Have you ever done an incredible bit of work and the credit goes to someone else? It’s incredibly frustrating, isn’t it. Imagine if your income revolves around getting credit for unique and entertaining content ideas…

Which is why Instagram is taking steps to make sure creators receive the appropriate credit for their work. Being properly credited is especially important for Black and underrepresented creators, as Instagram explains.

Instagram for Creators

“Crediting is an entryway to building a sustainable career as a creator, while combating cultural appropriation and ensuring the world knows who is driving culture.”

Introducing Enhanced Tagging

That is why Instagram is rolling out enhanced tags. Enhanced tags will make it easier to share and view a creator’s contribution to a video or post and will ensure every single contributor to a piece of content is properly credited.

Last year’s content strikes from Black creators proved that platforms need to do better to make sure creators receive proper credit for their work. Hopefully Enhanced Tags can do that.

Instagram for Creators

“Enhanced tags allow a creator’s self-designated profile category on their professional accounts to be displayed in their People Tag, so that people can share and view a creator’s specific contribution to a photo or video post. Simply put—if you’re a makeup artist, songwriter or other significant collaborator on a post, your contributions will be more visible in the post.”

Instagram is launching this update after a backlash against TikTok after some Black content creators called it out for failing to provide appropriate credit. Enhanced tags will try to combat this and make it easier to provide better credit to all creators.

It’s easy to be enhanced

Enhanced tags let viewers find out more about the creators that came together to help produce a bit of content. That could help users explore and discover fresh talent, and provide more exposure on the platform.

To use the tags, follow the steps:

• Open Instagram and hit the + in the top right hand corner.
• Create a new Post and select Next.
• Make your edits and select Next.
• When you’re done writing a caption, select Tag People.
• Choose Add Tag and then select your contributors.
• Select Show Profile Category to display creator category.
• Select Done.
• Once you’ve picked your additional tags you can hit Share.

Enhanced Tags shouldn’t really impact business/creator tie ups that much, although brands need to be careful to tag everyone involved in the creation of the post. On the flip side, brands tagged in creators’ posts could now benefit from increased exposure.

Not the only way to tag

Instagram offers a couple of other tagging features. Branded Content Tags let creators display a Paid Partnership Label within the app. The feature is only available for business and creator accounts, and lets creators disclose partnership with brands in Feed, Stories, Live, Reels and Instagram videos. 

The Branded Content Tags shows the whole of Instagram who is partnering with whom, and shows users when they are looking at an advert or a paid promotion. It could also help brands and marketers to receive the exposure benefits that come with being featured on an influencer’s account.

Or Collab

Collabs is a bit different from Branded Content Tags. Collabs lets users co-author Instagram feed posts and Reels and allows accounts to share content with their followers. Collabs will appear on both parties’ profiles – and if they’re both big accounts – will benefit from double the exposure!

Collabs lets brands leverage and engage with a creator or influencer’s community in ways that they’ve never been able to before, and opens up exciting possibilities for marketing on Instagram.

Paid partnerships still need to go through the usual approval process, but nevertheless this is an exciting way for brands to increase their exposure and grow an audience.

So, there we have it. From now on, there’s no excuse not to properly credit everyone involved in the creation of your post – and we mean everyone. From music, to makeup, to design and editing – there’s space for everyone. Use Enhanced Tags to boost exposure, properly credit and spread the love.

And remember, there’s Branded Content Tags to make sure your partnership is completely above board and Collabs to harness the dual power of two sets of followers.