The ultimate guide to whitelisting on social media

The era of sponsored posts on social media is changing.

ECommerce brands no longer just leverage content creators for endorsements and product mentions. They also seek creators’ help for whitelisting, which gives the brands better control over the ad and targeting.

Despite being under the same "influencer campaign umbrella," influencer marketing and influencer whitelisting, in particular, are not the same thing. Influencer marketing, as we know it, uses influencer-generated content (IGC) to drive brand awareness. Influencer whitelisting amplifies and scales IGC through paid social to drive leads and conversions.

If this still sounds a little confusing, fear not. In this post, we’ll explore social media whitelisting, including influencer whitelisting, in detail.

What is whitelisting on social media?

Social media whitelisting is the process of granting an entity permission to access someone else’s platforms on social media so the entity can show its content on the channel or on selected users' feeds. For instance:

• A news organization might whitelist a trusted publisher to ensure that the organization’s content is seen by people interested in that topic.
  
  
• A business might whitelist a popular influencer to make sure its ads are seen by the influencer’s followers.

Whitelisting allows businesses and other entities to better control where their content is seen. It’s also a great strategy to build their brand using social media. When businesses promote their values using a trusted social media handle, they ensure the trusted person’s followers believe these values as well. Whitelisting can help them amplify their promotional efforts, too.

What is influencer whitelisting?

All that said, influencer whitelisting, also known as creator licensing, is an influencer marketing strategy. Simply put, it’s a situation when an influencer gives a brand permission to run ads on the content creator’s social media accounts.

In other words, eCommerce brands can use the influencers' social media handles when they run ads. The ads appear before the eCommerce brands’ targeted audience as content created by the influencer.

Whitelisted ads vs brand-owned ads

The major difference between whitelisted ads and brand-owned ads is who has control over marketing content creation and distribution.

Typically, it’s the creators and influencers who make the content for whitelisted ads, and the brand gives them suggestions or guidelines in some cases. In some instances, however, the eCommerce brand creates the ads itself. Whichever the case, these whitelisted ads run under the creator’s social media handle.

For brand-owned ads, on the other hand, eCommerce brands always create their own ads. They have full control over the copy, visuals, and other creative elements. Unlike whitelisted ads, brand-owned ads run under the eCommerce brand’s own social media handle.

Here’s a side-by-side view of a Hello Fresh ad that’s run on different platforms: one from the brand’s account and the other from Jessica Alba’s account.

Source

On the right, you see a regular eCommerce brand-owned ad from HelloFresh that appears under the brand’s handle. On the left, the ad for HelloFresh appears to have been posted by Jessica Alba herself, making it a whitelisted ad.

Source

Now, check out these sample influencer-whitelisted ads, just to get an idea of how these types of ads look when run under the social media accounts of influencers and not celebrities.

The recent widespread availability of artificial intelligence (AI) has made it much easier to create ads.. One of the popular generative AI use cases is content creation. Just input the right prompts, and the tool can create and optimize content, including ads, in your brand voice. What are the benefits of whitelisting for eCommerce brands?

If you’re an eCommerce business that’s considering whitelisting influencers to promote your brand, here are other benefits of using this type of strategy:

Enhanced visibility

ECommerce brands that partner with influencers gain exposure to a broader audience. Influencers have followers in the hundreds, thousands, and even millions. Just look at the number of followers each type of influencer has, according to Influencer Marketing Hub:

• Mega-influencer: over one million followers
• Macro-influencer: between 100,000 and one million followers
• Micro-influencer: between 10,000 and 100,000 followers
• Nano-influencer: between 1,000 and 10,000 followers

As an eCommerce business, even if you just leverage the services of a nano-influencer, who has the least number of followers, you can still reap the benefits of increased reach. That doesn’t even include the people you can reach if each of the influencer’s followers shares your whitelisted content.

Overall, this can result in more followers for your eCommerce brand, increased brand engagement, and, ultimately, ensure a larger impact on your brand-building efforts.

Increased credibility

ECommerce brands can enhance their reputation by collaborating with trusted influencers. This makes them appealing to potential partner-companies and helps them attract more business opportunities.

It makes them appealing to customers as well, which can, ultimately, lead to more sales. A staggering 69% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations. Since they trust the influencers’ recommendation of the company, they trust the company, too. Nearly 70% of consumers say they are more likely to stay loyal to a brand if they trust it.

Competitive advantage

With enhanced visibility and increased credibility, eCommerce brands, including yours, can ultimately gain a competitive advantage when they whitelist influencers.

It helps strengthen their market position, allows them to attract even more customers who value their unique offerings, and ensures business growth.

3 influencer whitelisting challenges for eCommerce brands

Implemented correctly, whitelisting will drive brand sales. But if you’re an eCommerce business that’s just about to start using this strategy, you’ll inevitably encounter some challenges. Here are three main ones and how to tackle them.

1. Identifying suitable influencers

Finding influencers for whitelisting can be hard. After all, popular self-proclaimed micro and nano-influencers with personal social media accounts won’t do. You’ll need specific influencers with business profiles or verified creator accounts to grant your brand advertising permissions. You also need to find influencers who know how to grant the right advertising permissions.

Solution 1: You may find relevant influencers by reverse engineering the best keywords for SEO in your niche.

