How Partnership Ads on Meta Drive Better Engagement and Sales

Social media is changing the way ecommerce brands connect with customers, and one of the most exciting developments is partnership ads, formerly known as branded content ads or Influencer Whitelisting, on Meta. These ad formats take the power of influencer marketing and blend it with Meta’s huge reach, giving brands a major opportunity to grow their visibility, engagement, and conversions.

In this article, we’ll break down what Meta partnership ads are, why they’re so effective, and how to use them as part of your overall advertising strategy. Whether you’re already working with content creators or just starting to explore the idea, understanding how to leverage partnership ads can take your brand’s marketing to the next level.

What Are Partnership Ads?

If you’re familiar with influencer marketing, you probably know how powerful it can be to have a well-known creator promote your products. But branded content takes this to the next level by letting brands run ads directly from the creator’s account. In Meta’s ad ecosystem, this is called a partnership ad.

With partnership ads, you’re promoting content that the creator has already posted and leveraging it within your Meta campaigns through paid ads, reaching both the creator’s organic followers and your brand’s audience. The ad will display both the creator’s and the brand’s names at the top, which makes it look more like a genuine endorsement rather than a traditional ad.

Here is an example of what a Partnership Ad looks like in the Meta platform:

So, imagine you’re a fashion brand working with a popular creator. The creator posts a photo of them wearing one of your outfits. With partnership ads, you can use that exact post as an ad on Meta. 

It’ll appear in both the creator’s audience feeds and the feeds of users your brand is targeting. This helps the ad feel more authentic and can lead to higher engagement and conversions.

Traditional Meta Ads vs. Partnership Ads

Partnership ads offer ecommerce brands a unique way to improve performance in several key areas. By leveraging a creator’s or publisher’s organic content and audience, these ads often outperform standard Meta ads, making a significant impact on both brand visibility and sales.

In almost every key performance metric, partnership ads outperform traditional Meta ads. The relatability and authenticity of creator-made content lead to higher engagement, including better click-through rates and stronger conversion rates.

• One fashion brand saw 47% of its total account engagement come from partnership ads, with a substantial boost in overall engagement volume.
• Another apparel brand experienced a 50% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) and a 2.1x higher ROAS when running partnership ads alongside their standard ads.
• A Meta brand lift study on a media company showed a 7.7-point increase in ad recall, a 3.7-point lift in brand awareness, and a 3.2-point boost in purchase intent—all driven by partnership ads.

These examples demonstrate how partnership ads can make a measurable impact not just in terms of engagement but also in conversions and brand growth.

Broader Audience Reach

One of the standout advantages of partnership ads is their ability to tap into the creator’s organic audience. Instead of relying solely on a brand’s own targeting efforts within Meta’s Ads Manager, partnership ads allow brands to reach followers who already trust and engage with the creator’s content. 

This expanded visibility helps brands connect with new demographics that may be more likely to engage and convert.

For example, brands leveraging creator audiences can often see greater brand awareness and higher conversions, as these new audiences are already familiar with and receptive to the creator’s recommendations. 

This broader reach extends the brand’s visibility beyond what could be achieved through standard ads alone.

Increased Credibility and Trust

Trust is a critical factor in driving sales, and partnership ads excel at building that trust. 

By featuring both the brand’s and the creators handles in the ad, the content feels like an organic endorsement rather than a traditional paid ad. Since consumers tend to trust creators more than brands, this sense of authenticity can boost engagement and foster stronger purchase intent.

Because the ad feels more like a recommendation than a sales pitch, customers are more likely to engage—whether it’s liking, sharing, or clicking through to the brand’s website. 

This dynamic help strengthens the relationship between the brand and potential customers, ultimately making them feel more confident in purchasing.

Higher Engagement Rates and Stronger Efficiency

Content creators and influencers are experts at creating content that resonates with their audience, driving higher engagement compared to standard brand ads. Whether through captivating photos, relatable videos, or storytelling, creator content naturally attracts attention. 

When brands integrate creator-generated content into partnership ads, they often see higher click-through rates (CTR), more engagement, and increased conversions.

For example, a fashion brand running partnership ads saw a 296% increase in engagement compared to their standard ads.

The campaign also achieved a 35% higher return on ad spend (ROAS), showing that partnership ads not only boost engagement but also drive real sales.

Enhanced Audience Targeting 

Prospecting and Retargeting with Partnership Ads

Partnership ads work particularly well at the top and middle of the funnel, making them a great tool for both prospecting new customers and retargeting those who have previously interacted with your brand but haven’t yet converted. 

At the top of the funnel, partnership ads introduce your brand to a wider audience by tapping into the creator’s organic followers. Since these followers already trust the creator, your ads are more likely to make a positive first impression, increasing the chances of engagement.

At the middle of the funnel, partnership ads can be used to retarget potential customers who have seen your brand but haven’t made a purchase. 

By leveraging the trust and credibility of the creator, these ads act as a nudge to move users closer to conversion. 

Lookalike Audiences for Broader Reach

Additionally, partnership ads enable the creation of lookalike audiences based on the creator’s organic following. This feature allows brands to target new customers who share similar behaviors and interests with the creator’s audience, further enhancing precision in targeting. 

For instance, Meta’s platform can analyze a creator’s audience engagement and help brands target users who share those same interests—even if they haven’t interacted with the brand yet.

Balancing Standard Ads and Partnership Ads for Optimal Performance

While partnership ads can deliver strong results, a balanced campaign that integrates both standard Meta ads and partnership ads is the most effective way to maximize performance across the funnel. Combining these ad types allows brands to leverage the strengths of each format, ensuring both consistency and authenticity.

Standard ads provide a level of control and consistency crucial for maintaining your brand message across platforms. These ads allow brands to deliver specific product messages, promotions, or brand values in a consistent and scalable way. 

