If you have ever seen "Paid partnership with [Brand]" at the top of an Instagram post or Reel, you have seen Instagram's built-in disclosure tool in action. Whether you are a creator landing your first brand deal or a business running influencer campaigns, understanding how the paid partnership label works is essential for staying compliant, building trust with your audience, and unlocking Instagram's branded content analytics. This guide covers everything you need to know, with a UK focus on ASA regulations and practical steps for both creators and brands.
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What Is a Paid Partnership on Instagram?
A paid partnership on Instagram is any collaboration where a creator receives something of value — money, free products, services, or other incentives — in exchange for creating and sharing content that features or promotes a brand. Instagram provides a specific tool for disclosing these relationships: the paid partnership label, which appears as a subheading beneath the creator's username on posts, Reels, and Stories.
When a creator tags a brand using the paid partnership label, that tag does two important things. First, it transparently signals to the audience that the content is commercially motivated. Second, it gives the tagged brand access to performance metrics for that specific piece of content, including reach, impressions, and engagement. This data-sharing mechanism is what makes the paid partnership label different from simply writing "#ad" in a caption — it is both a disclosure tool and an analytics bridge between creator and brand.
Instagram introduced the paid partnership label in 2017 as part of a broader push toward advertising transparency. Since then, it has become the standard method for disclosing commercial relationships on the platform. For UK creators, using this label is not just good practice — it is one of the ways to meet the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) requirement that paid content must be immediately and obviously identifiable as an advertisement.
Key Distinction
How to Add the Paid Partnership Label (Creators)
Adding the paid partnership label is straightforward, but the exact steps vary slightly depending on whether you are creating a feed post, a Reel, or a Story. Here is the step-by-step process for each format.
For Feed Posts and Reels
- Create your content as normal — upload your photo, video, or Reel and apply any edits, filters, or audio.
- On the final screen before publishing (where you write your caption), tap "Advanced settings" at the bottom.
- Under the "Branded content" section, toggle on "Add paid partnership label".
- Tap "Add brand partners" and search for the brand's Instagram account.
- Select the brand from the search results. If the brand has pre-approved you, they will appear immediately. If not, the brand will receive a request to approve the tag.
- Optionally, toggle "Allow brand partner to promote" if you are comfortable with the brand boosting the content as a paid ad.
- Go back and publish your post as normal.
For Stories
- Create your Story content — photo, video, or Boomerang.
- Before sharing, tap the link/tag icon at the top of the screen (it may appear as three dots or a settings icon depending on your app version).
- Tap "Add paid partnership label".
- Search for and select the brand partner.
- Share your Story.
What It Looks Like
Editing an Existing Post
If you forgot to add the label before publishing, you can add it after the fact. Go to the post, tap the three dots menu, select "Edit", then tap "Advanced settings" and follow the same steps above. Note that Instagram may take a few minutes to update the label on live posts.
How to Add the Paid Partnership Label (Brands)
As a brand, you cannot add the paid partnership label yourself — the creator must initiate the tag. However, you play an important role in the process by pre-approving creators and managing tag requests.
Pre-Approving Creators
- Go to your Instagram business or creator account settings.
- Navigate to "Business" (or "Creator") > "Branded content".
- Tap "Approved brand partners" (sometimes labelled "Content creators").
- Search for the creator's account and add them to your approved list.
Pre-approving creators streamlines the process. When a creator on your approved list tags you in a paid partnership post, the tag goes live immediately without requiring manual approval. For brands running multiple influencer campaigns simultaneously, this saves significant time and prevents delays in content going live.
Approving Tag Requests
If a creator who is not on your pre-approved list tags you, you will receive a notification asking you to approve or deny the tag. You should respond promptly because the paid partnership label will not appear on the creator's content until you approve it — which means the post may be live without proper disclosure until you act.
Important for Brands
Eligibility Requirements
Not every Instagram account can use the paid partnership label. Instagram has specific eligibility criteria that you must meet before the branded content tools become available in your settings.
For Creators
- Account type: You must have a Creator or Business account (not a personal account).
- Community guidelines compliance: Your account must be in good standing with no recent violations of Instagram's community guidelines or partner monetisation policies.