Instead of searching Google, look up those keywords on Instagram or Facebook. That's what your target audience is searching for, meaning niche influencers will likely use them in their content to reach a new audience. So, when you search for those keywords on social media, you’ll get a list of relevant influencers’ content and, therefore, a list of relevant influencers as well.

Another option is to search for Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok trends in your niche on your chosen social media platform. Chances are, influencers are creating content that follows these trends for increased exposure. As with the first option, once you hit Enter, you’ll get a list of relevant influencers’ content and, therefore, of relevant influencers.

Whatever strategy you opt for to look for influencers, you should use an email finder to get their contact details. It’s best to email them your pitch. After all, these influencers are popular on social media and probably receive hundreds of messages per day. If you send them your pitch there, they aren’t likely to see it.

Solution 2: Distribute walkthrough decks to influencers at the start of your collaboration. These should include a guide on how to set up a Facebook Business Manager and accept Business Partner requests. We’ll talk more about how to prepare for whitelisting campaigns later.

2. Ensuring compliance

Whitelisting contracts that vaguely mention “grant advertising permissions” without giving details as to the level required is a recipe for legal battles. It can lead to disagreements, smudge your brand reputation, and cost you a lot in legal fees.

Solution: Work with your legal counsel to establish clear guidelines. Ensure that the influencer content you use for ads is compliant with all applicable laws and regulations, including those governing advertising, privacy, and content moderation.

3. Dealing with negative reputation

When you whitelist influencers, you essentially openly associate your brand with that content creator. The problem arises when the influencer becomes the subject of a controversy. The negative reputation can also rub off on your brand.

Solution: Use social listening tools to track conversations around your chosen influencer. If there are signs of a brewing negative influencer reputation, stop using the creator’s social media handle for your content. If necessary, write a press release reiterating your positive brand values.

Best practices for effective influencer whitelisting

Ready to start your influencer whitelisting campaign? Here are some best practices you should follow as an eCommerce business:

Rather than one-offs, aim to have a working whitelisting contract in place for the long term. 

Foster trust and build a relationship between yourself and the influencer. Draft a contract that clearly defines the influencer whitelisting criteria and clarifies expectations to keep your legal bases covered. It should include, but not be limited to, usage rights, exclusivity, type of posts to run, agreement duration, and timeline, in clear and plain language.

Nip issues in the bud as they surface. 

Do this by regularly reviewing and updating whitelisting agreements. Keep communication lines open, so both parties are up to speed on what’s going on. By clearly communicating the changes to the influencer, you’re making the best bang for your buck, while also preventing potential disputes.  

Set realistic goals and measurable key performance indicators

As with any marketing campaign, to ensure success, you need to set your campaign goals from the get-go. Is your goal to increase brand awareness, enhance your reputation, or boost sales?

Then, based on your goals, set measurable KPIs. For instance, if your campaign goal is to enhance your reputation, you’ll want to look at customer sentiment about your eCommerce brand, perhaps by using social media listening tools or surveys, after your campaign. If you met your KPIs, then that means you should follow everything to the letter to ensure the success of future influencer whitelisting campaigns. If you don’t meet them, then make a list of what worked and what didn’t so you can use this as a guide when you launch your next one. 

Create a landing page for your whitelisted ads

It doesn’t matter if it’s the influencer or your eCommerce business that creates the whitelisted ad. You need to create pages users can “land on” when they click on this whitelisted content. For this, you can use any of the many landing page builders available on the market. Instapage is a popular tool, but if you find that expensive, you can use Instapage alternatives that offer similar features at a lower price.

How to prepare for influencer whitelisting on social media

The basis of whitelisting is the same regardless of the platform you choose. Content creators need to grant you advertising access for an agreed amount of time, which they can also revoke when necessary.

That said, here’s a brief rundown on how to prepare for whitelisting on different social media platforms.

Instagram and Facebook

Creating a Facebook or Instagram creator whitelist requires the permission of creators through the Facebook Business Manager. Both parties (eCommerce brand and content creator) must link their Facebook Business Manager accounts to the Facebook page or Instagram handle they want to use.

Once that’s done, have the creator follow these steps:

• Navigate to Business Settings > Users > Partners.
• In the “Add” tab, select “Give a partner access to your assets” and type in the brand's Business Manager ID.
• Choose the assets the brand will have access to (Instagram account(s) and Facebook page(s)) and their permissions.
• Set the permissions for each to "Create ads."

That’s it! You should have access to create lookalike audiences and use the creator’s accounts for content.  

TikTok

TikTok's whitelisted ads are called Spark Ads, and the process is easy to set up

Once you find the right creator for your brand on TikTok, have them grant you whitelisting access through the app. To do this, they’ll need to generate an authorization code and select a duration for how long the code will be valid.

When you receive the code from the creator, go ahead and whitelist the piece of content directly through your TikTok ads manager.

Getting started with social media whitelisting

A successful whitelisting campaign requires transparent communication and trustworthy relationships with your partners. Get them on board with your mission, as they’ll be more comfortable handing you the reins to their assets when they know what you’re trying to accomplish.

Start by finding suitable creators in your niche, and then contact them to discuss whitelisting arrangements. Have your legal team get in touch to alleviate concerns about the level of permissions you’re asking to keep your chosen creators’ minds at ease.

Explain the benefits of collaborating with you. With intentional efforts from both sides, you’re on your way to a successful partnership.