Instagram Business
21 октября 2018
Our ad principles
Our advertising team works to make meaningful connections between businesses and people. That's a high bar, given that many people come to Instagram, Facebook and Messenger to connect with their friends and family. Our goal is to show ads that are as relevant and useful as the other content you see. If we do this effectively, advertising on our platforms can also help businesses large and small to increase their sales and hire more people – as recently published research has shown.
While the world and our services are always evolving, we thought it would be helpful to lay out the principles that guide our decision-making when it comes to advertising across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.
To learn more about these advertising principles and our continuous efforts to foster a community of transparency, please read more from our VP of Ad Products, Rob Goldman, in this note.
Celebrating a community of 25 million businesses
Today, we're celebrating that the community of businesses on Instagram has grown to 25 million, the vast majority of which are small businesses. That's up from 15 million in July.
As 800 million use Instagram each month to discover and follow their passions, more and more people are using it to connect with businesses they love. In fact, over 80% of accounts on Instagram follow a business,1 while 200 million Instagrammers actively visit the profile of a business every day.2 As a result, the Instagram community is helping spur small business growth in big ways.
Two-thirds of profile visits to businesses come from people who aren't following that business.
Instagram data, Nov 2017
Through the visual content they share, businesses are making valuable connections and sparking conversations with people like never before. Instagram is increasingly becoming the primary digital presence for these businesses – like shoe retailer AMAZARA (@amazara.id). Based in Indonesia, AMAZARA uses Instagram as its primary channel for engaging with customers. Through eye-catching posts, Instagram Stories and Direct, the stylish brand has been able to grow its business to over 70 employees in just two years.
And that's because Instagram is no longer considered just a stop along the mobile journey. With one in three small businesses on Instagram saying they've built their business on Instagram,3 it's become a destination where businesses are not only discovered, but where business is done.
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With the expansion of shopping on Instagram to even more businesses in the US, we're seeing retailers like Man Outfitters (@manoutfitters), WYLDER (@wyldergoods) and Letterfolk (@letterfolk) use shopping tags to help people discover new products they love. And with new insights,4 businesses will now be able to see exactly how they're being discovered on Instagram – whether through feed, location tags, hashtags or explore.
When you only have milliseconds to capture the attention of your customers organically, the ability to directly connect them with products that pique their interest is priceless. Customers who follow business accounts for quality content can now easily be guided to products without disrupting their natural browsing habits, and even those with little interest in promotions can't help but take notice. We no longer have to deal with customers commenting «Where can I find this shirt?» on a promotional post – everything they need to find their product is right there with shopping on Instagram.
Joe Nullet, VP of Branding & Marketing, Man Outfitters
The festive season is the busiest and most crucial time of year for small businesses everywhere. That's why we're sharing resources for small businesses with tips and tricks on how to use Instagram this Christmas – including answers to frequently asked questions on how to best leverage your business profile.
Businesses from all over are turning to Instagram as a one-stop visual shop, given its image-first, look and feel. To learn how Instagram can help your business grow during Christmas and beyond, find out more here.
Introducing stories highlights and stories archive
Today we're introducing two new tools that let your business hold on to its favourite moments from Instagram Stories and share them in ways with your customers that help your business express itself. Stories highlights is a new part of your profile where you can express more about your business through the stories you've shared. And to help you build highlights, your stories will now automatically save into a private stories archive so you can easily relive them whenever you want.
Stories highlights
Over the past year, Instagram Stories has become a key part of how businesses stand out and inspire action on Instagram – but there hasn't been an easy way to keep them around for more than 24 hours. Now your business can more fully express itself by grouping stories that it's shared into highlights and featuring them on its profile.
Stories highlights appear in a new section on your profile below your bio. To create a highlight, tap the «New» circle at the far left. From there, you can choose any stories from your archive, select a cover for your highlight and give it a name. Once you've finished, your highlight will appear as a circle on your profile that plays as a stand-alone story when someone taps it. Highlights stay on your profile until you remove them, and you can have as many highlights as you'd like. To edit or remove a highlight, just tap and hold that highlight on your profile.
Story Highlights lets you show all the sides of your business's personality, and you can make highlights out of anything that you've shared to your business's story in the past. From the behind-the-scenes making of a new product to extending the life of a recent campaign on stories, the interests and activities that matter most to you have a home right on your profile.
