Report highlights the value of creator-led collabs on Instagram

title: "Instagram Collab Posts Boost Brand Engagement, Study Shows"
description: "Emplifi's study reveals Instagram Collab posts, especially creator-led collaborations, significantly outperform standard brand promotions, with Reels driving the highest engagement."
keywords: "Instagram, Collab posts, brand engagement, creator collaborations, Emplifi, Meta, social media marketing, like.tg"

## Instagram Collaboration Posts Enhance Brand Performance

A recent study by Emplifi highlights the effectiveness of Instagram's collaboration feature for brand promotions. Analyzing over 520,000 posts from 3,791 brand profiles, the data reveals that creator-published collaborations consistently outperform standard brand posts and brand-initiated collaborations.

![Emplifi brand collabs](https://imgproxy.divecdn.com/8cv4aKJXRwo5HFidvxvyRBzMQRzN1A8yM30kq-zNuJk/g:ce/rs:fit:1600:0/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9lbXBsaWZpX2JyYW5kX2NvbGxhYnMucG5n.webp "Emplifi's analysis of Instagram brand collaborations")

## Two Types of Instagram Collaborations

Instagram currently offers two collaboration formats:

### 1. Owned Collaborations
Brands publish the post and invite creators to collaborate.

### 2. Accepted Collaborations
Creators publish promotional content and invite brands to partner.

Emplifi's data shows that 73% of brands on Instagram utilize the collaboration feature, with accepted collaborations generating significantly higher engagement. These creator-led posts achieve over 5x the amplification of non-collab posts in ecommerce and retail sectors.

![Meta Creator Marketing Hub](https://imgproxy.divecdn.com/XdulIIa1l-C9V2iwYTh0P2NoRSTlDxAbhJhVLzMy77g/g:ce/rs:fit:1600:0/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9tZXRhX2NyZWF0b3JfbWFya2V0aW5nX2h1Yi5wbmc=.webp "Meta's Creator Marketing Hub interface")

## Reels Drive Highest Engagement

The study examined posts published between January 1 and June 30, 2026, finding that collaborations boost performance across all post types. However, Reels demonstrate the most significant gains in engagement.

![Emplifi brand collabs performance](https://imgproxy.divecdn.com/eQApKmwQzg-6pB4ON7Ho6dMJ_OUkSQ4ujNGMjwY1jKg/g:ce/rs:fit:1600:0/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9lbXBsaWZpX2JyYW5kX2NvbGxhYnMzLnBuZw==.webp "Performance comparison of collaboration post types")

The success of creator-led campaigns may be partially attributed to Meta's expanded affiliate program, which allows creators to promote products in Reels clips for commission. This program saw significant expansion in March 2026, coinciding with increased performance of creator collaborations.

For marketers, these findings suggest that partnering with creators through Instagram's collaboration feature, particularly for Reels content, can significantly enhance campaign performance. like.tg continues monitoring social media platform updates to provide the latest insights for digital marketers.