Last Friday Facebook announced updates to its branded content policy, allowing verified Facebook Pages to share branded content on the social media network. The revised policy allows publishers to use branded content mentioning a third party product, brand or sponsor within text, photos, videos, Instant Articles, links, 360 videos and Live videos.

“This update is something that media companies, public figures, influencers, and marketers have been asking for, as branded content is a growing and evolving part of the media landscape. People will now be connected to more of the content they care most about on Facebook as publishers and influencers gain an incentive to share more quality content – of all kinds – with their fans,” said Clare Rubin, product manager, and Nick Grudin, vice president of partnerships, in Facebook’s announcement.

“We know that many of our partners have existing partnership deals with marketers, and this update gives them the ability to extend their branded content business onto Facebook.”

“We believe that today’s update will bring more interesting and engaging content into the Facebook ecosystem, but not all branded content is a fit for our platform. People have told us that they find some types of branded content to be less engaging than others, and this was typically when the content was more promotional,” the announcement said.

Based on that philosophy, Facebook has developed guidelines for using branded content. For example, publishers and influencers must tag a marketer when posting to Facebook to identify the post as branded content.

It will show up in the post’s header as [Publisher] with [Brand Name.] See the “Lady Gaga with Intel” sample to the right. This provides transparency, though subtle, for Facebook fans and post-level insights to publishers and marketers along with giving them the option to share or boost a post. Additional branded content guidelines include:

• No overly promotional features like persistent watermarks and pre-roll ads.
• Cover photos and profile photos must not feature third party products, brands or sponsors.
• Product placement, endcards and marketer’s logos are allowed.
• Publishers and influencers are responsible for understanding their legal obligations for denoting branded content as being commercial.

Facebook has been testing the new branded content policy with select publishers and marketers over the last few months, but the tool is now being rolled out to other Verified Pages. Support is not yet available for Live video yet, but Facebook said that’s coming soon. Marketing Land reported on the updated policy last week, noting that it isn’t yet clear if Facebook’s branded content policy is FTC-compliant. Marketing Land contacted the FTCand received this response:

“All advertising promotional messages should be identifiable as advertising, regardless of where they appear. As our guidance for businesses on native advertising notes, everyone who participates directly or indirectly in creating or presenting native ads should make sure that ads don’t mislead consumers about their commercial nature,” the FTC said.

Is Facebook’s branded content tag enough to differentiate an informational post from a promotional one? That’s the FTC’s call, but the differentiation is subtle at best. Insider Take: This news came just four days before Facebook officially opened up Instant Articles to publishers all over the world versus several hundred publishers who’ve been testing it since last year.

With Instant Articles, Live video, Messenger and now an updated branded content policy, Facebook is working hard to convince publishers and brands to use Facebook as an important tool in their marketing arsenals. Facebook is competing for attention with Google AMP, so to attract its share of publishers and brands to the social media platform, it must offer easy-to-use products that help publishers and brands generate additional traffic and revenue.

Considering Facebook’s deep pockets and its history of innovation, we anticipate more publisher and brand-focused products in the near future. This is good news for publishers who are trying to figure out the right product and service mix to create and/or maintain sustainable revenue streams.

One key for publishers is to find that sweet spot between content creation, audience and revenue. If they can use Facebook’s tools to grow audience and revenue to get the needed ROI, it makes sense for them to experiment with the opportunities Zuckerberg and company are providing. Then they can keep what works and ditch what doesn’t.

Another key is to determine the right way to leverage the various places the publishers and brands post content. How does posting to Facebook – or any other platform – impact the brand and potential revenue? Where are they getting the best ROI – social media platforms, direct traffic or other content distribution channels? Based on the answers to those questions, they can make smart, data-informed decisions that will help them reach their goals.