- Sufficient presence: While Instagram does not publish an exact follower threshold, accounts typically need at least 1,000 followers and a history of consistent posting to access branded content tools.
- Location: The paid partnership label is available in most countries, including the UK, but certain features (like branded content ads) may have regional limitations.
For Brands
- Account type: You must have a Business or Creator account.
- Connected Facebook Page: Your Instagram account should be linked to a Facebook Business Page to access the full suite of branded content tools, including the ability to boost paid partnership content as ads.
- Ad account: If you want to run branded content ads (boosting a creator's paid partnership post), you need an active Meta Ads Manager account.
If you cannot find the branded content options in your settings, switch your account to a Creator or Business profile first. This change is free and takes effect immediately. Go to Settings > Account > Switch to Professional Account, then choose either Creator or Business depending on your role.
ASA & UK Disclosure Rules
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) enforce advertising disclosure rules on social media. These rules are strict and apply to all UK-based creators and any brand targeting UK audiences, regardless of where the brand is headquartered.
What Counts as an Ad?
Under ASA rules, content is an advertisement if the brand has any form of control over the content and the creator receives payment or any other incentive. "Control" can include providing a brief, requiring approval before posting, specifying key messages, or dictating the timing of publication. "Incentive" includes cash fees, free products (beyond nominal value), affiliate commissions, discount codes, event invitations, and any other exchange of value.
How to Disclose Correctly
- Use the paid partnership label as your primary disclosure method — it is prominent, standardised, and immediately visible.
- Add #ad at the beginning of your caption as a secondary safeguard. The ASA considers #ad the clearest textual disclosure. Do not bury it among other hashtags at the end of a caption.
- #gifted should be used when you received a free product but were not paid a fee and had no editorial obligations. However, if the brand provided a brief or required approval, use #ad instead.
- Stories must be labelled individually. If you post a sequence of 5 Stories about a brand, each one needs the paid partnership label or a clear "Ad" label — viewers may join midway through the sequence.
- Reels and video content must include disclosure in the first few seconds, not just in the caption, because many viewers watch without reading captions.
ASA Enforcement
Common Disclosure Mistakes to Avoid
- Using ambiguous terms like "#collab", "#partner", or "#spon" instead of #ad — the ASA does not consider these sufficiently clear.
- Placing #ad at the end of a long caption or buried in a wall of hashtags.
- Disclosing in a Story that disappears after 24 hours without also disclosing in the permanent post.
- Assuming that the paid partnership label alone is always sufficient — the ASA recommends using #ad alongside the label as best practice.
- Forgetting to disclose affiliate links — if you earn commission from a link, that is a commercial relationship that needs disclosure.
Paid Partnership vs Branded Content
These two terms are often used interchangeably, but they refer to slightly different things on Instagram. Understanding the distinction helps you use the right tools and terminology when working with brands.
Branded content is Instagram's umbrella term for any content created by a creator that features or is influenced by a brand partner. This includes posts, Reels, Stories, and Lives. Instagram's "branded content tools" are the settings you use to tag brand partners and enable data sharing.
Paid partnership specifically refers to the visible label ("Paid partnership with [Brand]") that appears when a creator uses the branded content tools to tag a brand. In practice, "paid partnership" has become the common way people describe any disclosed commercial Instagram collaboration, even though Instagram's official documentation uses "branded content" as the broader category.
The important thing for both creators and brands is that using the branded content tools (which display the paid partnership label) is the most transparent, data-rich, and ASA-compliant way to handle commercial collaborations on Instagram. Whether you call it a "paid partnership" or "branded content" matters less than whether you are using the tool correctly and disclosing consistently.
Branded Content Ads
Branded content ads take the paid partnership one step further. When a creator toggles "Allow brand partner to promote" on a paid partnership post, the brand can then boost that content as a paid ad through Meta Ads Manager. The ad appears in the feeds and Stories of people who do not follow the creator, with both the creator's handle and "Sponsored" visible. This format combines the authenticity of creator content with the targeting precision of paid advertising — and it consistently outperforms traditional brand-produced ads on click-through rate and cost per acquisition.
