Why Now Is Primetime for Brands on Instagram

(Photo credit: Instagram)

Faster than you can hashtag #adsofinstagram, the ads have come to Instagram in a big way. The 400 million Instagrammers who use the photo-sharing app are now seeing what Twitter and Facebook users have been experiencing for a while – carefully placed yet properly denoted ads promoted to their feed more often than in the past.

This should not come as much of a surprise considering that Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion dollars and had to find a good way to monetize the platform. Although it looks like a great investment right now, with Cowen & Co. analysts saying Instagram is currently worth about $33 billion dollars, it also needs to live up to the expected 700 million in revenue it is projected to generate this year.

The rollout has actually been quite slow because of Instagram’s caution about finding a way to bring the ads into the mix without causing any backlash from its users. Over the last eighteen months, it has been rolling out changes slowly, like increasing the length of the video ad limit from 15 second to 30 seconds, quietly letting a wider range of companies into its ad network, and even introduced Marquee, a high-end feature set that is designed to help brands make splashy product launches on Instagram.

Through these changes, Instagram has been monitoring reactions from users closely and making it quite easy to dismiss the ads. With a wealth of information about users that have both Instagram and Facebook accounts, including specific details about likes, pages they’ve unfollowed and connections they make, the company is able to make highly-informed decisions about what ads get served to each user. Instagram is aiming to target users with ads they might actually like and that is where influencer marketing can help.

Why Influencer Marketing Instead of Traditional Ads?

Why use influencer content instead of the professional ads of days past? We know that influencer marketing works better on social platforms where consumers are more interested in ‘flawsome’ ads that are genuine, informative and even collaborative with the consumer (or someone like them).

By working with social media creators who have a passion for the products they’re discussing and a deep understanding of the Instagram platform and how to promote on it, brands can create ads that suit the Instagram goal of providing content that consumers will actually enjoy. Better yet, scaling the creation process across a cross-section of Instagrammers can both allow for targeting of specific types of consumers and result in content that has a better chance of telling exactly the right story for the right person at the right time. With that kind of personalization, maybe Instagram’s interest in engaging users with branded photos doesn’t seem so far-fetched.