What’s Next for Marketers on Instagram: Advertising

July 21, 2015
8:07 pm

Posted by DMA Solutions Team

With the recent roll out of promoted pins to Pinterest business accounts, it comes as no surprise that Instagram will soon open their own advertising services to brands both big and small over the next several months. You may have seen a few promoted Instagram posts over the past year from brands like Samsung and Old Navy and wondered how you can unlock this feature for your own brand – you can’t… yet. But the opportunity is right around the corner, according to Instagram. Here’s a few things that we have to look forward to as this feature becomes widely available:

Instagram ads will provide a direct-response format.

Similar to how Facebook ads can be created to achieve a specific goal, Instagram ads will allow advertisers to provide viewers with a direct action that they would like them to take. This includes directing Instagram users to click from your ad to be taken to your website, to download an app, or buy a product. For fresh produce companies, the ability to use Instagram to drive web traffic will be a welcome addition to a platform that has not provided many conversion opportunities and traffic at this point.

Instagram is working with Facebook to provide direct targeting.

Facebook continues to gather intelligence on its users that has made the targeting options better and better. Instagram will likely tap into their users’ Facebook profiles to provide the necessary intelligence that will allow Instagram advertisers to show their ads to people that are passionate and interested in what they have to offer. We aren’t sure exactly what this will look like at this time, but we have high hopes that Instagram ads will allow you to target specific hashtags! Think of the possibilities using #cleaneating, #eatclean, #freshfood… etc.!

Preliminary tests from Instagram show ads on the platform to be powerful.

According to Instagram and Nielsen, initial tests of Instagram ads has shown them to have a response rate that is 2.8 times higher than what Nielsen considers the “norm” for online advertising. This is great news for fresh produce brands working with smaller advertising budgets that need to do more with less.

Instagram is the perfect platform for reaching millennials.

37% of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 29 – making Instagram and Pinterest the only two major social media networking sites with a primarily millennial audience. As Facebook and even Twitter demographics have shifted to pull in more of the Generation Z and Baby Boomers, Instagram has firmly held onto millennials and provides fresh produce marketers the perfect space to reach this incredibly important demographic where they are most comfortable.

As social media networks work to provide small businesses and brands with modest budgets the opportunity to advertise, fresh produce marketers have a great deal to look forward to. Instagram has over 300 million active users, making it a valuable place for fresh produce brands to inspire consumers with their brand stories and beautiful products. If you haven’t already invested in your Instagram presence, we recommend getting started so that by the time advertising is available, your brand will be ready to take full advantage. Consider these post ideas and recommendations to get going!