Why You Should Keep Your Sponsored Posts Live Long Term

At inzpire.me, brands are recommended to clarify in the campaign brief how long a sponsored post should remain on your profile.

But why do brands care how long your sponsored posts stay up?

Brands are interested in the long-term visibility of your sponsored post.

The longer the content remains live on your profile, the longer it can continue influencing your audience.  For instance, videos on YouTube are visible longer because their algorithm continuously suggests videos to viewers. This means that YouTube videos have the ability to influence for long periods of time, despite being several months, or years, old.

When a post remains live, engagement and impressions will increase over time.

Engagement (likes + comments) and impressions show brands how many people have seen and interacted with your content. When a collaboration is finished, brands will review your post’s performance to determine how the partnership went. Your content’s performance highlights your abilities as a content creator, and it may lead to another collaboration.

When your content is live for a longer period of time, its engagement will generally increase. For example, we looked at the engagement from @henrikkekongsten’s collaboration with drink brand Noisy. From October 2018 to April 2019, we found that the collaboration post’s engagement increased by 10.6%.

Creator @tobiasfreestyle also experienced an engagement increase of 17.1% over a 12 month period from April 2018 to April 2019.

Your followers will know your sponsored posts are authentic.

When you delete sponsored posts, your followers can get the impression that your collaborations are inauthentic. Deleting content from your profile does not go unnoticed. When you remove sponsored posts, it could signal to your followers that you don’t think critically who you partner with.   

Before agreeing to any partnership, you should consider if you genuinely like the brand. If you do and would be proud to have the sponsored content on your profile then the collaboration would be a good fit.

Brands will perceive you as a trusted partner.

Brands are eager to work with creators who genuinely believe in their services or products. Removing your post can send a message you don’t truly like the product. It could also suggest that you’re unreliable to work with.

Some creators delete sponsored posts because they’re dissatisfied with the collaboration or the content created. Feeling proud of your content is an important part of creating. It’s important to communicate with the brand during the campaign so they can make any necessary adjustments (give more time, change requirements).

By keeping your posts up, you’ll show the brand that you’re committed to them and can be trusted as an ambassador of their product. Being a reliable collaboration partner can open more opportunities for you.

You’ll build a collaboration resume.

Allowing sponsored content to remain on your profile can also give brands an idea of what you’re capable of creating in your collaborations. This way, brands can determine if a partnership with you would be a good fit.

Debunking common myths

Creators often have concerns about keeping their sponsored posts up for a long period of time. Let’s debunk some common myths:

“My profile will only look like advertisements.”

Fiction. Juggling multiple collaborations takes planning. With the right kind of schedule, you should be able to seamlessly integrate your sponsored with your non-sponsored content.

“Creating sponsored content isn’t creative.”

Fiction. Often creators worry their collaboration posts look “boring”. Sponsored content does require creativity, and it’s important to focus on creating the content your followers love and enjoy. A great partnership will allow you to be yourself and the content will fit seamlessly into your profile.

“My followers don’t like sponsored content.”

Fiction. Creating content for brands that you love and believe in is genuine. Your followers are invested in you and want to hear your opinion on the products you use and enjoy.

“Brands won’t notice if I take my post down.”

Fiction. Brands are typically interested in looking at your post after the collaboration ends, and they’ll notice if you make changes to your caption or delete your post. Inzpire.me brands can do this with the Content Library, a feature on the platform that compiles all content created in their collaboration.  

“Other brands will be discouraged from selecting me for future partnerships.”

Fiction. Brands will be more likely to choose you because you’ll appear approachable for partnerships.  But keep in mind that competitors of brands you’ve worked with will likely not select you to collaborate with, as you already represented a brand in the same industry.