Instagram-ads

Instagram has just announced that they are rolling out 30 second ad spots along with a host of new features, opening up a huge opportunity for marketers and advertisers. 

Just three years ago Facebook purchased Instagram for 10 figures. Although many criticised the social network, today it looks like Instagram is about to turn into a legitimate and big-time advertising platform.

Instagram will be rolling out these new changes across 30 new countries including Spain, Italy, India, South Korea and Mexico, increasing the opportunities for global targeting and helping the photo sharing site to become one of the biggest social advertising networks in the world.

The company stated in their blog-

“We are excited to announce starting this month, advertisers both large and small can run campaigns on Instagram. In addition, ads are now available in more than 30 new countries… and we will be launching in markets around the world on September 30th.”

These new changes were designed to help advertisers have access to new ad formats and features in order to help them achieve a variety of objectives including brand awareness, new products, movie launches, education and more.

Many businesses have already been using Instagram to advertise, however through these new changes it is likely that the social platform is set to become far more popular.

The new advertising services expected to be rolled out by Instagram include:

Landscape Photos: In the past, Instagram has only allowed advertisers to post images in a square shape. Now, advertisers are going to have the flexibility to post landscape images, helping to release constraints and open up the platform to a new level of creativity. Early adopters of these new landscape ads are also going to have a significant advantage in catching the eye of audiences who are used to seeing only square images.

Landscape Video Ads: Just the same as the images, Instagram will also be allowing advertisers to upload videos in landscape format as well. This not only helps to improve picture quality but it also allows advertisers more flexibility. These videos will be available in both a 15 and 30 second format.

30 Second Videos: In the past, Instagram has only offered 15 second spots to advertisers, but now they are offering 30 second ad spots as well to allow advertisers to get their message across. 30 seconds is usually the traditional length of time offered to advertisers and now it seems that Instagram will join in the trend. Businesses can also save time and money by using their same 30 second spots across multiple platforms, rather than having to edit them down exclusively for Instagram. Offering 30 second video spots will also open up the platform to more advertisers who perhaps did not consider using the social network in the past.

Marquee: This will be a new, premium service that will help brands reach a large number of people in a short period of time. This service is excellent for movies, events and product launches etc.

Optimisation Tools: Instagram will offer delivery and optimisation tools to help manage campaigns on the app and also on Facebook. This synced capability will help advertisers to get the most out of their advertising dollars.

According to Instagram, all of this technology has been leveraged by the “best of Facebook’s ads infrastructure” and will offer advertisers more options to reach their target audience.

The company has also stressed that these services will be suitable and affordable for businesses both big and small and won’t require a hefty budget. This is very similar to Facebook’s advertising platform that allows advertisers to “boost posts” for just one dollar.

“We are thrilled to make it easier for businesses of all sizes reach people with more relevant ads,” the company stated.

These new changes are expected to be rolled out by the end of the month and have been a work in progress for the social app. In fact, the company has been testing their new features over the last few months with some brands and claim to have achieved some pleasing results.

The company shared for example, that the app Gilt Groupe ran a campaign on Instagram that resulted in 85 percent more app installs. Alongside this brand was also Made.com, who ran ads on Instagram and received a 10 percent increase in sales.

Game developer, Kambam also ran a campaign on Instagram that resulted in users playing longer and purchasing more and the clothing company, North Face also ran a successful campaign that helped boost audience engagement.

In fact, according to the company, over 97 percent of measured campaigns on Instagram have generated significant lifts in ad recall.

“Businesses of all sizes have been testing these new capabilities this summer with positive results, and we’re seeing significant demand, particularly in areas like e-commerce, travel, entertainment and retail.”

With these new changes on the horizon, Instagram is set to become one of the most popular social advertising networks, following in the footsteps of their co-partners Facebook.

As the company states-

“People come to Instagram for visual inspiration, and advertising on Instagram has the power to touch, inspire and move people.”

Will you advertise on Instagram?