Instagram. Helping Brands Inspire Consumers

FEBRUARY 05, 2016

Instagram is one of the fastest growing communities online today. And every day, marketers around the world build their brands on Instagram in ways that resonate with consumers. In fact, 60% of users learn about products and services on Instagram and 75% say they’ve taken action after being inspired by a brand’s post.

Instagram is now making it easy to pitch products and services so natively within a feed that inspire users to do more. And with Instagram advertisements being available internationally for the past four months, we are only going to see more brands utilizing the platform for branding and action as the year unfolds.

We sat down with Gene Paek, Head of Business Marketing at Instagram, for a quick conversation on the social media horizon for the next year. Our conversation centered around two key areas he sees: influencer marketing and advertisements. In this week’s post, we share his thoughts and insights on the latter.

INSPIRATION AND EDUCATION

Instagram advertising is a fairly new way to reach your audience, but the potential is huge. Unlike many mobile advertising platforms, Instagram has the ability to target its ads to very specific audiences using technology and data from Facebook (its parent company.)

“Brands are learning about Instagram advertising, and it’s our job to educate them. Something I call inspiration and education,” Paek says. “These conversations center around how Instagram can help target their audience better, drive advanced business metrics and set up successful campaigns to accomplish all key objectives.” Advertisers are able to step outside the box of the traditional visual or 15-second video, they have options for creating a carousel, photo, or up to 60-second video advertisements. They are also able to include five different “calls to action” which can include links to the installation of apps or shop directly for their products or services.

MAKE IT INSTAGRAM-MY

“To the beginning, we wanted to set the tone for advertising on the platform. We were mindful about the putting the community-first and then demonstrating the value or measurable results we were able to offer advertisers on the platform.” Gene explains. The Instagram community is very passionate about what they do. They are the type of users that are more likely to fast-forward through commercials on their DVR and want to see things they like when they want. By utilizing images or videos targeted to tailored demographics, an ad platform is a place where a lot more brands will be in the future. “We’ve had over 700 advertiser campaigns, and 98% of those campaigns have generated significant lift in ad recalls, so we are driving meaningful results.”

If you are looking for a way to get your brands in front of key audiences, it’s easy to get started and time to experiment to see what Instagram advertisements can do for your brand.