In the past several years, native advertising has risen to the top of the online marketing conversation. And, for the most part, it’s done so because other forms of online advertising have failed miserably. But native advertising, for all its popularity and success, has brought with it a very dark side; the blurring of editorial church and state.

To some, this blurring is no big deal. To others — the smart ones, it is the downfall of society as we know it. Some approaches to native advertising have resulted in worthwhile, informative, education and helpful content readers can consider valuable. Other native advertising efforts — sadly, most — have resulted in poorly written, spammy, listicle, brochure-like content that irks, annoys and just plain sucks.

What if there were a way to do native advertising where the content used to advertise were truly native? And by that, I mean it was created irrespective of influence from anyone remotely involved with the topic on the content? In other words, it’s not an ad.

So if it’s not an ad, how, then, could it still be native advertising? Well it’s something different really; promoted content. Yea, yea. Promoted content is nothing new but a company called inPowered has added a bit of a twist.

inPowered marries brands with already existing, expert-written content that wasn’t created because some brand paid to have it created. You know, good old-fashioned editorial.

inPowered has a super fancy technology that seeks out and identifies existing content as it relates to any brand, product or topic and ranks the experts who wrote the content. Experts are ranked on consistency – consistent focus on a particular topic, depth – insightful, educational, helpful content that isn’t a regurgitated press release and validation – how often the content is shared. In all, inPowered tracks 50 million article a month qualifying 50,000 subject matter experts across 10,000 topics.

Brands can then come to inPowered and be matched with the expert in their area of interest. That content is then connected to the brand with automagically created, programmatically placed ads which appear across ad networks and social networks.

In terms of success metrics and in order to weed out the clickbait effect prevalent in other promoted content models, inPowered ads only “count” and are paid for if the content the ads point to is actually read (measured by at least 15 seconds spent with the content) or shared (out to social networks like Facebook and Twitter).

It’s really a very simple and effective ad model. Basically, it’s an engine that identifies already existing content a brand would find beneficial and gives that brand a mechanism to direct that content towards those most likely to act on the content.

Instagram. It’s been around but brands are just beginning to climb on board. Brands know they need it and yet many aren’t entirely sure how to improve their social media game as competition stiffens with more and more brands joining Instagram daily.

If your brand hasn’t made successful strides on Instagram, chances are there are some critical elements you’re missing. Here are 4 simple ways you can revive your brand’s presence on Instagram.

1. Invite Consumers In

Most people don’t follow brands on Instagram to see ads. In fact, when Instagram introduced sponsored ads, users weren’t very pleased. Most don’t want to see explicit ads while browsing their photostream. It’s distracting and looks like spam.

Those who do choose follow brands on Instagram do so because they feel connected to the brand and want more insight into its personality and values. Far too often, brands miss this opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with consumers and expose them to behind the scenes, exclusive content they won’t get anywhere else.

A simple way to improve your brand’s Instagram strategy is to let consumers in and showcase how your brand can be integrated into various consumer lifestyles. This can be done by capturing shots from various angles that give an introspective view of the brand, allowing consumers to relate and see themselves using its products.

Another way to expose followers to your brand’s values is through exposure to broader concepts not centrally focused on products. For example, in this post from L’Oreal, the brand reinforces its values and global appeal with an image that is not explicitly advertorial, but rather inspirational and relatable.

L’Oreal created a simple post that is both powerful and personal, in that it speaks to their audience and lets them know what’s important to them beyond selling products.

2. Let Your Fans Speak for Your Brand

Relying on celebrity endorsements for your brand on Instagram is a bit counterintuitive. A platform that is literally driven by and created to engage the community should embrace its power players, not just appeal to them with ingenuous celebrity ads. Sure celebrities come with huge numbers of followers, but that is not a clear indication of their power to influence.

Real influence comes from real people. The difference between celebrities and influencers is that influencers are everyday users who amass followers based on their organic use of brands, skillfully coupled with their unique personalities and relatable lifestyles, rather than celebrity popularity.

Influencers do not advertise, instead they work with companies to help them market their brands with creative, relevant and original content for their users; and unlike celebrities, they have a strong, not so distant relationship with their followers, making them a powerful liaison between brand and consumer.

One of these influencers, Michael Schultz (@berlinstragram), quit his day job so he could start working with brands full time. Schultz’s focus is on travel, culture, and art around the world. He captures moments from his home city of Berlin as well as the places he discovers.

Schultz recently worked with Hotel Generator and created a photo campaign with the hashtag #WHILEINBETWEEN. The campaign asked followers to upload photos from their point of departure to their destination with the hashtag.

The campaign gained a lot of participation, and soon thousands of users started to upload their own photos. Within a month, Hotel Generator gained 2,500 new followers.

3. Embrace Video

Instagram recently announced an update that enables videos to loop. Essentially, Instagram videos just became a little more Vine-like. Some might call this a small change, but it’s actually a signifier of how important video will be to the Instagram community this year, particularly for brands.

4. Generate A Call to Action

Marketing is all about creating a change in behavior and Instagram is an ideal tool for motivating consumers to action through strategic, yet organic engagement. As demonstrated by Schultz’s photo campaign, a simple hashtag can create a popular trend among users and help increase the reputation of a brand.

One of most effective means of motivating your audience to action is providing meaningful incentives like giveaways and exclusive prizes. It’s nice to post cool photos, but to move beyond likes and comments, brands must give their followers a reason to engage.

This isn’t bribery, it’s gratitude. Offering incentives shows followers that you value your relationship with them. It’s also a great way to get your brand fans to test new products and give valuable feedback.

Revitalizing your brand’s Instagram profile boils down to how well you can keep your audience engaged. All elements: visually compelling content, quality influencers and incentives must work together to build a brand profile that will strengthen your relationship with current customers and attract new ones.

This guest article was written by Francis Trapp, CEO of Brandnew IO.