3 years ago, Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars.
2 years ago, Facebook started rolling out managed-ads on Instagram and added extra features like Instagram Direct.
Last year, Instagram surpassed Twitter in its number of monthly active users and added a few more features months after such as Instagram for web search.
This month, Instagram will be making another bold move by allowing advertisers, both big and small leverage on Instagram’s heavy user activity to run Instagram ad campaigns targeting specific customers based on interests.
The Instagram for business blog says that many businesses already use Instagram as a primary communication channel to deliver visual and inspirational content to prospective customers and this step is to help businesses and advertisers do more with the platform. The company says, “Instagram ads have proven to drive strong branding results—97% of measured campaigns on Instagram have generated significant lifts in ad recall.”
This new Instagram ad feature is available in 30 countries but will be released globally by September 30, the announcement comes with new features such as:
- Landscape photo and video to unlock new creative opportunities and give ads a more cinematic feel
- 30 seconds Video ads, so brands can engage in richer storytelling
- Marquee, a new premium product that helps drive mass awareness and expanded reach in a short time-frame—perfect for events like movie premieres and new product launches
- Campaigns across Facebook and Instagram, delivery and optimization tools to manage and drive the best ad performance
Native in-stream ads such as Twitter ads or ads in Facebook Newsfeed has several times been said to be the future of ad monetization, research shows that Internet users have evolved to omit sidebars on web pages from their visual imagery because from experience that’s where ads appear.
