this is different from being paid to create user-generated content (UGC) for the brand.  

You could do both and get much higher compensation.

• Greater reach: Remember we said brands can create lookalike audiences from your first-party data?

Sure, you do. 

Well, you get to benefit from that too.

Considering it's your account on display, you’ll be the first to get exposed to larger audiences who probably haven’t interacted with you before. 

Brands are, in a way, paying you to get more engagements and followers.

• Increased fan base: With whitelisting campaigns, you also stand a chance of growing your fan base without so much effort on your part.

The campaigns will result in more visibility for your profile which in turn increases your fan base. 

Also, if the post is authentic and engaging enough, you can be certain that people will share and follow your account. 

• Boosts engagement: A successful creator-licensed ad campaign can lead to a substantial boost in engagement rates. 

How?

Your profile has already been placed in front of people who are more likely to engage with the post and your profile.  

• Whitelisted posts do not appear on the creator’s feed: The influencer’s feed will be free from whitelisted ads. 

It will be seen on the feed of the audience targeted by the brand so everyone wins.

That means you will still maintain a clean and organized feed just the way you like it. 

Now, back to you super marketers and brand owners — let’s show you how to whitelist a creator’s post on Facebook. 

How Do You Whitelist an Influencer Post on Facebook?

To whitelist an influencer’s post on Facebook, the influencer needs to grant you permission through Facebook Business Manager. 

The content creator also needs to have a Business Manager account and Facebook page linked together. 

Then, you can proceed to set up a creator-licensed campaign.

We know how that sounds and we’ve got a simpler way to whitelist influencer’s posts.

Wanna see?

Let’s get into it!

How to easily whitelist using Insense

First, what is Insense?

It’s a platform that optimizes working with influencers and creators. 

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With Insense, brands can source creators who can create a portfolio of UGC for their business. 

Plus, you can set up Facebook ad campaigns using the creator’s handle with ease.

Here’s how to get started:

Step #1: Find the right influencers and creators

The first step to whitelisting on Insense is to find creators who are the right fit for your business.

How do you do that?

Click Get Started on the homepage as seen on the screenshot above to open an account or sign in. 

On the next page, select Fill out a brief under Create a campaign to proceed.

Then, enter the necessary information as seen on the screen including:

• Your brand name 
• Campaign type (which will be influencer partnership)
• The social media platform (Facebook)
• How long you want creator licensing enabled 
• Number of creators you want to hire
• Payment method and more

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When you’re done filling out the rest of the information, you can launch the brief. 

Step #2: Connect the creator’s page with your Ads Manager

Once the brief is launched and you’ve chosen the creators you wanna work with, click Hire to begin your partnership. 

The creator will create the content to be used for the campaign and send it over to you for approval. 

If you’re satisfied with it, it’s time to connect the creator’s page with your Ads Manager. 

To do this, go to chat with the creator and click the Connect to Ads Manager button.

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Then, via Facebook, authorize your account to grant access to the relevant Facebook Ads Manager profile.

With access now granted, select the relevant Ads Manager account you’ll use to run ads via the creator’s handle. 

Then, click Connect.

The next thing you’ll see is a notification requesting you to grant access to Insense. 

What happens next?

You will be redirected to Facebook Business Manager where you can check whether the influencer’s page has been successfully connected. 

To do that, head over to Facebook Manager > Business Settings > Pages. 

Step #3: Create your campaign

You’re ready to create a campaign on Facebook Manager. 

Select Create New Campaign.

Fill out the necessary fields such as your campaign objective and selecting your target audience. 

When you get to the New Ad section where you’ll upload creatives, select the creator’s Facebook page under Identity.

What’s next?

Hold on a little longer!

Step #4: Preview your ad

Make use of the ad preview tool on FB Ads Manager to see how your ad will look when you hit the publish button. 

Aside from how it will look, you get to see the different placements on Facebook where the ad will be shown by toggling on the Ad Preview tool.

If everything is set, hit the Publish button to get your creator-licensed campaign underway.

…and it’s live! 

How Do You Whitelist Your Facebook Page with a Brand Partner?

As explained above, whitelisting is only possible if the influencer or creator has shared assets with the business partner. 

Let's show you how to do that.

Step 1: Set up a Facebook page and a Facebook Business Manager account

Setting up a FB page is easy, you can follow this guide to create one.

How about a Facebook Business Manager account?

Here’s how to create one:

• Visit business.facebook.com/overview
• Click on Create Account

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• Enter your business name, full name, work email address, and proceed
• Enter other business details and click Submit

Step 2: Open Facebook Business Manager

Go to Business settings > Users > Partners

Step 3: Click Add in the Partners’  menu 

Then, select Give a partner access to your assets

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Step 4: Input the brand’s business manager ID

Step 5: Choose Assets and Permissions for the brand partner to access

Step 6: Select the Facebook page assets the brand will use for the creator-licensed campaign

Step 7: Set the permission to Create Ads

Step 8: Save changes

…and your Facebook page is all set for influencer whitelisting.

Author’s Note: If you want to know how to run creator-licensed campaigns on Instagram, read our full guide. 

Let’s move on!

3 Tips to Whitelist Facebook Ads Better

Running creator-licensed ads is a great way to advertise your brand or product authentically. 

We’ve shown you how to create whitelisting ads, but we understand getting started may not be a smooth process for everyone. 

So, we decided to give you tips on how to whitelist for better results.

Let’s begin!

Tip #1: Use your CTAs strategically

Calls to action are crucial elements in any marketing campaign. 

They instruct users on what to do next. 

Without them, your ads will be dead ends and you don’t want that.

Using CTAs strategically means ensuring that they’re engaging and suit the ad. 

How do you do that?

By testing different CTAs.

This action will show you which CTA is performing best so you’ll know which to focus on. 

Tip #2: Leverage influencer handles

Before using whitelisted content on the influencer’s handle, it’s good practice to test it on your brand’s handle first. 

Why?

Essentially, to see if the content is performing better as an organic post on your brand’s handle or not. 

If it is, you can continue with that or use other content on the  influencer’s handle.

Tip #3: Test different types of content

The type of content you choose for your influencer ad campaign is highly important. 

It plays a huge role in the overall performance of the campaign. 

As such, it’s important to test different types of Facebook creative (at least 5) before deciding which one to use. 

Testing helps determine which content is bringing in conversions.

Remember to include this in your negotiation with the influencers.

It’s time, let’s wrap up!

Now Over to You

There’s no doubt that creator licensing is here to stay.

You will be leaving money on the table if you’re not leveraging or thinking about using this digital marketing strategy. 

If you’re ready to get started, don’t hesitate to book a demo with Insense.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you soon.