Stories archive
Moving forward, your stories will automatically save to your archive when they expire. This makes it easy for you to revisit your business's favourite moments later on or bring them back to life in a highlight.
To access the stories in your archive, tap the Archive icon on your profile. From there, you can easily switch between your posts archive and your new stories archive. In your stories archive, your stories will appear in a grid with the most recent stories at the bottom. The first story from each day will show a date indicator to help you navigate your archive as you scroll.
Tap on any story in your archive to watch it. From there, you can add it to your current story or add it to a highlight on your profile. Only you can see your archived stories, and you can choose to turn off auto-archiving at any time in your profile settings.
To learn more about stories highlights and stories archive, take a look at the Instagram Help Centre. Today's updates are available as part of Instagram version 25 on iOS and Android.
A year in review: Celebrating business success on Instagram
From major brands to mom-and-pop shops, businesses from around the world come to Instagram to connect with people in fresh, immersive ways. Through our visually passionate community, businesses are able to create unique experiences around their products and services with Instagram ads unlike anywhere else. Whether through stories, live or feed, more and more every day are finding success and driving results on Instagram – especially in 2017.
As we prepare for the new year and all the exciting things to come, we want to take a moment to celebrate our community of 25 million businesses and all of their successes. Across food, fashion and beyond, businesses from various passions continue to stand out and inspire action all over the globe.
Here are some of our favourites from this year.
AUTO
Maserati
Looking to take advantage of the buzz surrounding the release of its all-new Levantes SUV in the US, luxury car maker Maserati (@maserati) used a two-phase video campaign on Instagram and Facebook to draw a third of its leads – selling 127 vehicles (from those leads) as a result.
Renault
To support the launch of its new car, the limited edition Twingo Twilight, French automaker Renault (@renault_france) tapped Instagram Stories to create an eye-catching video campaign that targeted a younger millennial audience – resulting in an increase in brand perception and ad recall, especially amongst women aged 18-24.
BEAUTY
Tulio Cotta
To find the perfect audience interested in his eyebrow micropigmentation courses in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, beauty professional Tulio Cotta (@tuliocottaoficial) used Instagram to create a successful lead ad campaign – crushing the established goal of registrations by 20% with 77% of the course's total registrations coming directly from Instagram.
SK-II
Seeing a tremendous opportunity to drive brand awareness of its new beauty product Genoptics, Japanese skin care line SK-II (@skii) used ads in Instagram Stories1 to create a video campaign that was as luxurious as the brand itself. Targeting women aged 18-54 in Japan, the campaign achieved an incremental lift in ad recall of 13-points2 and a 62% increase in complete video views.3
FASHION
Louis Vuitton
To generate awareness and buzz around its Spring/Summer 2017 men's collection, the French fashion house Louis Vuitton (@louisvuitton) used the immersive, vertical screen format of Instagram Stories to create an exclusive video campaign for the brand's new line – resulting in a massive 28-point increase in ad recall, as well as a strong increase in brand favourability.
ASOS
For its first creative ad campaign on Instagram Stories, online fashion retailer ASOS (@asos) wanted to increase brand awareness and engagement in the US (and the UK) amongst young, digital natives. By combining the high production values and style of a fashion shoot with mobile video, the brand was able to create a tailor-made campaign that generated a 7-point increase in brand awareness in the US (and a 14-point lift in ad recall in the UK).
FOOD
Heinz
To boost its brand recognition and show people throughout São Paulo how its ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise products can transform any recipe, Heinz Brazil (@br_heinz) used Instagram Stories to create a mouthwatering video experience. Partnering with Facebook Creative Shop and the agency Africa, the legendary brand ran an irresistible ad campaign in Instagram Stories that could actually be eaten4– generating an 11-point increase in ad recall and satisfying hundreds of lunch-goers as a result.
Lay's
Combining Instagram Stories with a series of intricate animations to support the launch of its delicious new snack (Lay's STAX) in Russia, global snack brand Lay's (@lays_russia) created an attention-grabbing video campaign that offered customers an immersive and entertaining experience that singled Lay's out amongst the competition – leading to a massive 33-point increase in ad recall and 6-point increase in product awareness.
