Getting Rights to User-Generated Media

Feature media content your shoppers post on Instagram and bring authenticity to your brand’s messaging. Before you share photos and videos posted by Instagram users, we recommend you request permission from the owner first. 

In this article, you'll learn how to view, manage, and send media rights requests directly from Yotpo.

How it works

This feature works by posting a rights request message on the Instagram media you want to request rights to. If the user approves your request, they’ll reply with a hashtag to give you permission. You can send and track your requests directly through Yotpo.

For technical reasons, the steps for requesting rights differ slightly for the media you’re mentioned in compared to media from other sources.

• Other sources - Media you’re tagged in, hashtagged in, or that you found in a username search

• Mentions - Media you’re mentioned in

Setting it up

Start by setting up your request message, approval hashtag, and thank you message in your rights management settings. 

From your Visual UGC admin, click Media Permissions. As the steps for requesting rights differ slightly for the media you’re mentioned in compared to media from other sources, you’ll need to set these up separately. In each tab, do the following:

1. (optional) Edit the message that you’ll send for each photo or video you want to request the rights to. For the media you’re mentioned in, you can use variables that are replaced with actual values in the message. See request message variables

2. Define your approval hashtag. This is the hashtag the user will need to reply to your comment with if they agree to give you rights.
   - The hashtag is case sensitive, meaning that it will only be read by Yotpo and received as permission if it's identical to the one you set up.
   - The hashtag must start with a "#" symbol.

3. If you’d like to send a thank you to users who let you use their content, turn on the toggle.

4. (optional) Edit the message that is sent each time a user gives you rights to their media. For the media you’re mentioned in, you can use variables that are replaced with actual values in the message. See thank you message variables

5. Click Save changes.

Sending a rights request

To send a rights request, follow the steps below according to the type of media you want to request rights to.

Media you’re mentioned in

To request rights to the media you’re mentioned in:

1. Identify the photo or video you want to request rights to.

2. Under the photo or video, click the question mark icon on the right. We’ll post a comment on your behalf through Instagram, with the message you defined in your rights management settings. Please note that due to Instagram’s rate limit, there might be a short delay between us sending the request and it appearing on Instagram.

Media from other sources

Before you start, make sure you’re logged into your Instagram account.

To request rights to media from other sources, do the following:

1. Identify the photo or video you want to request rights to.

2. On that photo or video, click Request rights. A popup appears explaining how to post your message to Instagram.

3. Click Copy message and open Instagram. The message you defined in your rights management settings is copied to the clipboard and Instagram opens in a new tab on the relevant post page.

   Time-saving tip:

   You can skip this step by selecting this popup not to show again. Next time you click Request rights, your message will be copied to the clipboard and Instagram will open automatically.

4. In Instagram, paste the message into the comment field by pressing Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac) on your keyboard, and then click Post.

5. In Yotpo, click Mark as sent on the requested media. This allows us to track your request and notify you when you get a response. If for any reason you didn’t post the message, just click Cancel.

Multiple media in a carousel

If you want to request rights for multiple images or videos in an Instagram carousel, you'll need to click Request rights on each media item you want to use.

• If it's the media you're mentioned in, we'll post one comment on your behalf.

• If it's media from other sources, make sure you post only one comment. Then, click Mark as sent on each of the media items you selected.

Tracking your rights request

Once we’ve posted your comment, the review media will be moved to the Pending queue. If the shopper does not respond with the relevant approval hashtag within 14 days, the media will be moved to the Rejected tab.

To view all of your approved, pending, and rejected rights requests in Yotpo, just navigate to Rights Management. The tabs at the top indicate which requests were approved and which are still pending.

Variables

Request message variables

Thank you message variables