What Are Partnership Ads and Spark Ads? Turn Influencer Content into Ads That Deliver More Than a Regular Post

Many brands hire influencers and measure only the views on that post. The problem is that most posts reach only part of the influencer's followers, and views stop growing within a few days. A better-value approach is to run the influencer's post as an ad, through Partnership Ads on Facebook and Instagram or Spark Ads on TikTok.

Partnership Ads are a Meta ad format that shows the creator's account and the brand's account together in the ad header. Brands can run ads directly from the creator's post, or create new ads in the creator's name. Once the creator grants permission, the brand sets the audience and budget and measures results in Ads Manager like any other ad.

Spark Ads let you run organic TikTok posts as ads. The creator generates an authorisation code for the brand, and the likes, comments and followers gained from the ad all accrue to the original post, so the ad looks as natural as regular content.

• 1
  Extend reach to audiences the brand chooses, not just the creator's followers
• 2
  People trust content from individuals more than ads where the brand speaks for itself
• 3
  Choose only posts already proven to interest people, reducing creative risk
• 4
  Measure results clearly as sales through the Pixel and the platform's tools

Before hiring an influencer, specify in the contract that the brand has the right to run the post as an ad, for how long (such as 30, 60 or 90 days), whether there's an extra fee, and how much the copy can be edited or the video cut. Agreeing this up front saves time asking for permission later and gets you a clear price.

Your influencer budget goes much further when you treat posts as ad creative rather than one-off work. Choose content that performs, secure the full rights, then use ad spend to take it to the right customers.