How to Add a Paid Partnership on an Instagram Post

Collaborating with a brand on Instagram requires more than just creating great content, you also have to be transparent with your audience. To do this, Instagram provides the Paid partnership label, a simple tool that clearly discloses your commercial relationship. This guide will walk you through exactly when, why, and how to add the Paid Partnership label to your Instagram feed posts, Stories, and Reels.

What Exactly is the “Paid Partnership” Label?

The "Paid Partnership" label is a disclosure tool built directly into Instagram. When you apply it to a piece of content (a feed post, Reel, or Story), the header of your post will display "Paid partnership with [Brand Name]" right under your username.

But it's much more than just a label. Using this feature officially links your post to your brand partner’s account, signals to your audience that you’ve been compensated for the content, and unlocks a set of valuable features for both you and your partner. Put simply, it’s the official and correct way to handle sponsored content on the platform.

The core purpose is transparency. Audiences are savvy - they know when content is an ad, and they appreciate honesty. Trying to hide a partnership with vague hashtags like #ad or #spon can erode trust, whereas using the official label shows that you respect your followers and are upfront about your business relationships. It also helps you stay compliant with advertising regulations, like those set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which requires clear and conspicuous disclosure of sponsored content.

Key Benefits of Using the Paid Partnership Label

For something that feels like a simple disclosure, the paid partnership tool offers significant advantages that can strengthen your brand collaborations and grow your presence.

• Boosts Trust and Authenticity: It all starts with transparency. When your audience sees the label, there's no question about the nature of the content. This honesty helps build a stronger, more authentic relationship with your followers. They know you're not trying to mislead them, which makes them more receptive to your message and your partner's brand.
• Unlocks Branded Content Ads: This is arguably one of the most powerful benefits. Once you add the partnership label, you can permit your brand partner to run your post as an ad from their own account. This means they can amplify your authentic content to a much wider, targeted audience, combining the power of influencer marketing with Instagram's sophisticated ad platform. It's a win-win: you get more exposure, and the brand gets a high-performing ad that feels native and trustworthy.
• Provides Shared Post Insights: When the label is active, your brand partner gets direct access to the post's performance metrics through their Meta Business Suite. They can see reach, impressions, likes, comments, and saves without you having to manually screenshot and send reports. This streamlines the reporting process, demonstrates the value you provide, and gives your partner the data they need to measure their campaign's success.
• Ensures You're Playing by the Rules: As mentioned, government bodies like the FTC have strict guidelines around influencer marketing disclosures. Using Instagram's native tool is the easiest way to ensure you’re compliant. It removes ambiguity and protects both you and the brand from potential penalties.

Setting Up Your First Paid Partnership

Before you can add the tag to a post, you need to make sure your account is set up for branded content. It's a quick process that involves both you (the creator) and your brand partner.

For Creators: Enabling Branded Content Tools

You must have a Professional Instagram Account (either Creator or Business). From there, you just need to turn on the branded content tools.

1. Navigate to your Instagram profile and tap the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner to open the menu.
2. Go to Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll down to the "For professionals" section and tap on Branded content.
4. Here, you can tap on Set up branded content tools and enable them. You are now ready to start tagging brand partners.

For Brands: Approving Creator Partners

Brands also need a Professional Account. For a smoother collaboration, they can pre-approve creators as content partners.

From their account's Branded content settings, they can toggle on "Manually approve content creators." From there, they can "Approve content creators" and search for your handle to add you to their list. If they do this in advance, you can tag them without waiting for their approval on each post.

If a brand has not pre-approved you, you can still tag them. They will simply receive a notification to approve the partnership tag before it appears on your post.

How to Add a Paid Partnership Label to a New Instagram Post

Now for the main event: adding the label as you're creating your content. The process is nearly identical for feed posts, Reels, and Stories. We'll use a feed post as the primary example.

1. Create Your Post: Go through your normal content creation process. Upload your photo or video, apply your edits, and write your compelling caption.
2. Access Advanced Settings: On the final share screen - where you add your caption, tag people, and add a location - scroll down and tap on Advanced Settings at the very bottom.
3. Turn on the Label: Inside Advanced Settings, you'll see a 'Branded content' section. Toggle on the switch for Add paid partnership label.
4. Add Your Brand Partner: Once the switch is on, a new option will appear called Brand partners. Tap on this.
5. Search and Select the Brand: Use the search bar to find your partner’s official Instagram account. Tap on their name to select them. You can add up to two brand partners if the collaboration involves multiple companies. Once selected, tap Done.
6. Give Your Partner Ad Creation Access (Optional but Recommended): Once you've added a brand partner, you'll see another toggle: Allow brand partner to boost. By turning this on, you grant them permission to turn your post into a branded content ad. This is a massive value-add for the brand, so in most partnerships, you'll want to enable this.
7. Share Your Post: Go back to the main share screen by tapping the back arrow. You will now see your partner's name under "Add paid partnership label." All done! Simply hit the Share button, and your post will go live with the official disclosure.

If the brand has to manually approve the tag, the label won't appear immediately. It will show up as soon as they approve the request notification from their end.

Oops, I Forgot! How to Add the Label to an Existing Post

Forgetting to add the label before publishing is a common mistake, but thankfully, Instagram makes it easy to fix. You can add the paid partnership tag retroactively to any published feed post or Reel.

1. Find the feed post or Reel on your profile that needs the label.
2. Tap the three dots (...) in the top-right corner of the post.
3. From the pop-up menu, select Edit.
4. Right above the image or video on the editing screen, you will see an option to Add partner. Tap this.
5. Search for your brand partner's handle and select it.
6. You can also allow them to boost the post from this screen. After you’ve added the brand, tap the check mark to save your changes.

The "Paid partnership" label will now appear on your post. Unfortunately, you cannot add the partnership label to a Story after it has already been published. For stories, you have to remember to do it while creating the content.

Final Thoughts

Adding the Paid Partnership label on Instagram is a straightforward process that is critical for any creator or business engaging in sponsored collaborations. It builds invaluable trust with your audience through transparency, makes it easy to comply with advertising regulations, and unlocks powerful features like Branded Content Ads that can significantly benefit your brand partners.

As you manage multiple brand partners, scheduling and planning sponsored content can become a lot to handle. We built Postbase to streamline this entire workflow. With our visual content calendar, you can plan your partnership campaigns far in advance, ensuring every piece of content goes out exactly when it should. Because our scheduling is rock-solid reliable - especially for video formats like Reels - you can confidently promise partners specific publish times and always deliver, tracking the performance for them right from one central dashboard.