Instagram Business
21 октября 2018
Scrolling, swiping and scoring: Key Moments in sports on Instagram
Much like sports, Instagram continues to connect and inspire the world in new and exciting ways. Whether in feed or Stories, Instagram evokes a feeling of passion and community unlike anywhere else – especially during the biggest moments of the year. At this year's Super Bowl for instance, 53 million people from around the globe were on Instagram following the game, sharing their predictions and commentating on the night's most memorable plays. As a result, these conversations generated 198 million interactions on Instagram worldwide.1
Instagram gets sports fans closer
With over 800 million active accounts on Instagram around the globe, 243 million of which identify as belonging to sports fans,2 Instagram is the go-to platform for people to connect with their favourite players, teams and other fans. It's become a trusted source for breaking news, match day highlights and exclusive video, as well as offering insider access to the personal sides of the most popular athletes in the world. In fact, 54% of sports fans surveyed on Instagram say they use it as a window into the lifestyles of their favourite teams and players.3 And advertisers have capitalised on this by partnering with athletes and incorporating them into their campaigns to increase brand awareness.
On average, sports fans on Instagram follow ten sport-related accounts, eight of which typically belong to individual athletes.
Instagram data, Jun 2017
The big match on the small screen
What makes Instagram so unique is that it has an active global community of people who make connections across the world by sharing what they are passionate about. One of the biggest of those passions is sports – especially winter sports. At this year's winter games in South Korea, people from all over the world used Instagram to share their favourite moments from over the past few weeks of competition. Whether from the grandstands or at home, sports fans tuned in from their mobile devices to experience this year's winter games on Instagram in a big way.
Ninety per cent of people in the US use a mobile device whilst they're watching sports, and 59% of those people are also engaging with social media at the same time.
Qualtrics, «Live Events» (Facebook-commissioned study of 5,040 people aged 18-65 in the US), Mar 2017
That's because the viewing habits of sports fans continue to change and evolve, especially over the past four years. This is largely due to a growing desire for authenticity from fans and the vast improvements in the quality of mobile video streaming. People have quickly grown to expect great video content in their Instagram feeds, and this is especially true for sports. There is no other form of entertainment that lends itself so readily to video. Sports fans are proving this by viewing and sharing a staggering amount of video – generating over 250,000 video uploads from 200 countries and watching twice the amount of videos than non-sports fans do.4
Give sports fans what they want
Sports fans on Instagram love to connect with their favourite brands. In fact, 53% of them on Instagram will follow brands that they like on social media5 – giving advertisers a golden opportunity to tell their story. By creating authentic, real-time content that immerses and invites sports enthusiasts into their worlds, brands on Instagram such as Trident (@tridentgum) and Miller Lite (@millerlite) were able to stand out at the winter games in South Korea and connect with its passionate fans in fresh, exciting ways.
For the creative idea, we wanted to leverage the current communication «Bursting with Flavour» and put it into a context that works with competitive winter sports. We wanted it to still link back to the brand and the other communications that were recently in market but leverage the excitement and conversations around winter sports. We choose Instagram because Facebook and Instagram are the core mass awareness drivers to ensure that we get the scale to drive reach across the plan. Additionally, using the hybrid buying approach allows us to balance reach and efficiencies.
Ariel Terrell, Brand Manager, Trident
A gold medal post on Instagram was the perfect fit for Miller Lite. Not only did it touch on a culturally relevant moment for our drinkers, but it's a relevant message for our brand given that Miller Lite is a two-time gold medal-winning beer at the Great American Beer Fest.
Sheryl Rosa, Director of Activation, Miller Lite
Outside the lines
Whether at the winter games in South Korea or the upcoming football tournament in Russia, sports fans from all over the globe come to Instagram every day to share their passions with friends, family and others. As a result of this, more and more businesses are finding it the ideal place to connect with our unique community and inspire action.
To see how other brands such as Under Armour (@underarmour), Gatorade (@gatorade) and the LA Kings (@lakings) use Instagram to create captivating content that drives real business results, take a look at their success stories here.
Instagram Creators presents: Reframing creativity with vertical video format
All over the world, vertical video is quickly changing the way businesses, brands and creators on Instagram connect with and inspire their communities. As people continue to spend time on their mobile devices, more and more are beginning to realise the potential of vertical video and its endless creative possibilities. That's why it's more important than ever to tap into and prioritise this emerging space when crafting creative on Instagram.
Partnering with our Creative Shop team, we recently challenged a group of incredible storytellers to each experiment with the vertical space and showcase their own unique style using 9x16 video. As part of our newly established series, Instagram Creators, these storytellers are the first to be tapped in our ongoing collaboration with creators to create in the vertical video format.
Take a look below to see how each of these six creators from around the globe bring their distinct style and ideas to life using the vertical canvas.
Direct your audience's eyes
In the vertical format, the viewer has the freedom to experience content in a brand new, yet organic way – creating opportunity for creators to lead their audience's eyes up and down versus side to side as with landscape video. With vertical, there's no longer a clear horizon for content to exist as it's constantly shifting.
Most people are trained to look at things horizontally, so you kind of have to lead the eye in different ways. This definitely presents a new set of challenges and a different way of looking at things. But with the advent of the smartphone, it makes a lot more sense to make something vertical.
