Tag: instagram

Instagram Adds Curated Stories Feed To Explore Tab

Posted on by Richard Yao

What Happened
Instagram continues to push its Snapchat-inspired Stories feature as it adds a curated Stories feed to the Explore tab of its apps. Now users can flip through a stream of Stories suggested based on their interests. Previously, users would only see Stories from people they follow. Instagram says more than 100 million people visit Explore every day to discover photos and videos from people they don’t yet follow.

Why Brands Should Care
Since its launch in August, Instagram Stories has been a moderate success with users as the feature is viewed by one-third of Instagram’s 300 million daily users. While there’s no word on how Instagram plans to monetize the feature, it is only a matter of time before Instagram starts adding ads in between Stories like the way Snapchat inserts video ads in between snaps. Moreover, this introduction of a curated Stories feed opens up the opportunity for brands to surface their Stories to a wider audience.

 

Source: Instagram Blog

 

Corona Taps Gilt For A Fashion-Themed Social Campaign

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Corona launched a summer-fashion-themed social campaign with some help from fashion e-retailer Gilt Groupe. The companies worked with fashion bloggers and influencers to create “Light Look” outfits inspired by Corona products and push out the content through its website and the influencers’ Instagram accounts. Consumers can also submit their own Corona-inspired summer looks for a chance to win a $200 shopping credit provided by Gilt.

What Brands Need To Do
This campaign provides a new example of how a brand can leverage fashion, a buzzy topic on Instagram with a vibrant community of users, to explore a fun, seasonal angle to engage with fans and elevate its brand. Previously, Budweiser had partnered with fashion brands Been Trill and Supreme for two limited editions of branded apparel, and auto brands Ford and Cadillac recently inked partnerships with fashion brands and institutions to add a stylish sheen to their cars. For brands seeking to reach a wider audience on social channels, a fashion partnership may be something worth looking into.

 

Source: Glossy

 

Instagram Debuts Live Event-Based Video Channel

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Instagram today launched a live event-based video channel that calls to mind Snapchat’s Live Stories. Appearing in the Explore tab in the Instagram app, the new feature uses an algorithm to curate user-generated videos from concerts, sports games, and other types of live events as they happen. Each user will see videos from different events based on their interests, just like the rest of the content recommended in Explore. This new video channel is only available in the U.S. at the moment but Instagram says it will roll out to global markets soon.

Why Brands Should Care
As Instagram continues to “borrow” from Snapchat and build out its video products, it is not only aiming to better compete with Snapchat for user attention, but also making the necessary preparations for more video ads. As a new study indicates, brand marketers prefer social media sites over ad networks when it comes to digital video ads.

Although Instagram has not specified whether it will insert ads into the new video features, it seems like a matter of time given that it has been ramping up its ad efforts in recent months with its ad sales expected to jump to $1.5 billion this year. For brands looking to reach mobile consumers, this new feature marks an interesting development that brands need to be aware of.

Source: AdWeek

Instagram Continues Global Roll-Out Of Business Profiles

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Instagram officially launched Business Profiles at the beginning of June after weeks of private testing, and now the company is ramping up the global roll-out of its latest brand-friendly features. The social network says it is fully rolling out Business Profiles, along with the two brand-oriented tools, Insights and Promote, in the US, Australia, and New Zealand in the coming months and will finish the global roll-out by the end of the year.

Why Brands Should Care
Instagram has been modeling its business-oriented products after its parent company Facebook, including Business Profiles (similar to Facebook Pages), Insights (Facebook Pages come with an analytics product of the same name), and the direct-response ads launched last year. Although new reports suggest that Instagram’s direct-response ads haven’t totally clicked with brand advertisers yet, the global roll-out of the business-facing tools shows Instagram’s determination in making its platform more brand-friendly. As Instagram continues to vie for the massive amount of ad dollars shifting from traditional channels, brands, especially those with an international presence, would be smart to take full advantage of these new business tools to engage with its 500 million monthly users.

 

Source: Wired

 

Brands Love Instagram Stories Already

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Although Instagram only launched its Snapchat Stories-esque feature on Tuesday, a number of brands have started using the ephemeral sharing feature and are already seeing great results. According to AdAge’s report, Nike has received 800,000 views in 24 hours for its Instagram Story posted on Tuesday. For comparison, Nike says its most viewed video on Snapchat got 66,000 views. Besides Nike, brands like Mountain Dew, Quaker, Coach, and GE have all gotten started with Instagram Stories. In addition, major cosmetic brands including Covergirl, L’Oréal, and Maybelline have all jumped on this new Instagram feature to share content with their followers, with many opting for behind-the-scene looks or sneak peeks at some of the products they are working on.

What Brands Need To Do
The consensus among brand marketers so far seems to be that Instagram is more brand-friendly than Snapchat, as the former offers better ad products and measurement tools for marketers and has a referral-based discovery system that makes it easier for brands to build followers. Given that most brands have a bigger follower base on Instagram than on Snapchat, it is not surprising that brands are seeing better results from Instagram Stories.

Although Instagram has not specified whether it will insert ads into Stories as Snapchat does, it seems safe to assume that Stories will start carrying ads sooner or later. For now, Instagram Stories remains a shiny new tool that brands should use to connect with followers.

