Whenever platforms introduce ads there are inevitably complainers. That’s been the case so far with Instagram ads, even with the latest ad, which went out Tuesday evening — even when it’s for charity.
In what appeared to be the first ad Instagram has run in a while, Charity Water, the non-profit that helps bring clean water to developing countries, ran a sponsored post on the platform to raise awareness about what it does. The post quickly racked up more than 700,000 likes and 7,000 comments. As with the few sponsored posts that preceded Charity Water’s — from big brands like Lexus and Ben & Jerry’s — not all the commenters were especially pleased about ad. There are, of course, those that tell the complainers to get a life.
Charity Water’s sponsored post was actually donated media from Instagram, according to the nonprofit’s director of digital, Paull Young. “We do not have an advertising budget and do not spend money on ads, and, as such, we don’t have goals around it,” he said. “Though we are seeing follower lift and awareness.”
The first ads appeared on the Facebook-owned platform early last November. Those ads also elicited grumbles from prickly Instagrammers about ads in their feeds from an account they don’t follow. That is par for the course for platforms when first introducing advertising. Instagram, as a free service and owned by a company whose projected 2013 ad revenue was $6.3 billion, is going to have ads, whether people like it or not. And the recent $40 million Omnicon-Instagram deal means people better get ready for video ads on Instagram too.
“Instagram is a different beast than [Twitter or Facebook]; it’s a different user experience — and younger users are fickle,” said Jason Stein, president of Laundry Service. “That’s why you see completely mixed results on Instagram ads so far: tons of likes and yet tons of negative comments about how the brand and Instagram should die a painful death for serving a beautiful ad.”
Facebook itself has admitted that its focus isn’t yet on making money with Instagram. Right now, Instagram’s ad model appears more geared toward collecting data on what works.
“With ads, the team has taken an especially careful approach, working closely with a small number of brands that are already important members of the Instagram community to create a great early experience,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the company’s recent earnings call.
Even though each Instagram ad receives its fair share of detractors, on the whole, they have been a success. Instagram ads give brands access to a wider audience and create increased engagement. According to Instagram’s own analysis of some of its first sponsored campaigns, the key metrics that Instagram and participating advertisers are focusing on are reach, ad recall and brand awareness. Social metrics like followers, comments and likes are less important here.
Advertisers achieved a wide reach with with a very low average frequency of ad impressions per user, according to Instagram. For example, Levi’s reached 7.4 million people in the U.S. over 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.
The Charity Water ad appears to be on track for similarly large numbers. A comparable non-sponsored post from Charity Water’s regular Instagram account featuring children getting clean water — which went up on the same day — has gotten just under 8,000 likes. So a good cause gets some free advertising and Facebook gets to continue to test out its ad products.
-
How gamers’ engagement with short-form video is changing
To better understand how modern gamers are engaging with short-form video, Digiday teamed up with Gamesight to pull key points from an exclusive report on gamers’ shifting video consumption preferences.
-
Inside SAG-AFTRA’s new deal with video platform Cameo
SAG-AFTRA and Cameo, the celebrity platform that connects talent and fans, have announced a new agreement that allows members to cover brand deals through Cameo for Business (C4B). Brands will be able to access more fan-favorite professional talent through SAG-AFTRA's health and pension plans.
-
Digiday+ Research: Extreme pessimism about the end of the cookie levels off among agencies
Agencies are still feeling out who they think the winners and losers will be as the end of the third-party cookie draws near, but they're doing so with notably less pessimism than they have in the past.
-
SponsoredHow agencies’ relationships with RMNs are continuing to evolve in 2023
Sponsored by Best Buy Ads As retail media networks proliferate, agencies are increasingly identifying RMNs as valuable opportunities for their brand clients as they seek quality audience data, meaningful reporting and insights, and authentic and engaging ad formats and creative. However, there are many options for them to work through as they select RMN partners. […]
-
Benjamin Moore is using OOH near big-box retailers to say their paint isn’t there, encouraging people shop local
The 140-year-old paint brand wants to make sure people know that it is only available at local retailers.
-
Jose Cuervo Tequila celebrates UFC’s 30th anniversary with Kevin Holland, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson ads
Mexico-based Jose Cuervo, is the first tequila brand to be a direct advertiser of the UFC with spots featuring UFC fighters Kevin Holland, a Cuervo ambassador, and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson.
