Some big news got leaked last week. First reported by the German site AllFacebook.de and later confirmed by TechCrunch, Facebook is building a platform that will connect marketers and advertisers with social media creators and influencers to allow them to collaborate on sponsored content and social media ad campaigns. It’s currently being dubbed the “Branded Content Matching” search engine. Check out the screenshot below:
Facebook’s “Branded Content Matching” Engine
The social search engine will let advertisers define the characteristics of their target demographic/audience. The engine will then serve up the creators whose followings best fit the desired audience. The entities will be able to communicate through the platform, and work out the details of a campaign from there.
It is unclear as to whether this engine will include Instagram or just Facebook influencers from the outset. We do know a bit more about the platform though. Advertisers in the test can search for creators with specific audience demographics using a wide range of targeting options. Those include both general and industry-specific parameters, like:
- Top countries where they’re popular
- Interests
- Gender
- Education history
- Relationship status
- Life events
- Homeownership status
- Home type
The search engine’s results page shows a list of creators with each’s audience match percentage to the search terms, percentage of their followers they reach, engagement rate, follower count and video views.
Facebook has been putting more emphasis on creators in general of late. They recently announced their Facebook Creator app.
The new app provides influencers with the Live Creative Kit, a unified inbox for messaging, in-depth analytics, and more.
Facebook won’t be taking a cut of any transactions made through the Branded Content Matching engine initially, but surely they’ll find a way to profit from it down the road.
In general, we are very excited about this new influencer marketing platform. A new, potentially similar and more robust influencer platform from Rand Fishkin is in the works as well. Having done a lot of influencer work at Wallaroo, we know the power and ROI that influencers can drive for brands, both on small and large scales.
Interested in digital strategy or scalable social campaigns? Contact us today!
