Download - Getting ready for Instagram ads

INSTAGRAM ADSGetting ready for sponsored posts

The social media landscape is changing—emerging platforms are maturing

It’s no longer a straight choice between Facebook and Twitter

It’s important for brands to prepare for the launch of new social ad platforms or they may be left behind

WHY?

INSTAGRAM

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Launched in October 2010, Instagram has quickly positioned itself as the leading mobile app for photo and short-form video sharing

Users can edit and add filters to their photos or 15-second videos and share them with friends on the platform or post to other social networks

Facebook acquired Instagram in late 2012 for an eventual $715 million

WHAT IS INSTAGRAM?

INSTAGRAM



Instagram began testing its ad product, Sponsored Photos and Videos, with brands including Adidas, Burberry, Levi’s, Lexus and Ben & Jerry’s in October 2013

While ads are still a novelty, it appears that the visual nature of Instagram, combined with Facebook’s softly-softly approach to advertising, will pay off

Analysts predict a $340m profit for Instagram in 2014

SPONSORED POSTS

INSTAGRAM


http://instagram.com/about-ads

http://inside-social.tumblr.com/post/63376999107/instagram-ads-a-new-way-to-target-young-urban



http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-instagram-revenue-2013-10?IR=T&nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=emailshare


Instagram is now the stand-out social network when it comes to delivering engagement, according to a recent report by Forrester

In terms of MAUs, even if we use current growth rates to predict size in 2016, Instagram is behind Goole Plus, LinkedIn and Twitter

However, user numbers don’t tell the whole story

HOW BIG IS INSTAGRAM (REALLY)?

INSTAGRAM


http://www.forrester.com/Use+Instagram+Now/fulltext/-/E-RES113021?intcmp=blog:forrlink


The time users spend there must also be considered, so we have devised a more accurate estimate of the true size of a platform

A platform needs users to be a viable place for advertising, but high user numbers are useless if those users are in and out of the site in a few seconds

Conversely, a highly engaged user base spending hours at a time on a platform is also pointless if the user numbers are low

MAN-HOURS

INSTAGRAM


Monthly active users

Average monthly time spent on the

platform

X

=Monthly man-hours

spent on the platform


Combining the two figures gives a true reflection of the size of the active user base and time spent on the site

Using man-hours as a guide, we can see that Instagram is actually much more important

MAN-HOURS

INSTAGRAM


A quadrillion is 1,000 billion, or a one with 15 zeros


Instagram is even more important on mobile, takes second place at 1.3 times the size of Twitter

Facebook is seven times larger than Instagram on mobile, compared to nearly twelve times larger when we include all users

MOBILE MAN-HOURS

INSTAGRAM


A quadrillion is 1,000 billion, or a one with 15 zeros

The time spent figures are all from a Nielsen report in May 2013, and the active user numbers are the most recent official figures for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, all after May 2013


In terms of eyeballs and ‘stickiness’, Instagram is the second biggest social network

However, the size of the audience and the time they spend on the platform isn’t the most important factor for marketing

Locating and engaging an audience size that’s of interest to a brand is crucial, as is measuring the influence generated by a brand’s activity on its business goals and KPIs

HOW BIG IS INSTAGRAM?

INSTAGRAM



USING INSTAGRAM EFFECTIVELY

Advertising on Instagram isn’t like other platforms

All Instagram ads are promoted content

To promote content, brands must have a successful existing Instagram account

If you are thinking about advertising on Instagram, it’s essential to get your account up and running as soon as possible

GETTING STARTED




Share authentic content—make it instantly recognisable as your company’s account, using pictures of both products and logos

There are no clickthroughs on Instagram post or ads so content must engage users within the platform

By adding a call to action, such as instructing followers to include the brand’s username or a branded hashtag in their photos, you can increase user engagement

Develop series of content streams and create a calendar around these streams

CREATING CONTENT




Publish ‘behind the scenes’ images, events and close ups of your products

Some content will be ‘in the moment’ while other images should be planned ahead

Engaging photo descriptions that describe the image and reflect your brand’s message, will increase interactions

Interact with your followers by following, reposting, and commenting on other people’s posts. Interact as a human being –interacting with ten specific photos taken by people in your target market is better than liking random images

CREATING CONTENT




A recent study by TrackMaven of Fortune 500 brands suggested that because Instagram's video service is fairly new, photos perform slightly better for brands versus video

On average, an Instagram video receives up to 24 interactions, compared to 37 for photos. However, Instagram videos can provide two advantages

Brands can distinguish themselves by producing a different mix of pictures and videos

At 15 seconds long and with the capability to upload videos that were not taken with the Instagram app, brands can leverage videos more by creating videos with high production values

CREATING CONTENT



http://trackmaven.com/blog/2013/09/the-fortune-500-instagram-report/


Make sure your content is interesting, attractive, engaging, emotional and memorable

Make content socially discoverable by using multiple relevant hashtags

Data from TrackMaven shows that for bigger brands like Nike and Adidas, between four and 11 hashtags can increase interactions on Instagram to an average of 77 interactions per post

Connect your Instagram account with other social accounts. Many consumers discover branded Instagram posts when they are shared on the company’s other social channels like Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr

CREATING CONTENT




PROMOTING CONTENT ON INSTAGRAM

Facebook sees Instagram as its premium ad product with monthly costs reportedly ranging from $350k to close to $1million, so it’s not an option for all

Brands will also need a strong presence on Instagram before signing up for ads, which means users will only see ads that feel right for the platform

Instagram is also vetting the standard of ads, so artwork must be high quality—this ensures that the platform isn’t overloaded with ads

ADVERTISING ON INSTAGRAM



http://adage.com/article/digital/monthly-cost-instagram-ad-campaign-approach-1m/292441/


