Top 5 Partnership Ads on Instagram and Facebook
In today’s competitive landscape and challenging macro-economic environment, there’s an increasing need to optimize ad performance and improve ROI. The good news is that, if you’re working with influencers, you likely have a goldmine of influencer-generated content (IGC) that can be repurposed in your paid ads to maximize your ad spend and boost conversions.
While there are many ways to boost IGC, Partnership Ads (formerly known as Branded Content Ads) are the tried-and-true way to impact your ROAS and CAC. Partnership Ads leverage branded content on Instagram and Facebook to create ads that are more authentic, eye-catching, and highly targeted. Partnership Ads have proven to perform better than even account takeovers and allowlisted ads. In fact, Meta’s internal study revealed that Instagram Partnership Ads see:
- 82% probability to win for purchase outcomes
- 3.9% lower cost per purchase
- 2.4x conversion lift
Still don’t believe us? Check out how brands like Clinique, Vuori, and ASUS boosted return on ad spend while minimizing customer acquisition costs.
1. Clinique
TL;DR — Clinique ran mobile-optimized Partnership Ads featuring content creators sharing authentic reviews of its latest product, earning an impressive 8.7x return on ad spend.
Clinique, the premium skincare and cosmetics brand, launched a new product — Clinique iD for Imperfections — in Australia. To supercharge brand awareness and ecommerce sales for the product, the brand decided to create authentic social content that would truly resonate with their target audience.
Knowing social proof is key in the skincare community, the first step to their social strategy was to connect with 10 beauty and lifestyle content creators in Australia, who had skin concerns and imperfections they wanted to address. Each content creator was asked to share their reviews using the product in an Instagram post, ensuring that their posts reflected their genuine experiences.
Clinique then turned these authentic branded assets into a mobile-optimized Instagram Partnership Ads campaign, featuring the creators’ images and honest reviews. Paired with engaging captions and the clearly marked “Sponsored” tag, the Partnership ads were strategically targeted to reach a broad audience in Australia aged 16–65 — and the results were mind-blowing.
In just 2 weeks, Clinique achieved:
- 54% lower cost per purchase (compared to business-as-usual photo ad campaign)
- 8.7x return on ad spend
- 1.8x higher return on ad spend (compared to business-as-usual photo ad campaign)
2. Vuori
TL;DR — Vuori tested three different strategies to promote influencer content in its Facebook ads, and saw a 25% lower cost per purchase when it used Partnership Ads compared to other influencer marketing tactics.
While Vuori, the premium performance apparel brand, already had strong influencer marketing strategies, the brand wanted to understand the best way to strengthen its influencer tactics to reach new audiences and boost sales. In order to do so, the team set up a three-cell split test to compare a personalized ad that featured the same influencer content, but each was promoted from:
- Vuori’s Facebook and Instagram brand handle
- The influencer’s personal Facebook and Instagram handle
- A Partnership Ad (ran from the influencer’s handle but showed that it was sponsored by Vuori)
As part of the split test, the team worked with a well-known fitness influencer, who posed in Vuori apparel along with a caption that discussed how much she loves the brand’s joggers. The ad also included a “Shop Now” call-to-action button that linked to the brand’s site.
As for targeting, the team ran ads to a broad audience (US women) as well as to Custom Audiences, using automatic placements to allow Meta to deliver ads across all Facebook apps, depending on which placements were most likely to drive the best results at the lowest cost.
At the end of the 2-week campaign, Vuori’s split test revealed:
- 25% decrease in cost per purchase with the Partnership Ad, compared to other influencer marketing tactics
- 20% decrease in cost per purchase with the Partnership Ad, compared to brand-only handle
- 25% decrease in cost per purchase with the Partnership Ad, compared to influencer-only handle
3. Viator
TL;DR — Viator A/B tested Partnership Ads and business-as-usual ads in a campaign, with results showcasing a 59.7% lower cost per acquisition from Partnership Ads than the company’s business-as-usual campaigns.
Viator, a travel experiences marketplace, truly tested the power of the creator economy in a new Partnership Ads campaign. Structured as an A/B test, the campaign involved comparing Viator’s regular ads, to a combination of their regular ads and Partnership Ads created by their influencers.
The 5 influencers were specifically chosen to match Viator’s target audience, with each of them producing In-Feed Video Posts on Instagram that showcased the exciting experiences Viator offers to its customers.
In the A/B test, both ad units received equal media budgets and targeting to determine whether the inclusion of Partnership Ads influenced upper funnel metrics and lower funnel metrics within their overall advertising spend.
Within one month, the A/B test found an increase in performance across Viator’s key upper funnel metrics in the test group with Partnership Ads. In fact, the inclusion of Partnership Ads allowed Viator to achieve:
- 59.7% lower cost per acquisition
- 36.9% lower cost per thousand impressions
- 38.6% increase in link clicks
4. L’Oréal
TL;DR — To promote their latest skincare product, L’Oréal worked with beauty content creators to create Partnership Ads in a campaign that included authentic reviews and strong call-to-actions that lifted purchases by 10%.
To drive full-funnel impact for their new Revitalift Hyaluronic Acid Serum, L’Oréal wanted to create high-quality social content that would build a buzz among the beauty community.
The brand worked with 15 beauty content creators, with each of them posting their own content featuring the new serum and messaging about how the product has helped hydrate their skin. Once their posts went live, L’Oréal promoted the posts as Partnership Ads in the feed as well as Stories.
While all Partnership Ads are clearly marked as “Paid Partnership,” the ads reflect each creator’s personal aesthetic and include their original captions that describe their unique experiences with the product — making the ads more authentic and resonating with consumers better. As an added bonus, each Partnership Ad included a call-to-action “Shop Now” button, which encouraged people to try the serum for themselves.
As a result, L’Oréal achieved:
- 48% lift in content viewed
- 41% lift in add-to-cart actions
- 10% lift in purchases
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5. ASUS
TL;DR — To promote the VivoBook Laptop in Poland, ASUS worked with content creators in a Partnership Ads campaign to showcase how the laptop could make daily tasks and activities more enjoyable, resulting in a 30% lift in add-to-carts and 2.4x return on ad spend.
ASUS, a Taiwanese multinational technology and electronics company, wanted to increase its reach and drive sales of their new VivoBook Laptop in Poland. To do so, the company joined forces with local content creators, who could not only promote the versatility of the new VivoBook product, but also drive sales via their ecommerce site.
In an open-ended brief, ASUS asked each creator to create engaging content that showcased how the VivoBook laptop could make daily tasks and activities more enjoyable. This resulted in content featuring the laptop in both professional and leisurely settings, allowing ASUS to source a diverse array of content for their ads.
ASUS turned these assets into Partnership Ads that ran in Instagram’s feed and Stories. The ad campaign used automatic placements to deliver ads across Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network, with targeting filters such as people in Poland, aged 18-45, with an interest in music, PC laptops, digital trends, electronics, and technology.
As a result of the hyper-targeted Partnership Ads campaign, ASUS was able to achieve:
- 2.4x return on ad spend
- 30% lift in add-to-carts
- 44% lift in ASUS’ web traffic
Want to learn more about Partnership Ads? Watch our partner webinar, Meta + Aspire Present: How To Lower Ad Costs With Partnership Ads.
