How Instagram Influencers Hide Advertisement Disclosure in their Posts

This article will disclose an exciting phenomenon on Instagram, but you might not have noticed it.

More than three-quarters of influencers on Instagram hide ad disclosures somewhere in their posts. It can be in the middle, at the end or in a comment. And, you might not have noticed the hidden ads.

What Does Research Show?

In a study involving the top 100 posts for each disclosure, whether the hashtag was visible in the original post or needed to be expanded to make it visible was carried out.

The analysis revealed that the hashtags with #ad were the highest in number at 12.8 million, #advertisement was at 1.8million, #sponsored was at 3.3million, #gifted was at 1.8million, and #affiliate was at 744,000 million.

Of the total hashtags, 76% of posts carried hidden ads, according to the study.

While 59% of influencers hide ads in the middle of their posts, 25% hide at the end.

Moreover, around 5% of such ads are placed at the beginning of the post. And as many as 12% of such ads are hidden in the comments section.

The study further found that #affiliate was the most hidden term, with 93% of the ad posts having it out of sight. On the other hand, 60% of influencers hide the #gifted posts.

Furthermore, #advertisement was mostly hidden in the comments section, with 20% of influencers doing so. And, #ad was hidden at the beginning of the post, with 15% of influencers hiding it there.

The study also found that the brands paid 13% of such influencer posts. And those included: #ad and #sponsored.

Why is Study Important?

The study assumes importance due to:

• Rules set by the Advertising Standards Association (ASA) mandate that advertising labels “must be prominent enough that consumers will easily notice it”. And that “burying a label in a list of hashtags … or placing it ‘under the fold’ where consumers would need to click ‘see more’ … won’t be sufficient”.
• Disclosure is an essential part of an influencer. It is not because of the legal outcomes but also to have complete transparency with followers. So, influencers hiding the disclosure of their advertisements from followers is against ethics.

Importance of Influencers in Instagram Marketing

Today, content, social media and email marketing do not do all the marketing work. In addition, influencers have become a crucial part of the marketing mix.

Looking at the prevailing scenario, you will see around 71% of businesses currently use influencer marketing or have used it in the past. Moreover, approximately 42% of companies cite influencer marketing as one of their primary channels. As such, you can regard influencer marketing as a mainstay for many companies across every sector.

But, many senior marketers view influencers as an activation rather than a critical strategy, although influencers are an established part of the marketing mix.

According to the prevailing trend, around 32% of businesses consider influencers at the strategic marketing phase. In contrast, around 48% of companies say that influencer marketing should come into the picture much further down the line at the content creation stage.

Conclusion

Influencers are important entities in a marketing mix. So, they need to maintain ethical standards and remain transparent to their followers. At the same time, you cannot hold the influencers entirely responsible, brands are equally responsible because influencers usually post hidden ad disclosure due to the insistence of brands.