The Launch of Instagram Ads for Business
Scrolling through your Instagram account you hit on a Ben & Jerry’s photo of the most delicious ice cream you’ve ever seen.
You have to have it. Now!
(Warning: scrolling below may induce frantic, mouth-watering-till-you’re-foaming, ice cream cravings.)
(It’s fine – we understand. Go ahead, leave us and grab that tub, come back to snatch a spoon and carry on scrolling.)
More Instagram-ming. Hey, you didn’t realize Levis has a new design out. Wonder when the sales are on? And on you scroll.
See what Instagram does there? They pave the way for possibly the most non-intrusive ads we’ve ever come across.
There they sit, right in your feed, not flashing out at you from a sidebar.
You can click on the image and go straight to the brand’s profile, share the ad, like it… just the way you would for your friend’s photos. This has got to be the most open and engaging platform for advertising yet.
What Are Instagram Ads?
Instagram ads are your typical Instagram photos or videos. The company took the decision to keep the Home browsing experience completely undisturbed for users. What distinguishes the ads from other photos is the “sponsored” mark just above the top right corner of the image.
Why Would Anyone Want to Advertise on Instagram?
Check out this infographic with an analysis of Instagram users. The report shows that the platform is extremely attractive to advertisers. This is thanks to the platform’s young, relatively affluent user base. A user base that keeps on growing.
In fact, Instagram has revealed that their active user base has reached the 200 million mark, making it one of the fastest growing social sites on the planet. With numbers like this, it’s little wonder advertising on Instagram has snow balled.
Who Can Advertise on Instagram?
There was a time when now just any brand could appear in Home feeds, only those with an existing and successful following. There’s good news: Instagram ads are now open to all businesses, all around the world. No matter the size. It has been working to open up ads to more types of businesses on an easy self-serve basis. So now any size of business can run a campaign on Instagram. Best of all, ads have been opened up to over 30 new countries, including India, South Korea, Italy, Spain and Mexico.
By the end of this month, ads will launch in markets around the globe. Using technology that leverages the very best of Facebook’s ad infrastructure, advertisers can now effortlessly target their messages effectively, reaching people based on what they’re following and what they’re interested in, be it food, cars, fashion or sports.
Advertisers are also able to access new ad formats that will help with achieving various objectives and allowing people to learn more about something of interest or shop for something – right from the site. So now businesses of any shape and size can test their capabilities.
Tests that have already been conducted have yielded positive results with areas like travel, e-commerce, entertainment and retail seeing significant demand.
Using Ads to Drive Objectives
People browse Instagram for visual inspiration. Advertising in this incredibly impactful platform has the power to inspire and touch people. Just look at the figures: 97% of measured campaigns on the platform have spawned weighty lifts in ad recall. By adding new formats, marketers have started achieving a variety of objectives, from mobile app installs to website clicks. For example, Gilt Groupe made use of the site to recruit customers. The company ran an ad campaign that saw an astounding 85% increase in app installations. Made.com, a designer furniture retailer, saw their ads yield a 10% order value increase.
4 Ways to Do More With Instagram
Thousands of businesses worldwide are using Instagram as their showcase. The platform is making it easier for them to do more, too. Here’s how you can boost your business with Instagram.
1. Add videos. Businesses can now add up to 30 seconds worth of video ads to engage in much richer storytelling.
2. Landscape videos and photos. These help unlock creative opportunities and gives followers a cinematic feel.
3. Delivery and optimization tools. These help to manage and drive the best performance of campaigns on the site.
4. A new product from Instagram, it helps drive mass awareness while expanding a brand’s reach in a very short time-frame. It’s perfect for product launches or movie premieres.
The Cost of Advertising on Instagram
One of the unique things Instagram offers is the ability to measure ad recall. Businesses can do this by leveraging Nielsen technology.
The goal here is to grab a user’s attention with concept-driven creatives that are tasteful and relevant. Initial beta testing partners have been buying on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis.
Larger scale budgets have been seeing a CPM of around $20. Smaller CPMs are coming in at $13. To date, CPCs have not yet been discussed but will be made available as more objective based campaigns start using Instagram.
The Top 4 Instagram Ads
It’s really tough to choose the best Instagram ads so our list is by no means exhaustive.
1. @LexusUSA
Honestly, he’s a bit overdressed for a road trip. #LexusIS #LexusLens #vegas A photo posted by lexususa (@lexususa) on
The affluent vehicle brand uses Twitter ads to highlight and showcase their existing campaigns. One campaign that stands out is the #LexusLens campaign where the brand took photos of various vehicle models on road trips across the nation. It set the benchmark for future brands to hashtag campaigns and grow their likes and followers. Lexus was actually the only brand of the first businesses to advertise that used location tagging.
2. @DunkinDonuts
The Perks of Summer—not over yet. Dark Roast is now 99¢ for DD Perks Members w/ an enrolled DD Card. (Offer ends 9/27.) #DDPerksLove A video posted by dunkindonuts (@dunkindonuts) on
The king of donuts has a much bigger following on Instagram than it does on YouTube or Vine.
One of their most popular ads is their recent Instavid of a trip around the world with the #TravelBuddy. The video had an estimated 15,000 likes and 46,000 views, making it clear that fans are loving creative video ads.
3. @JackintheBox
Regularly showing up on best Instagram lists, Jack-in-the-Box seems to have carved out a rather special niche in today’s fast-food world. Thanks to rather quirky marketing. In July the brand generated about 10,000 viewers for its various Instavids. It’s a slightly lower count that what they got on YouTube uploads and Facebook videos, but the brand keeps on taking risks with their micro-video content that seriously encourages engagement from Instagram fans.
4. @GoPro
GoPro in general is a genius initiative to use footage created by users of the products. The videos the brand uploads range from documenting some extreme sport action to capturing insane stunts and filming all that is weird and wacky in this world. The brand has an astonishing 6.3 million followers on Instagram, so it’s no surprise that any video content the company uploads generates views in the hundreds of thousands. In July 2015, the combined Instagram video uploads generates a staggering 200,000 views per video. The brand’s celebration of user-generated content makes for a diversity of uploads, such as the clip of Didga, the Australian cat that skateboards:
When Will Your Ad Show Up on Instagram?
Instagram has to be the most engaging and non-intrusive way to reach out to your target market. So get on there, have fun with it and start engaging with your followers. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to #follow us @expwriters, for fun stuff like this:
Lisa, one of our full-time #writers, says: “I couldn’t be luckier working in South Africa – perfect weather for sitting on my patio, a “braai” (BBQ) on the go, the garden blossoming with spring and tons of inspiration all around me!” #virtualworkforceculture #expresswriters #writersofinstagram #remotework #africa #copywriter #business #marketing #workfromhome A photo posted by Express Writers (@expwriters) on