Facebook is Building a Platform For Branded Content Matching

Facebook is working on a Branded Content Matching search engine that could potentially put influencer marketing platforms out of business, at least the ones targeting its own platforms… And let’s face it, a majority of those are on Instagram anyway so this is a big deal.

German site AllFacebook.de was the first to squeak about it along with screenshots. Their legitimacy was later confirmed by TechCrunch to whom Facebook admitted that this is indeed the real deal. Check a look:

Neat!

Influencer marketing is a huge deal for e-commerce stores especially because in the age of ad-saturation, social proof goes a long way. We’ve heard from countless Shopify app developers and store owners that testimonials work better than any ad ever could. This is also true for influencers, who have raving dedicated followings that would buy anything endorsed on their profiles.

The big chasm in this landscape has been that of finding the right influencers. There are THOUSANDS of queries on Quora and Facebook about this with answers varying from paid tool suggestions to crazy search queries. But none of these have the benefit of offering accurate first party data from the platform holder itself… Until now.

It seems Facebook wants in on the influencer marketing money and they could stand to make a gigantic chunk of cash by monetizing the currently under-the-table influencer deals that take place on a daily basis.

How Facebook’s Branded Content Matching Will Work

Influencers will soon be able to opt in and feature their profiles and portfolios of content. They’ll also be able to feature accurately reported stats such as audience sizes and demographic information. All of this will be searchable by businesses looking for good matches in their respective fields. Advertisers can also filter by targeting options such as gender, education history, etc.

Whether Facebook will allow businesses to connect to influential content creators directly or from its own platform is yet to be determined. Though if I was to take a guess, it would most likely be offering on-platform payment options with added benefits such as security, escrow, arbitration, support and the like.

It is no secret that Facebook’s running out of space for ads in its News Feed, so it is smart of them to diversify their perspective on how ads and sponsored content can be featured and delivered. Considering just how religious a social media influencer’s following can be in this day and age, this seems like a safe bet for them to invest in.