Difference between revisions of "Instagram Ads"

Revision as of 04:11, 26 March 2020

Is Instagram Advertising The Right Social Media Platform For Your Brand? Instagram is a free and the largest-growing social- media platform with more than 1 billion active users. The advent of Instagram brought a new experience for social networking enthusiasts. Just a little while ago, Instagram announced its 700 million users milestone. A growth of almost 30+% in a little time tells us more about this platform’s popularity and future potential than anything else. It was a success right from the beginning with over a million users only two months after it was launched. After months of trying, Instagram was created and launched on oct.06.2010. 25000 users showed up on the first day. After that, it was just growing itself. Instagram nailed the timing and hit one million users in three months! Then became 2 million which later became ten million users! And it was all organic growth without any advertisements.

The Beginning

Instagram was developed in San Francisco by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Introduced in 2010, Instagram has positioned itself as a fun and quirky platform through which people share their lives and friends ^[1]. Users download a free Instagram mobile application and snap photos then filter the photo to transform the images before sharing it to other social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The growing number of users of Instagram has attracted the business community who now use the platform to share their ads ^[2]. However, the platform has several ethical concerns that regulate the sharing of ads.

Terms of Service and Privacy

Instagram is a social platform that deeply relies on the sharing of photos. Hence the issue of user privacy is a big issue. ^[3]. Several years ago, Instagram announced changes in its privacy policies and the terms for its use. Based on the changes, a business could pay Instagram to display their ads inform of the users’ photos and other personal details featuring sponsored or paid content without any form of compensation to the user. Therefore, the platform does not have an option to opt-out. Photographers and celebrities who mostly sold their photos for advisements disputed this move (Einarsdóttir, 2017). Instagram then changed its privacy policies to allow the company to retain the rights of sharing the user’s information with other companies like Facebook (De Veirman and Hudders, 2020). Also, it stated that users will grant the company non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid, and transferable worldwide licenses to share their content.

Instagram still experiences uneasiness among its users concerning the issue of privacy. Instagram provides free services to users and until now it has been free of advertisements unlike most social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Therefore, the issue of privacy might remain a challenge because the company needs to generate revenue to remain viable in this competitive market. Clearly, an advertisement is the only obvious way to go.

Ad Formats

• Instagram will begin taking advantage of augmented reality (AR) ads this year after assessing the technology's growth on Facebook. Instagram enjoys a network of over a billion users, and AR is growing in popularity and sophistication — so the two together is certainly big news. Instagram's AR ads promise an integrated user experience that should help customers engage meaningfully with brands and products.

• Photo ads: single photo ads that appear in the user’s feed. Photo ads include a single image, a caption, and a call-to-action.

• Video ads: single video ads that appear in the user’s feed. Videos ads include a single video up to 60 seconds long that can be shot in landscape or portrait orientation, a caption, and a call-to-action. Video ads can include sound.

• Carousel ads - carousel ads also appear in the user’s feed. They include a carousel of images or videos that the user can swipe through to discover more content. Carousel ads offer a means of telling a more complete brand or campaign story, or showcasing a range of offerings.

• Stories ads - Stories ads were first introduced in 2016 but were only recently rolled out globally to all advertisers. Stories ads are immersive, full-screen ads that appear between user’s Stories. Audio for Stories ads will play automatically if the user has sound turned on.

• Collection ads: You can use collection to visually inspire and help your audience discover, browse and purchase products. Tell an integrated story with a product or lifestyle focus, through video, images or both.

Influencers

Instagram is becoming the go-to destination for influencer marketing. Many brands have also started marketing on this platform and have become big influencers. There are many different marketing steps businesses could do with Instagram. Businesses are allowed to have a business profile with insights to help evaluating their marketing strategies and get to know their audience better. Sponsored ads, Instagram stories and partner with influencers. The new Terms of Service suggested Instagram would be allowed to use pictures in advertisements without notifying or compensating users, and to disclose user data to Facebook and to advertisers. Instagram also proposed that the parents of minors implicitly consent to the use of their childrens' images for advertising purposes. The new Terms of Service also introduced a mandatory arbitration clause which would force users to waive their rights to file a class action lawsuit in most circumstances. The changes were to take effect on January 16, 2013 and would not apply to pictures uploaded before that date.

Ethical Implications

Highly vivid instagram advertisements lead to a higher level of social endorsement. In addition, Instagram advertisements with a familiar brand lead to a more positive brand attitude. Brand familiarity turned out to have a greater impact on people's behavioral intentions, in terms of purchase intention. Every brand can make use of Instagram and can stand out by using the right content which leads to equal advertising opportunities. The massive growth in online retailing, among others via Instagram, might be partly explained on the belief that through advertisement vividness an unknown brand could effectively compete with any familiar brand, which would imply that Instagram is a “level playing field” for advertisers.

References