Brands, publishers and celebrities will be able to share sponsored content on Facebook in a new policy announced by the social network.
Previously, publishers weren’t able to run branded content on Facebook unless they received approval directly from the platform.
Under new new policy, owbners of Verified Facebook Pages can now share branded content – such as photos, videos, text – on Facebook.
This means it will be easier for brands, who usually own these pages, to make money from shared content.
The new ad policy was announced in a post by product manager, Clare Rubin, and vice-president of partnerships, Nick Grudin. They said: “Along with changes to our branded content policy and ads policy, we’re offering a new tool that makes it easy for publishers and influencers to tag a marketer when they publish branded content. Publishers and influencers must use this tag for all branded content shared on Facebook.
“This update is something that media companies, public figures, influencers, and marketers have been asking for, as branded content is a growing and evolving part of the media landscape.
People will now be connected to more of the content they care most about on Facebook as publishers and influencers gain an incentive to share more quality content — of all kinds — with their fans.
“We know that many of our partners have existing partnership deals with marketers, and this update gives them the ability to extend their branded content business onto Facebook.”However, branded content that specifically mentions or features a third party product, brand, or sponsor will now be allowed.
In addition, a tool will now be made available to make it easy to tag the sponsor of content, which will be a requirement to run a branded post.
Facebook has stated that not all types of branded content will be accepted — persistent watermarks and pre-roll ads are still forbidden, as are sponsored cover photos and profile pictures.