How Brands Find Partners
If you are a brand looking for creators to run paid partnerships with, there are several discovery methods, each with different trade-offs on cost, quality, and time investment.
1. Creator Marketplaces
Platforms like SocialBrandMatch connect brands with verified UK creators who are actively looking for partnerships. The advantage of a marketplace is efficiency: you can filter creators by niche, location, audience demographics, and engagement rate rather than manually searching Instagram and hoping for replies. Every creator on SocialBrandMatch has been vetted for audience authenticity, which eliminates the risk of partnering with accounts that have purchased followers.
2. Hashtag and Content Discovery
Search niche-relevant hashtags (#ukfashion, #londonfoodies, #cleanbeautyuk) and review the recent posts tab. Look for creators who are already producing content that aligns with your brand aesthetic and values. Check their engagement rate using our Engagement Rate Calculator to verify that their followers are genuine and active.
3. Your Own Tagged Content
Check your tagged photos and mentions. Creators who are already posting about your brand organically are the highest-value partnership targets because their audience already associates them with your product. These partnerships feel the most authentic and typically deliver the strongest engagement and conversion rates.
4. Competitor Analysis
Review the paid partnership posts of your competitors. If a creator has run a paid partnership with a competing brand, they are likely open to similar deals and already understand your market category. Just make sure there are no exclusivity clauses in their existing agreements.
How Creators Get Paid Partnership Opportunities
Landing paid partnership deals requires more than waiting for brands to find you. The most successful UK creators take a proactive approach to securing collaborations.
1. Build a Professional Profile
Switch to a Creator account if you have not already. Write a bio that clearly states your niche and signals that you are open to collaborations. Include a business email or a link to your media kit. Brands scroll through dozens of profiles when scouting creators — a professional bio is your first filter.
2. Create a Media Kit
A media kit is a document (usually a PDF or a dedicated page) that summarises your audience demographics, engagement metrics, content style, and previous brand collaborations. It is the creator equivalent of a CV. Our guide on how to create a media kit walks you through exactly what to include and how to present it.
3. Pitch Brands Directly
Do not wait for inbound enquiries. Identify brands you genuinely use and love, then send a concise, personalised pitch explaining why a partnership would benefit both parties. Our guide to pitching brands covers exactly how to structure your outreach for maximum response rates.
4. Join a Creator Marketplace
Platforms like SocialBrandMatch allow you to create a profile that brands can discover when they are actively searching for creators in your niche. This is the passive side of the equation — once your profile is live, brands can find and contact you directly. The advantage over cold pitching is that brands on the platform are already budget-approved and looking to hire, which dramatically shortens the negotiation timeline.
5. Use Existing Partnerships as Social Proof
Every paid partnership post you publish becomes a portfolio piece. When pitching new brands, reference your previous collaborations and their results. If you can share metrics (impressions, engagement rate, link clicks, sales generated), you become a much more compelling proposition. Brands want to see evidence that working with you delivers measurable outcomes.
6. Know Your Rates
Understanding what to charge is critical for turning enquiries into deals. Our guide on how much influencers charge provides UK-specific benchmarks across different follower tiers and content formats. Having a clear rate card signals professionalism and prevents awkward negotiation loops.
Analytics & Insights from Paid Partnerships
One of the biggest advantages of using Instagram's paid partnership label (rather than just adding #ad to a caption) is the analytics data it unlocks for both parties.
What Creators Can See
As a creator, you retain full access to your standard Instagram Insights for any paid partnership post. This includes reach, impressions, profile visits, saves, shares, comments, and likes. For Reels, you also see plays, replays, and average watch time. These metrics help you demonstrate ROI to brands and negotiate higher rates for future collaborations.
What Brands Can See
When a creator tags you in a paid partnership, you gain access to that content's performance data directly in your own Instagram Insights or through Meta Business Suite. This includes reach, impressions, engagement, and (for branded content ads) conversion data tied to your Meta pixel or Conversions API. This data is invaluable for comparing creator performance across campaigns and making informed decisions about which partnerships to renew.
