Instagram has brought the possibility of advertising to small brands

Until now, Instagram was divided into two broad categories when it came to marketing: brands that were testing the terrain and gained sympathy from the community and brands that did not understand the puropose behind uploading some photos on the platform just for the sake of the trend.

And with every chance I get I am telling people not to see this network just as a platform for hipsters who want to stay away from Facebook, for agencies that want to differentiate themselves on the market or for brands that hired a social media manager and are making him use Instagram to demonstrate payment at the end of the month- I believe that Instagram is the behind the scene story platform that every company should have in its digital communication strategy.

And brands that have invested so far in the community of this platform through quality content and quick reactions will benefit more from the new update brought by launching ads for small businesses as well.

We’re excited to bring Instagram ads to more advertisers and to help support more objectives, which are capabilities that people and businesses have been asking for. Businesses are important members of our community and we look forward to learning what works together.

Instagram has worked so far on premium ad campaigns with global brands like Disney, The Gap, General Motors, Michael Kors, AirBnb, Taco Bell and Universal Pictures, and the prices were somewhere over $ 200,000 for a single campaign.

What does this mean for small and medium brands?

Instagram will use user targeting based on age, sex and country, and any small or medium-sized company will have an open possibility to advertise on the social network owned by Facebook.

To give all businesses the opportunity to reach the right people, we are working to make Instagram advertising available through an Instagram Ads API and Facebook ad buying interfaces over the coming months

Through these ads brands will be able to connect with users in various formats: to register on a site, purchase a product or to download an app.

How do we solve the problem of ugly ads?

The ads Issue is a pretty big problem from the perspectives of both brands and end users. In order to attract the attention to your banner (Facebook, Google, etc) you need to create some graphics that don’t just present your product and/or promotion but that must respond in particular to the need of the customer and especially start your strategy by asking the question “How can I be of use to you?”.

And if we’re talking about Instagram and the problem of ad aesthetics then we will surely hit a pretty serious situation. Why? Because Instagram users are sensitive to beauty while also too sensitive to commercial visuals. So graphics such as “come and buy now” or “promotion and discounts until x” or “you need someone to help you with…” will not be appreciated by the user and your money will certainly be thrown out the window and advertisers (whether brand or agency) will end up complaining about Instagram.

Conclusion

My recommendation for brands that are interested in this type of advertising on Instagram is to start first by building a community, collaborating with influencers and thinking beyond the numbers they want to show their bosses (followers, likes, comments) and through the photos they upload they should answer the question “How can I be of use to you today?”

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