 

Source: AdAge & Glossy

Instagram To Become More Like Snapchat With New Stories Feature

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Instagram is getting a bit Snapchatty with the debut of a new Stories feature that closely resembles Snapchat’s popular feature of the same name. Instagram Stories allows users to share photos and videos that will disappear after 24 hours with their followers. The interface design Instagram chose for this new feature also calls to mind that of Snapchat, displaying the Stories as a row of circles at the top of the app. In an interview with TechCrunch, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom acknowledged the similarity by admitting that Snapchat “deserves all the credit,” but also promises that Instagram will put its own spin on the feature.

Why Brands Should Care
Snapchat has seen impressive growth over the past few years, amassing over 150 million daily active users as of June and surpassing Twitter in daily usage to become a formidable force in the mobile and social media spaces. So it makes sense for Instagram to take a stab at developing a similar feature as the two apps enter a head-on fight for user attention. Although Instagram has not specified whether it will insert ads into Stories as Snapchat does, it seems safe to assume that Stories will start carrying ads sooner or later given that Instagram has been ramping up its ad efforts in recent months with its ad sales expected to jump to $1.5 billion this year. For brands looking to reach mobile consumers via social platforms, this new feature marks an interesting development that brands need to be aware of.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of Instagram’s Vimeo vidoe

Facebook Updates App-Install Ads With Behavioral Targeting

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is making it easier for brands and developers to find the right audience for their apps by adding targeting options based on users’ past actions. With a new ad product named App Event Optimization, app advertisers can now target users based on the actions they have taken, such as adding an item to a shopping cart, making a purchase, viewing content, or unlocking an in-game achievement. This ad product is available across Facebook, Instagram, and on sites using the Facebook Audience Network.

What Brands Need To Do
This kind of behavioral targeting tool gives app advertisers a good way to hone in on their desired audience whose previous actions indicate their interests and preferences. While app install ads have traditionally been served to a broad audience with the goal of getting as many people to download as possible, this new option gives brands a chance to focus their campaign on certain consumer segments, such as mobile shoppers or mobile game enthusiasts, and spend their ad budgets more effectively on users that they are more likely to retain.

 

Source: AdAge

 

Could This New App Be The Next Instagram?

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
A new social network app called Yubl (pronounced like “bubble” with a “y”) is taking off among teens as an alternative to Instagram. The app, launched in February in U.K., has amassed a big following among young people and become one of the hottest social apps in the U.K. App Store at the moment. Besides the standard content feed and direct messaging features common in today’s social apps, Yubl sets itself apart with five types of interactive buttons – Vote, Link, Whereabouts, Pinpoint, and Count – that users can add to their posts like stickers. For example, with the Vote button users can post a photo or video with a question for the followers to vote on or they can use the Link button to add a clickable URL to their posts. Early adopting brands such Red Bull, ASOS, Accessorize, and Primark have set up verified accounts on Yubl and started exploring the new app to reach its young users.

What Brands Need To Do
While it remains to be seen if Yubl can sustain its growth or extend its success to this side of the pond, it should certainly be on your radar if your brand is seeking to reach young people in the U.K.. Compared to the likes of Snapchat and Instagram, the app is remarkably brand-friendly given its Link button and other interactive features that brands can use to drive traffic and engage users without buying ads. As the social media landscape continues to evolve, it is important for brands to keep an eye out for the up-and-coming social platforms and learn to use their unique features for marketing purposes.

 

Source: Digiday

Header image courtesy of Yubl’s website

Instagram Officially Launches Business Profiles

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
After testing business profiles and some new data analytics features for a few weeks, Instagram officially released the new business tools on Tuesday. The business profiles allow users who already have a Facebook Page for their business to upgrade their Instagram accounts and gain access to a set of new features, which include a Contact button that allows customers to get in touch via phone call, email, or text with just one tap, as well as a map offering customers directions to the business location. The new analytics tool Insights offers business accounts a detailed look into whom their followers are and how their posts are performing. Moreover, business users can now turn regular posts into ads directly within the Instagram app, with options to select audience segments for targeting and the  duration for promoted posts.

Why Brands Should Care
Instagram is making its platform increasingly brand-friendly by modeling its business-oriented products after its parent company Facebook, as it continues to vie for the massive amount of ad dollars shifting from traditional channels, such as TV and print, into social media. For brands with an established presence on Instagram or considering joining the photo- and video-sharing network, it would be smart to take full advantage of these new business tools to engage with users.

 

Source: AdAge 

Instagram To Offer Marketers Detailed Analysis On Followers And Posts

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Instagram continues to make its platform more brand-friendly, now offering brand marketers more detailed analytics beyond “likes” and number of followers. The photo- and video-sharing social network has started testing a new analytics product called Insights that dives into granular details of followers and posts. Follower data includes a demographic breakdown by age, gender, and location, as well as follower activity by hour, and Top Posts will sort all posts published within a week or a month by impressions to let social marketers easily identify the best-performing posts of that time period.

What Brands Need To Do
By introducing detailed analytics to its platform, Instagram allows brand marketers to better understand their audience and to learn how to engage with them more effectively based on the data. If your brand is on Instagram, you should definitely explore the data analytics when it becomes available to gain some insights that can help improve your brand’s social strategy.  

Source: Marketing Land