Pro Tip for Brands
Reporting to Brands
If you are a creator, proactively sending a performance report to the brand after a campaign ends is one of the most effective ways to secure repeat bookings. Include screenshots of your Insights showing reach, engagement, saves, shares, and any link click data. Frame the results in terms the brand cares about: "Your product post reached 45,000 people and drove 1,200 profile visits to your account." This level of professionalism separates working creators from hobbyists.
Common Issues & Fixes
The paid partnership tools work well most of the time, but there are a few common issues that creators and brands encounter. Here is how to resolve them.
"I Can't Find the Branded Content Option"
This almost always means you are using a personal account. Switch to a Creator or Business account in Settings > Account > Switch to Professional Account. The branded content tools should appear within a few minutes.
"The Brand Does Not Appear in Search"
The brand must also have a Business or Creator account. If they are using a personal account, they will not appear in the paid partnership search. Ask them to switch to a professional account first.
"My Tag Request Is Pending"
If the brand has not pre-approved you, your tag request will sit in their inbox until they manually approve it. Contact the brand directly (email or DM) and let them know you have submitted a tag request. Most delays happen because the brand's social media manager is unaware the request exists.
"The Label Disappeared After Editing"
Some creators report the paid partnership label dropping off after editing a post. If this happens, go back into the post's advanced settings and re-add the label. This is a known intermittent bug that Instagram has not fully resolved.
"I Want to Remove a Paid Partnership Tag"
As a creator, you can remove the tag by editing the post and toggling off the paid partnership label. As a brand, you can revoke the tag from your branded content settings. Both parties can remove the connection at any time.
Paid Collaboration vs Gifted
Understanding the difference between paid collaborations and gifted arrangements is important both for negotiation and for disclosure compliance.
Paid Collaboration
A paid collaboration involves a direct monetary fee in exchange for content creation and posting. The brand pays the creator an agreed rate, usually outlined in a formal contract, and the creator produces specific deliverables (e.g., two feed posts and three Stories). Paid collaborations typically come with a brief, revision rights, and usage terms for the content. These are the most professional form of influencer partnership and should always be disclosed with the paid partnership label and #ad.
Gifted Arrangements
A gifted arrangement involves a brand sending a free product to a creator with no obligation to post. The creator may choose to share the product if they genuinely like it, but there is no contractual requirement to do so. If the creator does post about a gifted product, the disclosure requirement depends on the level of brand control:
- No brief, no approval required, no posting obligation: Disclose with #gifted. The paid partnership label is optional but recommended for transparency.
- Brand provided a brief, required approval, or specified posting dates: This is not truly "gifted" — it is a paid partnership (the payment is the product). Disclose with the paid partnership label and #ad.
The Gifted Grey Area
Affiliate Arrangements
A third model involves the creator promoting a product using a unique discount code or affiliate link and earning a commission on each sale. This is a commercial relationship and must be disclosed. Use the paid partnership label and include #ad or "Affiliate link" in the caption. Some brands combine a flat fee with affiliate commission, creating a hybrid model that gives the creator a guaranteed payment plus performance-based upside.
Getting Started with Paid Partnerships
Whether you are a creator looking to monetise your content or a brand ready to tap into influencer marketing, the paid partnership label is your starting point for transparent, effective collaborations on Instagram. Here is a quick summary of next steps for each side:
For Creators
- Switch to a Creator account and ensure your branded content tools are active.
- Build your media kit with current engagement metrics and audience demographics.
- Start pitching brands you genuinely use and love.
- Join SocialBrandMatch to make yourself discoverable to brands actively seeking UK creators.
For Brands
- Set up your branded content settings and pre-approve your creator partners.
- Include paid partnership label requirements in every creator contract.
- Use branded content analytics to measure campaign performance and optimise your creator roster.
- Browse verified UK creators on SocialBrandMatch to find partners who match your audience and brand values.
Paid partnerships are the foundation of professional influencer marketing. By using Instagram's tools correctly, following ASA disclosure rules, and approaching collaborations strategically, both creators and brands can build partnerships that drive real results while maintaining audience trust. Ready to find your next collaboration? Create your free SocialBrandMatch profile and start connecting with the right partners today.
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