Instagram Debuts Advertising API
Image and video-sharing platform Instagram has finally opened up to smaller businesses to take advantage of paid advertising space, finally letting them tap into the full market potential of the 300 million+ active monthly users on the service. The move will allow brands of all sizes to create scheduled & targeted content to share, helping it to transform into a major online advertising force like Facebook and Twitter. The posts will show up in feeds of users following similar relevant accounts much like Facebook, with the heading “Sponsored” in the top right corner to separate it from the rest of your normal feed. Marketing on Instagram will now be easier to plan and execute for brands , and they’re doing it by partnering with some of Facebook’s biggest marketing partners: Kenshoo, Brand Networks, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Unified, SocialCode, 4C, Nanigans, and Ampush, according to Business Insider.
They will also be able to directly measure an ad’s effectiveness, impressions and reach, calling on the expertise of Facebook Marketing Partners to assist in implementing the same tools to target relevant audiences and view insights & analytics. In an official statement from Instagram, they said:
There are more than two million advertisers who actively use Facebook to market their business and we want to leverage the best of Facebook’s infrastructure for buying, managing and measuring the success of ads on Instagram.
Previously only available to larger companies with even larger budgets, you also had to get into direct contact with Instagram’s sales department to take advantage of sponsored posts.
This is a big step for advertising, especially considering the reach possibilities and the obsession with visual content. Brands on the cutting edge of social networking always benefit from having a full understanding of each platform’s digital landscape. Now more than ever, we turn to various forms of social media to connect us with the world around us, particularly local brands and businesses we may not always be aware of.
For questions about managing Instagram and all other online ads, contact us at 647-350-0357.