What marketers need to know about Instagram’s ad API

Earlier this month Instagram announced that it was making its ad API (application programming interface, which allows users to access the platform’s analytics to help monitor and drive marketing campaigns) available to marketing partners. More simply, much of the same audience and campaign data that’s available on other social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn now will be accessible also on Instagram, opening the floodgates for new brands wanting to advertise on the platform.

Back in spring of 2014, (yes, just a little over a year ago) reports were surfacing that an ad campaign lasting one month on the platform cost between $350,000 – $1 million and advertisers in this initial test group included Adidas, Burberry, Macy’s, Michael Kors, and General Electric. While ad rates are still to be released, it’s expected they’ll be significantly lower – making it an affordable social media advertising option for most businesses.

So why is this Instagram news something you should pay attention to?

• Instagram has 300 million monthly active users
• 1 out of 5 minutes spent on mobile is on Facebook and Instagram
• 70 million photos are posted to Instagram PER DAY! And 2.5 billion photo likes are given (That’s billion. With a B.)
• 60% of young millennials in the U.S. (18-24 year olds) – an audience that brands often have a more difficult time reaching through traditional advertising and media – use Instagram every day
• The engagement rate, on average, is higher on Instagram than on any other major social platform

Okay, I get it Instagram is insanely popular, but what makes their ads so great?

• Sponsored posts (ads) during the test period were found to have and ad recall rate 2.8x higher than Nielsen’s norms for online advertising
• Targeting capabilities will include the same categories you see with Facebook advertising: demographic information, partner/behavior categories and custom and lookalike audiences
• Ads will soon include call to action links helping to drive increased action and engagement by users AND you’ll be able to choose your objective much like you do on Facebook allowing you to optimize your campaigns to match your objectives
• Self-serve with no minimum ad spend is coming

Instagram has opened its ad API to a number of marketing partners (Hootsuite, Kenshoo, Brand Networks, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, etc.) so for now going through one of those partners is the only way to create an Instagram ad campaign, but don’t expect it to stay that way for long.

So what now?

With Instagram’s ad rates still up in the air, it’s difficult to offer any firm recommendations – other than that if any of your customers are largely on Instagram, you might want to leave some room in your 2016 budget to test the waters. In the meantime, Instagram's ad sales deck has more information if you’re interested in doing a deeper dive. We’ll be following the good, the bad and the ugly of Instagram ads, so if you aren’t already signed up to receive our blog posts, be sure to do so!