Instagram, world’s favourite photo-sharing app, has opened its door for advertisers to promote their products on its platform across thirty countries. Instagram ads are displayed as a regular Instagram image or video. But the ads can be identified by a user thanks to the ‘Sponsored’ mark present on the right-hand side corner of the photo.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF AUDIENCES ON INSTAGRAM?
With Instagram being one of the largest interactive advertising platform on mobile, Instagram Ads have tremendous potential.
- Instagram is a community of 400 million users.
- 75% of this 400 million users reside outside the US.
- Of the 100 million new users to join Instagram, 50% reside in Europe and Asia.
Recently Nielsen conducted a study for Instagram which revealed interesting statistics about the platform. The key motive behind an incisive study as this was to attract advertisers to the platform. Below are some of the insights gained from this India-centric study:
- Instagram’s monthly active user base in India has doubled over the past year.
- 90% Instagram users are under 30
- 18-24 the age bracket of active Instagram profiles
- Avid travellers – more than 50% took at least 4 vacations in the past year!
- Brand Conscious – More than 50% users bought from brands they followed on Instagram!
- Key Interests – Instagram users’ key interests include music, travel, food, photography, technology, fashion, and sports.
CAN INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK PAGE BE LINKED?
Being a Facebook service, the Instagram and Facebook Pages can be linked. To create and run ads on Instagram, an advertiser doesn’t require a Business Manager Account. But in case an advertiser wants to interact with audience through comments, the Instagram account needs to be added to the Business Manager or on the page settings.
WHAT ARE THE AD FORMATS AVAILABLE ON INSTAGRAM?
Instagram offers an advertiser three distinct formats to advertise on, which are namely –
PHOTO ADS
VIDEO ADS
CAROUSEL ADS
Instagram, renowned for its strict criteria towards user posts, has been very lenient towards advertisers:
- A user can upload only a 15 second videos on Instagram, but a video posted by an advertiser can be as long as 30 seconds.
- A regular user is barred from adding external links on the platform while an advertiser has the liberty to choose from five different varieties of ‘CTAs’ to drive action.
WHY ADVERTISE ON INSTAGRAM?
- THE EARLY-ADOPTER EDGE
As an early-adopter of the technology, you can leverage the novelty and uniqueness of the platform and gain an edge over the competitors. Being an early-adopter of a new technology gives the advertiser an edge over the competition.
- A CACHE OF ENGAGED AUDIENCE
Instagram offers a digital marketer a really engaged and passionate audience, who can be targeted precisely. Instagram Ads’ targeting is based on Facebook’s targeting data. Which means that a digital marketer can use custom audiences, interest based targeting, demographics, etc., to find the perfect audience on Instagram.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF INSTAGRAM ADS?
Instagram is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, as it is one of Facebook’s first billion dollar acquisitions to start earning revenue. Add to it the fact that Instagram Ads offers an advertiser incredible reach into a particular set of demographics, thus securing the future of Instagram Ads as a reliable advertising platform.
With Instagram Ads gaining momentum in the digital ad space, industry analysts have started predicting the amount of revenue it would generate in the near future. The platform is expected to generate as much as $1 Billion in the next three to four years, while on the other hand the expected revenue of the current year is projected to be $595 million.
In conclusion, Instagram Ads offer incredible opportunities to a digital marketer and makes the digital advertising space more robust and exciting.
