How to Approve Branded Content on Instagram

Setting up an influencer marketing campaign involves a lot of moving parts, but learning how to approve branded content on Instagram is the final step that makes your collaboration official, transparent, and more effective. This guide will walk you through the entire process, covering both the brand's and the creator's role, so your partnerships run smoothly from start to finish.

What Is Branded Content on Instagram, Exactly?

In simple terms, branded content on Instagram is any post - whether it's a Feed post, Reel, or Story - that a creator makes in exchange for payment from a business partner. "Payment" can mean money, free products, or any other form of value.

To comply with advertising standards and maintain transparency with audiences, Instagram introduced the "Paid partnership" label. When a creator properly tags their brand partner, this label appears at the top of the content, right under the creator's username. It clearly lets everyone know that a commercial relationship exists between a creator and the brand.

Why Use the Official "Paid Partnership" Label?

You might wonder, "Can't I just have creators use #ad or #sponsored in the caption?" While you absolutely should still do that, using the official tool offers several significant advantages:

• Transparency and Trust: The official label is prominent and standardized. It builds trust with your audience by being upfront about the sponsored nature of the content, which users appreciate.
• Compliance: It's Instagram's built-in tool for adhering to advertising guidelines, such as those from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Using it shows a good-faith effort to be compliant.
• Access to Insights: When a brand is officially tagged, they get direct access to the post's performance metrics (reach, impressions, engagement) right in their own dashboard. No more chasing creators for screenshots of their analytics.
• Partnership Ad Capabilities: This is a big one. It allows the brand to put advertising dollars behind the creator's post, running it as an ad from the creator’s handle. These ads consistently outperform traditional brand ads because they feel more authentic and native to the user's feed.

For Brands: How to Set Up Creator Approvals

As a brand, you have control over who can tag your business in a branded content post. The best practice is to require manual approval, which prevents anyone from tagging you without your consent. It gives you a layer of security and ensures only your official partners can use the tool.

Here’s how to set it up.

Step 1: Make Sure You Have a Professional Account

To access branded content tools, your Instagram profile must be a Business or Creator account. If you're still using a Personal account, switch it over by going to Settings and privacy >, Account type and tools >, Switch to professional account.

Step 2: Navigate to Your Branded Content Settings

Once you have a professional account, finding the approval settings is straightforward:

1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the three horizontal lines (the hamburger menu) in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll down to the "For professionals" section and tap on Branded content.

Step 3: Require Manual Approval for Tags

Within the Branded Content menu, you'll see a setting called "Manually approve content creators." Make sure this toggle is turned on (blue). When this is active, no one can tag your business as a paid partner unless you’ve added them to your approved list first.

This simple step prevents unauthorized accounts from associating themselves with your brand and gives you full control over your official partnerships.

Step 4: Approve Your Creator Partners

Once you’ve enabled manual approvals, you need to add your creators to the approved list. You can do this in two ways:

Proactively Approving Creators

If you already know the handles of the creators you're working with, you can add them before they even request access.

1. In the Branded content menu, tap on Approved content creators.
2. Tap the Add button.
3. Search for the creator's Instagram handle and select their account.

They will now be able to tag you when they post your campaign content.

Approving Incoming Requests

Alternatively, the creator can request access on their end. When they do, you'll see their request pending in this same section.

1. In the Branded content menu, tap on Content creator requests.
2. You'll see a list of creators who have requested to tag you.
3. Simply tap Approve next to the names of the creators you're officially working with.

Once approved, the creator will move from your "Requests" list to your main "Approved content creators" list. You can also revisit this list anytime to remove creators after a campaign has ended.

For Creators: How to Request Approval and Post

If you're a creator, your side of the process is just as easy. Before you post, you need to make sure the brand has approved you. You can either wait for them to add you or you can send a request to speed things up.

Sending an Approval Request to a Brand

1. Go to your Settings and privacy >, Creator tools and controls >, Branded content.
2. Tap Manually approve content creators (even as a creator, you go here).
3. You will see an option to Request approval from brand partner. Tap it.
4. Search for the brand's handle and send the request.

The brand will receive a notification and can approve you following the steps outlined in the previous section.

Once you're approved, you’re ready to post.

How to Add the "Paid Partnership" Label to a Post

You can add the Paid Partnership label to Feed posts, Stories, and Reels. The process is very similar for each format.

For Instagram Feed Posts & Reels:

1. Create your post or Reel as you normally would, editing your photo or video and writing your caption.
2. On the final screen before publishing, scroll down and tap on Advanced settings.
3. Toggle on the Add paid partnership label option.
4. Tap on Add brand partners and select the brand you’re working with.
5. Crucially, you'll see another toggle: Allow brand partner to boost. Always turn this on if it's part of your agreement! This gives the brand permission to create a Partnership Ad from your post.
6. Go back and share your post. The "Paid partnership with [Brand Name]" label will now appear on your content.

For Instagram Stories:

1. Create your Story slide.
2. Before publishing, tap on the tag icon at the top of the screen (the one you use for location tags, mentions, etc.).
3. Select the Paid partnership label.
4. You will be prompted to tag your brand partner.
5. Just like with posts, make sure the "Allow brand partner to boost" option is enabled if required.
6. Publish your Story.

The Brand's Role After a Creator Posts

Your work isn't done once the content goes live. Now, you can leverage the benefits of using Instagram's official branded content tool.

Accessing Branded Content Insights

The moment a creator tags your brand in a paid partnership post, you'll receive a notification. You can find all of your branded content in your professional dashboard:

• Go to your Professional Dashboard.
• Navigate to Ads Tools, and you should see an option for Branded Content or Partnership Ads. Here you can see a stream of all posts you’ve been tagged in.
• When you tap into a specific post, you can view its performance metrics without having to ask the creator for them.

Boosting Content with Partnership Ads

If the creator enabled the "Allow brand partner to boost" option, you have a powerful tool at your disposal. You can now use the content as an ad in Meta Ads Manager.

Instead of creating an ad from scratch, you select "Use existing post" and choose the content from your branded content library. The ad will run from the creator's handle - an invaluable advantage because it feels like a native recommendation rather than a branded advertisement.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Even with a streamlined process, small issues can pop up. Here are a few common hang-ups and how to fix them.

Problem: "My creator can't find my brand when they try to tag me."

Solution: This almost always means you haven't approved them yet. Go to your Branded content settings, check your pending Content creator requests and approve them. If they aren't there, have them send a request from their account.

Problem: "The paid partnership label toggle is greyed out for my creator."

Solution: The creator's eligibility for branded content tools might be restricted. This can happen if their account has previously violated policies. They can check their status in their own Branded content settings menu under "Status."

Problem: "I can't boost the creator's post as an ad (I can't see it in Ads Manager)."

Solution: The most likely reason is the creator did not enable the "Allow brand partner to boost" toggle when they published the content. Unfortunately, this cannot be changed after the content is live for feed posts. Ask them to double-check this for future posts. For Stories, it sometimes can be edited within the 24-hour window.

Final Thoughts

Finalizing the branded content approval process on Instagram is a foundational step for any successful influencer marketing strategy. It establishes transparency, provides you with crucial data, and unlocks powerful advertising capabilities that drive better results.

Properly managing creator relationships and content schedules on top of your brand's own organic posts can quickly become overwhelming. At Postbase, we designed a simple, visual calendar to help you see all your owned and creator content in one place. Planning out a month of posts, including scheduled creator live dates and partnership ads, becomes incredibly straightforward, eliminating the chaos of spreadsheets and letting you focus on the strategy that moves your brand forward.