Branded content on Facebook: the paid partnership label, who has to use it, and how a brand turns a post into an ad

Branded content on Facebook is a creator's or publisher's own post that features or is influenced by a business partner in exchange for something of value, whether that is money, free product or anything else. Meta's rule is that the creator must tag that business partner using its branded content tools, which puts a Paid partnership label on the post naming the brand. The post stays the creator's: it publishes from their Page or professional mode profile, in their voice, to their audience. The tag is what makes the commercial relationship visible and what gives the tagged business its access to the post. This reflects Meta's Branded Content Policies and its Business Help Centre guidance on branded content, checked 9 October 2026.

So branded content is not an ad you wrote and it is not an organic post you got for free. It is a third thing with its own disclosure requirement, its own permissions and its own route into paid media.

The five parts of the system

• The branded content tool. The mechanism a creator uses to tag the business partner on a post, reel or video. Tagging is the action that produces the label.
• The Paid partnership label. The visible disclosure shown on the post, naming the tagged business, so a viewer can see the post is commercial without reading the caption.
• Eligibility. Creators use the tools from a Facebook Page or a profile in professional mode, and are expected to comply with Meta's Branded Content Policies alongside its wider monetisation and community rules.
• Partner access. Once tagged, the business partner is notified and gets access to certain metrics about the post, which is the difference between a mention you heard about and a collaboration you can report on.
• Paid promotion. A tagged business can run the creator's post as an ad from the creator's handle, with the creator's permission. This is the step that turns a good organic post into reach you control.

Who has to use the label

The test is an exchange of value, not the size of it. If the post features or is influenced by a brand or product and the creator received payment, free product, a free trip, a fee waiver, affiliate commission or anything else of value, the business partner gets tagged. Three cases people get wrong:

• Product sent with no fee. Free product is value. It gets tagged.
• A post about a brand the creator genuinely likes, with nothing received. No exchange, no tag needed. Keep the evidence of that in your own records if the creator is also a paid partner on other posts.
• The brand's own page posting its own content. That is advertising or an organic brand post, not branded content, and it does not use the partnership label.

Separately from the platform rule, advertising regulators in most markets require a clear and conspicuous disclosure of a material connection between an endorser and a brand. The FTC's Endorsement Guides in the United States and the equivalent advertising codes elsewhere set that standard, and they apply to the caption and the video itself, not only to a platform label. The practical position: use the platform label and say it in words. Confirm the current requirements for your market with the relevant regulator or your legal team before you write a policy.

What the brand actually gets

You get	Why it matters
Notification of the tag	You know the post went live without the creator having to email you a screenshot
Access to certain post metrics	Reporting on the collaboration from platform data instead of from the creator's own screenshots
The right to promote the post	With the creator's permission, you can run it as an ad from their handle, keeping the creator's voice and social proof
A visible, consistent disclosure	Compliance handled by the platform's own feature rather than by a hashtag somebody might forget

The clauses to settle before anybody posts

• Tagging is mandatory. Write it into the agreement: the creator will tag you as business partner using the branded content tools on every deliverable.
• Paid promotion permission. Whether you may run the post as an ad, for how long, in which markets, and at what additional fee if any. Agree this before the shoot, not after the post performs.
• Usage of the assets elsewhere. Permission to use the creator's content on your own channels, your site or in other paid media is a separate right from promoting their post.
• Exclusivity. Which competing brands the creator will not post for, and for how long.
• Approval route. How many rounds of feedback, how long each takes, and the line between brand safety notes and rewriting somebody's voice.
• Takedown and amendment. What happens if a claim in the post needs correcting, and how fast.
• Restricted categories. Meta's Branded Content Policies restrict what may be promoted through branded content, including categories such as drugs and drug related products. Regulated categories such as alcohol and financial services carry extra requirements, and audience restrictions by age or location are available for them. Check the current policy text for your category before you brief anybody.

How to brief a creator so the post is worth promoting

• One job per post. Introduce the product, answer one objection, or show one use. A post asked to do four things does none of them.
• The first three seconds, agreed in writing. It decides whether the rest is seen, and it is the single thing worth being specific about.
• What must be said, and what must not. Claims that need substantiation, regulated wording, and the two sentences you want in the creator's own words.
• Silent viewing. Captions or on screen text, because a large share of the audience will never hear it.
• The disclosure, in the caption as well as the label. Near the start, not after a wall of hashtags.
• Deliverables list. Formats, durations, aspect ratios, and whether you receive the raw files.

Measuring it

Set the number before the campaign, and keep it to one per objective. For awareness, reach and three second views from the promoted post. For consideration, saves, shares, comments that ask a question, and profile or link visits. For response, clicks and the on site action, tracked with a campaign tagged link so the traffic is attributable. Compare the creator's post against your own best performing ad on the same objective, which is the only benchmark that answers whether the collaboration earned its fee.

This page covers branded content and the partnership label on Facebook. For the wider creator programme, the rates, the brief and the contract, see our guide to influencer marketing. For paid media strategy across Google and Facebook, see our guide comparing the two.

Asked and answered: branded content on Facebook

What counts as branded content on Facebook?

A creator's or publisher's own post that features or is influenced by a business partner in exchange for anything of value. The creator tags the business partner with the branded content tools, which applies the Paid partnership label.

Do I need the label if I only sent free product?

Yes. Free product is an exchange of value, so the business partner gets tagged. The same applies to trips, discounts, fee waivers and affiliate arrangements.

Who applies the Paid partnership label, the brand or the creator?

The creator applies it on their own post using the branded content tools, which is why the obligation to do so belongs in your agreement with them.

Can I run a creator's branded content post as an ad?

Yes, with the creator's permission, which is what lets a brand promote the post from the creator's handle. Agree the permission, the duration and any fee in the contract before the post goes live.

Is a hashtag such as ad enough on its own?

Use the platform label and say it in words. Regulators look for a clear and conspicuous disclosure in the content itself, which means in the caption near the start and in the video, not buried in a list of hashtags.

What is not allowed in branded content?

Meta's Branded Content Policies restrict categories including drugs and drug related products, and regulated categories such as alcohol and financial services carry additional requirements and audience restrictions. Read the current policy for your category before briefing.

The label does not decide what gets repeated

The paid partnership label tells Facebook users a post is a commercial arrangement. Whatever label sits on the post, the sentence itself is what gets repeated elsewhere, so approve the wording as if it will be read alone. That is a contract point worth adding beside the approvals already listed. Afterwards, ask the assistants about your product and see what they say. AI Knows Us records those replies and the pages they used.