By Sally Rawsthorne
Following this week’s announcement of Instagram’s Carousel Ads, the Facebook-owned photo app has pushed out a range of new advertising capabilities today in a move that signals the platform is getting serious about further monetisation and e-commerce. Instagram advertisers – who Nielsen research suggests enjoy an ad recall rate 2.9x higher than other online advertising – will now be able to drive business across a variety of objectives through the evolved ad format to include direct reponse. Brands can now educate Instagram users about products or services, then take action to sign up to a website, buy a product or download an app.
The app is also introducing enhanced targeting – currently the ad metric works on location and gender, but late 2015 will see the introduction of increased targeting based on data from parent company Facebook and information brands provide about their customer base. Previously, Facebook’s Atlas lead Erik Johnson told Mediaweek that Facebook would limit ad targeting to age, gender, location and device type, despite the social media giant’s data on individuals. Instagram’s feedback mechanism will also be enhanced to allow users to provide feedback on the relevance of the ads they are served.
The back half of 2015 will also see Instagram ad inventory available through an API and a Facebook ad buying interface, allowing brands of varying sizes and locations to buy ads on the platform.