With standard ads, brands can directly craft and control the message, targeting specific customer segments with customized content.

On the other hand, partnership ads bring the unique advantage of authenticity and trust through creator endorsement. They allow you to tap into the creator’s audience and add a layer of credibility, making your ads feel more organic. 

Running both types of ads allows you to layer content, ensuring variety while keeping your brand message at the forefront.

This layered approach gives your audience exposure to both direct, brand-controlled ads and more authentic, creator-driven ads, which increases the likelihood of capturing attention and driving conversions.

Best Practices for Managing Partnership Campaigns

Campaign Setup

The most effective way to manage partnership ads is to run them in a segmented campaign. This approach separates partnership ads from your standard ad campaigns, allowing for better budget control and more precise performance tracking. 

By isolating partnership ads, brands can easily monitor which creators drive the best results and allocate ad spend accordingly.

Segmentation also provides flexibility to scale ad budgets based on performance data, enabling you to quickly adjust as needed.

Additionally, running partnership ads in their own campaign allows for more accurate comparisons against traditional ads, helping you make data-driven decisions.

Clear Communication and Content Alignment

A critical component of successful partnership campaigns is open communication between the brand and the creator. Clear coordination ensures both parties are aligned on objectives, content format, and timelines. 

Since partnership ads cannot be edited once live, it’s important to align on messaging and visuals before the campaign launches. 

Work closely with the creator to ensure the ad resonates with your brand’s voice and appeals to your target audience while still remaining authentic to the creator’s style. 

Getting this right early on helps avoid issues once the content is promoted.

It’s also crucial to plan for ad flight dates in advance. Discussing and coordinating these dates ensures the content is released at the right time and doesn’t suffer from overexposure or creative fatigue.

Running an ad for too long without refreshing it can make audiences tired of seeing the same content repeatedly. 

Monitoring Creative Fatigue

Creative fatigue can become an issue when an ad is shown too frequently. Overexposing content by running the same ad for too long can lead to diminishing returns, as audiences may become desensitized. To avoid this, regularly refresh partnership content and ensure multiple ads are in rotation. 

Running at least 4 to 6 partnership ads simultaneously can help keep your campaign fresh and maintain high engagement levels. This also allows your audience to see varied content, reducing the likelihood of ad fatigue.

Key Metrics when Measuring Success of Partnership Ads 

As with any marketing strategy, measuring the performance of partnership ads is key to optimizing your efforts. Focusing on the right metrics will help you assess the success of your campaigns and identify areas for improvement.

Conversion KPIs

By comparing the ROAS of partnership ads to your standard ads, you can quickly gauge how effective they are at driving conversions. 

Similarly, keep a close eye on cost per acquisition (CPA). A successful partnership ad campaign should help lower your CPA compared to historical performance, indicating that you’re getting more value for your ad spend.

For example, we worked with a brand with a CPA goal of $25 and saw a 26% lower CPA for partnership ads compared to their standard campaigns.

This demonstrates the clear cost efficiencies that partnership ads can deliver when executed properly.

Engagement and Awareness

Don’t just focus on conversions—engagement and brand awareness metrics are equally important.

Track click-through rates (CTR), overall engagement volume, and increases in brand awareness to understand how well your partnership ads are resonating with the audience. These metrics can offer insights into how much attention your ads are capturing, which is critical for long-term success.

Budgeting for Partnership Ads

Effective budgeting is a key part of running successful partnership ads. Here’s how to make sure you’re getting the most out of your ad spend.

Initial Budget Allocation

When starting with partnership ads, it’s a good idea to allocate 5-10% of your ad budget to test their performance. 

This gives you enough data to see how these ads compare to your standard campaigns without committing too much upfront.

Incremental Scaling

If partnership ads are delivering strong results, gradually increase the budget while continuing to monitor performance. Incremental scaling ensures you’re maximizing efficiency and avoiding unnecessary overspending.

Putting Partnership Ads into Action

Partnership ads present an exciting opportunity for ecommerce brands to deepen connections with their audiences, expand reach, and drive more conversions by leveraging the authenticity of creators. 

But simply knowing their potential isn’t enough—success with partnership ads comes from smart execution, thoughtful planning, and continuous optimization.

As you begin to integrate partnership ads into your broader advertising strategy, consider this: Are you effectively balancing these ads with standard campaigns to create a cohesive brand message? Are you working closely with creators to ensure that their content truly aligns with your brand’s voice? And most importantly, are you prepared to refine your approach based on data and performance metrics to maximize results?

Now is the time to experiment and scale. Start small by testing partnership ads with a modest portion of your budget, then expand as you see results. Keep a close eye on your CPA and ROAS, and don’t be afraid to iterate based on what’s working. Your brand’s success with partnership ads will come from consistent experimentation, strategic scaling, and open collaboration with creators.

Now, it’s up to you to seize the opportunity and turn this strategy into a meaningful, revenue-driving part of your marketing efforts.

Reach out to creators, craft a balanced ad strategy, and begin leveraging the power of partnership ads to unlock new growth opportunities. The potential is there, and the brands that act now will be the ones that reap the rewards.

About the Author: Molly Branson is a Sr. Media Strategist, Paid Social at adQuadrant. She originally hails from Washington State and proudly holds a degree from the University of Washington (Go Huskies!), where she majored in Communications with minors in Diversity, Sales, and Law, Society, and Justice. She launched her career in digital marketing, specializing in enhancing Paid Social campaigns for various brands across multiple social platforms. After spending five years in Seattle, Molly traded rain for sunshine and relocated to San Diego, CA in 2023, where she currently resides. When she’s not immersed in marketing strategies, Molly enjoys spending time with friends and family, attending music festivals, traveling to new places, and doting on her four-legged son Alfie, the cat!