By Sean
Instagram is going to start putting posts from “influencers” in your feed and Stories – even if you don’t follow them.
It means that even if you only follow friends and family, you still risk seeing snap-happy influencers clogging up your feed.
Typically, Instagram will only show you posts from people you follow in your feed – as well as some ads.
The only way to see recommendations for other posts is in the Explore tab, which suggests content you might like.
But Instagram is now updating its app so that advertisers can pay to promote their “branded content” from influencers on your feed.
Simply put, a brand could pay to show you a sponsored post by Kim Kardashian, whether you follow her or not.
According to Instagram, 68% of users say they use the app to “interact with creators.”
Lots of pro Instagrammers make significant amounts of money from posting paid-for images and videos.
This could be something like an Instagram celeb showing off a makeup brand in an “authentic” way – even though they’ve been paid to post.
Until now, this content would only appear for followers.
Instagram will now let advertisers share these posts to a wider audience – and will still mark them up as ads.
“With branded content ads, businesses have an opportunity to tell their brand stories through creator’s voices, reach new audiences and measure impact,” Instagram explained.
“When these ads appear in feed and stories, people will see ‘Paid partnership with’ along with the brand name on each post.”
Instagram confirmed that these paid-for posts will appear both in your feed and in Stories.
For your feed, they’ll start appearing “in the coming weeks” and for Stories, expect to see them “over the coming months.”
