In the beginning of June, Instagram announced it is expanding its advertising service to all marketers. Starting first with a select group of Facebook Marketing Partners and agencies, the Facebook owned company will then expand globally. Currently Instagram works closely with only a few large brands like Levi’s, Banana Republic and Ben & Jerry’s but it is beginning to roll out advertising to hundreds of thousands of businesses, both large and small. By this winter Instagram will start to use more data from your Facebook profile to target you with more relevant ads.
Instagram has about 300 million active users generating an average of 70 million photos per day. This is a large audience for businesses to target as potential customers through advertising. According to the Pew Research Center, 53 percent of Instagram’s users are 18-29 years old. It is getting harder to target this audience because they are shying away from television and traditional types of media, Instagram advertising might be a perfect way to reach this demographic.
The way in which Instagram users will be targeted by advertisers will also get a facelift with the help of Facebook’s technology. Instagram users will be targeted based on interests, age, gender, demographics, the photos they post and integration with Facebook’s behavioral ad profiling. This new formula for targeting users will give companies the best possible chance of reaching their target audience creating a more effective campaign and a higher return on investment. Currently, there are 475 ad campaigns on Instagram. According to Nielsen, they were 2.9 times more successful than standard online advertisements.
In the past, Instagram pages of businesses and brands have been able to draw a large number or likes and followers but it didn’t translate into actual sales. Companies couldn’t link to their websites in the caption so users would have to copy and paste text into their browser to view the webpage. In most cases users that would have been interested did not take these extra steps and ultimately didn’t view the website. With the new direct response feature, users will be able to buy a product, sign up for a website or download an app with just one click. This purchasing feature will help convert followers on the platform into buyers.
Many brands have also relied on influencers with thousands of followers to post endorsing a brand. This simple association between a brand and an influencer transforms an unfamiliar product into a product one aspires to have. Instagram’s new integrated external links make it easier for people to buy the products they want.
Besides the simple picture, and short video ads, Instagram recently introduced “carousel ads.” They are a series of pictures that users swipe through and tell a more complex story than just one image. These advertisements will capture the audience because they are made to look like something that fits on your feed and less like an advertisement.
If Instagram advertising is something your business is interested in, here are a few content strategy tips from Instagram Business.
• Pick a goal that can be achieved by connecting the highly visual and creative community that uses Instagram
• Create a consistent theme that relies on captivating images
• Create high quality content that fits in with the Instagram platform
Instagram is a quickly growing platform that has the potential to reach a huge number of users. If your target audience is active on Instagram, it might be beneficial to start using Instagram advertising while it’s new. Digital advertising is always changing and evolving, it’ll be interesting to see what the next step is for other new social media platforms with limited advertising.
If you’re looking for an Advertising Agency that promotes both social and traditional media call Integrated Advertising today. We are focused solely on producing results, growing our client’s business, making their advertising campaigns profitable and beating their completion.
Call now: (904) 296-2585.
Sources:
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/instagram-marketing-what-instagrams-new-ad-business-means-for-brands/622202
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/03/instagram-ads-adverts-facebook-photos
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Instagram-Open-Platform-All-Advertisers-This-Fall/1012738
http://www.businessinsider.com/ads-instagram-2015-6
https://business.instagram.com/advertising/
http://neurogadget.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/instagramnew-api.jpg