SPORT
Kayla Itsines
Australian fitness brand Kayla Itsines (@kayla_itsines) was looking to drive awareness for its new «Sweat» fitness app, but needed a little spot to help it reach its target audience of women aged 18-42 in the US. To do this, the brand created a full-funnel video campaign that ran across Facebook and Instagram around the simple message «Workout, anytime, anywhere». Reaching a wide audience of 6.4 million people, the campaign achieved an astounding 21-point lift in brand awareness with a 6-times increase in higher brand reach.5
Adidas
What does it mean to be original? Pulling together a range of visionaries from the worlds of music, art, skating and sport, world-famous lifestyle brand adidas Original (@adidasrussia) created a beautifully epic video campaign on Instagram to ask just this to millennials in Russia. The conversation around what Original means to its followers led to an increased ad recall of 20-points – jumping to 27-points amongst its target audience of 18-24 year olds.
TRAVEL
Qantas
Embracing Instagram's new ads in stories format, Australia's leading airline Qantas (@qantas) launched its first brand campaign for its branded content platform AWOL.6 Looking to connect with mobile-savvy millennials, the airline created a simple, yet stunning vertical video campaign that took the audience on a journey across various destinations to inspire travellers to embark on new adventures. Not only did the collaboration help drive brand awareness amongst a millennial audience, but it also generated a significant lift in ad recall and recommendation as well.
Hopper
As a natural extension of its playful brand, mobile app travel company Hopper (@hopper) tapped Instagram Stories to reach millennial travellers in North America and entice them to book flights through its app. Featuring illustrations from various destinations throughout the world, the ads in stories campaign resulted in a 67% higher rate of App Installs and an 80% higher booking rate for new users.7
SHOPPING
Dobra
Looking to reach people who had shown interest in products on its website, but had not yet finalised the purchase, Brazilian wallet brand Dobra (@querodobra) used the Facebook pixel to retarget customers on Instagram through carousel ads. Combining simple visuals of the product with straightforward copy about the brand, the campaign completely shattered expectations – producing a 30-times return on its Instagram investment and a 32% decrease in its shopping basket recovery cost.
SpearmintLOVE
After having great success with organic posts on Instagram, online children's shop SpearmintLOVE (@spearmintbaby) wanted to take the brand a step further during its Thanksgiving retargeting campaign. Looking to reach more customers more easily, especially those who had visited its website but had not yet purchased anything, it used the Facebook pixel and dynamic ads on Instagram to do just that. As a result, SpearmintLOVE welcomed a 33.8-times return on ad spend and a 47% decrease in the cost per purchase.
A new year, a new way to grow your business
Throughout the world, businesses of all sizes are using Instagram to bring their products and services to life unlike ever before. Whether in Mexico, Indonesia or other countries around the globe, our passionate community is helping businesses connect with people and the things they care about. And as we move in 2018, we can't wait to see how more and more will continue to find success growing their business through our immersive platform.
If you'd like to share how your business has been able to expand with the help of Instagram, submit your success story here. We're always looking to highlight the success of our business community whenever possible, so get in touch today!
Bringing carousel ads to Instagram Stories
Today, we're introducing carousel ads for Instagram Stories, allowing advertisers to have up to three pieces of media per Stories ad, whereas before, it was just one.
Since launching Instagram Stories, we've seen the community flex its creativity in ways that have delighted us. From face filters to superzoom to gif stickers, Stories has completely changed the way people share and express themselves on Instagram. And businesses are embracing that creativity too. For example, a luxury shoe retailer recently encouraged shoppers to «hold and pause» on their favourite pair as the brand flashed through its new line.
Carousel ads for Instagram Stories behave the same way as other Stories content, meaning you can tap through, swipe back and forth or pause the content whenever you like.
Now with two additional pieces of media, advertisers can add depth to their storytelling in the same way the community does today. Already, Gap (@gap) is tapping into carousel ads for Instagram Stories to incorporate native elements – such as pinning and drawing tools – and using the additional space to highlight more of their campaign.
The captivating nature of Instagram Stories provides another platform for our consumers to experience the logo remix campaign. The campaign is all about paying homage to Gap logos of the past, while featuring some of today's global culture remixers. We love using Instagram's creative tools to add fun details to our creative, and the full-screen format of Instagram Stories makes it feel like you're part of the remix.
Craig Brommers, Chief Marketing Officer, Gap
To learn how the community and brands engage with this new ad format, we're starting with a limited set of global advertisers such as Coca-Cola (@cocacolamx), Renault (@renault_france) and Paramount (@paramountpics). We'll share more when carousel ads for Instagram Stories is more widely available.
