Brace yourselves. More Instagram ads are coming

Barry Blassoples

In addition to the first Sponsored Photo and Video ad options, the Facebook subsidiary rolled out call-to-action buttons encouraging users to 'Shop Now', 'Learn More' or 'Install Now' in June 2015. The highly engaging Carousel ad units are also available and work especially well for product listing ads.

Advertisers will be able to take advantage of user targeting functionality similar to some of what is available in Facebook with demographic, interest and customer audience targeting based on Advertiser CRM data.

One of the most attractive aspects of advertising via Instagram is the platform's superior engagement rates when compared to Twitter and Facebook. Instagram delivering engagement rates of 3.1% to 4.2% while Twitter and Facebook see engagement rates of approximately 0.7%.

What does this mean for Instagram's largely Millennial userbase? Facebook continues to see less activity among this demographic, as Baby Boomers continue to be the fastest growing segment on the platform. Will they demonstrate a similar intolerance to advertising as they did on Facebook or have advertisers and advertising algorithm designers learned their lesson?

It will be interesting to see how the paid vs branded organic vs user-generated content mix will play out in the Instagram feed given the premium its users place on authenticity and creative ingenuity.

It seems that it will be the advertisers with the necessary budget, creativity and understanding of their audience and context, who will most quickly gain traction in a largely untapped platform with massive potential.

Sources:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-ad-rollout-will-make-it-the-top-media-buy-new-research/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-tell-stories-with-facebook-and-instagram-carousel-ads/
http://adexchanger.com/mobile/appsflyer-and-attribution-come-to-the-instagram-ads-api/