Brands can convert a standard Instagram post into a sponsored post

The only difference is that the post has a ‘Sponsored’ flag at the top, and it can be targeted to certain users, rather than a brand’s usual followers

Users can also hide any sponsored posts from their feed and submit feedback

THE ADS




Ads are targeted based on a user’s activity on Instagram (the people they follow and the posts they like) and if a user’s account is linked to Facebook, their Facebook interests and other basic profile information are used

Measurement focuses on reach, ad recall and awareness

Instagram’s ad product is for brand campaigns; there are no clickthroughs here

TARGETING & MEASUREMENT




Results for initial tests with Ben & Jerry’s, Adidas, Burberry, Levis and Lexus in October 2012:

TEST RESULTS



Ad Recall:

Across the four campaigns, there was a 32-point incremental lift in ad recall per campaign for people who were repeatedly exposed to a particular campaign versus control groups

Awareness:

Across the four campaigns, there was a ten-point incremental lift in brand message awareness per campaign for people who were repeatedly exposed to a particular campaign versus control groups

In particular, 17 percent of people who saw a single ad for Ben & Jerry’s Scotchy Scotch Scotch-flavoured ice cream not only became aware of the new flavour, they also associated it with the brand

Reach:

All four initial ad campaigns measured were successful at delivering the broad reach our advertisers were seeking

The marketers achieved a high impact with a very low average frequency of ad impressions per user

Levi’s reached 7.4 million people in the U.S. across a nine-day period, targeting people aged 18-34

Ben & Jerry’s reached 9.8 million people in the U.S. over eight days, targeting people aged 18-35


Ben & Jerry’s, it isn’t the biggest brand on Instagram—ranked 90th in terms of followers and use of its hashtag

99% of its non-sponsored posts feature a packshot, and a short witty comment

CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S



http://50.nitrogr.am/

http://50.nitrogr.am/


The same posts are often shared on Facebook and Twitter, interspersed with more aggressive promotional content

Nearly all its Instagram posts record something between 20,000 and 30,000 likes

In terms of organic engagement, Instagram is well ahead of Facebook for Ben & Jerry’s

CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S—ORGANIC CONTENT



the Facebook post generated 2,345 likes, 107 shares and 193 comments from a potential audience of 7.4 million Facebook

fans

The Instagram post generated 22,300 likes and

20 comments from a potential audience of

391,000 followers


Creatively, their sponsored content is similar

For this campaign, each ad was only inserted into a user’s feed once, meaning no repetition, a major annoyance on other platforms

On average, each targeted user was exposed to three different ads during the campaign (full case study here)

In an eight-day period they were able to reach 9.8 million users, 25 times their usual reach and 5% of the entire Instagram user base

CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S—SPONSORED CONTENT



http://instagram-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Instagram_Case_Study_BenAndJerrys.pdf


Based on these figures for monthly costs, we can estimate that if this kind of activity costs approximately $600,000 per month, an eight-day run would be around $160,000

A reach of 9.8m users at an average of three impressions is 29.4m exposures, giving us a CPM of $5.44

This might be seen as expensive compared to Facebook’s Q4 2013 CPM of $1.09, and Twitter’s CPM of $3.50 (this figure has been reported for around two years as Twitter doesn’t really work on CPMs), but it’s less than the $7.60 average CPM on YouTube

CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S—ESTIMATED COSTS



http://adage.com/article/digital/monthly-cost-instagram-ad-campaign-approach-1m/292441/

http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/29/facebook-ads-cost-per-impression-up-186-cost-per-click-up-35-revenue-per-click-up-83/

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/twitter-ad-numbers/

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2326633/Which-2014-Super-Bowl-Commercials-Won-the-YouTube-Ad-Blitz


Ranked as the 115th largest brand on Instagram, Levi’s has over 233,000 followers and is growing quickly adding 20,000 followers per month

Levi’s posts are very fashion and product-led, featuring models and jeans

Recent images focus heavily on the cut down jean shorts trend for women and denim shirts and jackets for men

CASE STUDY: LEVI’S




Messaging is played fairly straight, identifying the products using hashtags

Levi’s has just created a new Facebook page so we can’t compare posts

On Twitter, most of the images posted are the same as on Instagram, with slightly different text

Engagement was much higher on Instagram from an audience half the size

CASE STUDY: LEVI’S—ORGANIC CONTENT



Instagram generated 4,356 likes from 233,000 followers

Twitter generated 28 retweets and 54 favourites from 458,000 followers

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Levis/520929471350852?brand_redir=1

https://twitter.com/LEVIS


Promoted content follows Levi’s normal style of post—this campaign had more of a theme, featuring outdoor scenes, echoing the kind of images Instagram users would post

The campaign ran over a week in November targeting US adults aged 34 and under

Results were just as impressive as Ben & Jerry’s with the campaign reaching 7.4 million United States consumers and achieving an ad recall lift of 24% versus the control group

CASE STUDY: LEVI’S—SPONSORED CONTENT



Julie Channing, Levi's director of digital said, “Not only were we able to reach a large audience with our ads on Instagram, but the metrics clearly show we engaged with them in a memorable and authentic way.”


THE VERDICT

Instagram is growing fast and it has a highly engaged user base

It’s different to Facebook and Twitter—both in the way brands must approach the platform and the way that its users consume branded content

It’s still very early for Instagram ads, but so far, the results look promising

Brands are routinely seeing engagement rates for non-promoted Instagram content that dwarfs the engagement levels seen Facebook and Twitter

It is our strong recommendation that brands set up and develop an Instagram following. Then, when sponsored content becomes available to all, brand’s with an established account will be poised to take advantage.

To discuss how your brand can leverage Instagram, get in touch with TBG.

CONCLUSION

THE VERDICT


http://tbgdigital.com/contact/