Kris Merc, Illustrator and Animator
Animate your ideas
Using 2D, 3D, stop-motion or motion graphics to bring your ideas to life has always been a powerful way to capture the attention of viewers engaging with content on Instagram. And with vertical video, you're now able to do so in a way that feels fresh, yet natural to those interacting with it.
Whether you're designing for horizontal or vertical frame, I think the most important thing is simply the aesthetic. For me, I want to use the viewer's imagination to create their own narrative. When you make this room into a vertical frame, it immediately becomes a different environment.
Monica Kim, Illustrator and Animator
Split your screen
Whether you're creating a grid to show different angles of a product or splitting the screen to tell two separate yet connected stories at once, vertical video is a great way to create content in a fresh, immersive way. By dividing up the space, you're able to create new perspectives for your viewers to engage with, while guiding their attention to the most important parts of your video.
Shooting with the discipline of a vertical frame is something that challenges you to think differently.
Ron Brodie, Photographer and Filmmaker
Play with type and design
Grab the attention of your viewers by using a combination of type and design when creating for vertical video. Whether you're stacking type in a playful, eye-catching way or using overlays to add texture and depth to your content, vertical video gives you endless possibilities when creating content on Instagram.
It was very exciting and interesting to work in a different format. We wanted to make something that only made sense in vertical. It's not a handicap. It's something you have to take advantage of.
Anna Devís and Daniel Rueda, Photographers and Designers
Looking ahead
To learn more about vertical video on Instagram and how you can use its endless creative possibilities to stand out, continue to follow the Instagram Creators series on Instagram Business.
Reimagining retail with Instagram at Shoptalk
It's no surprise that mobile has completely changed the way in which people discover and shop for products in store and online. Whether comparing prices, searching for deals or making a purchase, shoppers nowadays are relying on their phones more and more – creating unique opportunities for advertisers to personalise the shopping journey in new, engaging ways.
At this year's Shoptalk in Las Vegas, Instagram will be hosting a must-see space at Facebook's conference headquarters. As Instagram continues to evolve from a destination where businesses are discovered to a place where business is done, we'll be sharing with retailers at Shoptalk our platform's power to turn intent into action and drive real business results. From discovery to exploration to purchase, Instagram is increasingly innovating the retail industry and the ways that retailers connect with our unique community of 800 million.1
Through immersive product experiences and creative ad formats, Instagram is helping retailers around the world stand out and inspire action like never before. Here are some of the different ways that we're helping to evolve and lead in the retail space at Shoptalk and beyond.
Instagram Stories
With more than 300 million on Instagram using stories every day to explore and share their passions, this fresh format is quickly changing the way that businesses connect with customers and inspire action. In fact, a third of the most viewed stories on Instagram come from businesses.2 And this is because the visual nature of Instagram Stories allows advertisers to forge a more engaging connection with their audiences. As a result, businesses of various sizes are taking the endless possibilities of stories and making it their own – creating relevant content around their products and brand that inspires as much as it drives real business results.
We know that children dream of bringing their LEGO creations to life, and by leveraging Instagram's new Canvas format within stories, we could offer our consumers an immersive experience to learn exactly how to do that. We achieved great reach, fantastic Canvas view-through rates and a lower CPM than average.Eleni Karamalegkou, Director of Marketing (EMEA), LEGOShopping on Instagram
Since launching shopping on Instagram in the US, we've made it easier for shoppers to explore their favourite products from the businesses they love and get all the information they need to make a purchase. Through a set of product features such as product tags, a shop tab on business profiles and an immersive view with more information and imagery, discovering products on Instagram is no longer a barrier, but a new opportunity for businesses to connect with customers when inspiration strikes. Now, people can seamlessly go from discovery to information and purchase in just a few taps, and do so in a way that's organic to the Instagram experience.
Shopping on Instagram accomplishes one of the most critical tasks in a mobile shopping experience: making it easier to buy. With one click, our audience can learn more about our products and go directly to our site. Reducing search time and clicks improves conversion and revenue. When we launched the «shopping on Instagram» feature, we experienced a 25% increase in traffic and an 8% increase in revenue attributable to shopping on Instagram.Shari Lott, Founder & CEO, spearmintLOVECollection on Instagram
Instagram has always been a great place for people to discover and share their passions – especially when it comes to connecting with the businesses and brands they love. Staying true to this sense of discovery, the collection ad format provides people with another way to browse, explore and take action with businesses directly on Instagram by simply tapping the ad in feed. This interaction makes it easier for people to take the next step with a business, while allowing advertisers to tell a more integrated story in their ads on Instagram feed.3
Featuring up to 50 different products in a fast-loading shopping experience, the collection ad format enables businesses to seamlessly drive more purchase consideration and sales without people having to leave the Instagram app. Though only currently available to a select set of advertisers, we'll begin rolling out collection on Instagram to others in the coming months.4
Instagram is a key platform for us to share the Revolve brand through highly engaging, inspirational and aspirational content. Our goal is to bring products to life by reflecting and embodying the lifestyle of our style-savvy consumer. With collection now on Instagram, we can reach new customers in a way that allows us to tell a holistic visual story about our brand in a single ad.
Ryan Pabelona, Director of Performance Marketing, Revolve
Looking ahead
We understand the challenges that retailers face on a day-to-day basis, which is why we're committed to creating and providing innovative solutions for the retail industry that help alleviate some of these barriers. If you'd like to learn more about how Instagram and Facebook's various shopping products and ad formats can improve the way your business sells products on mobile, then take a look at our retail solution's article here.
Also, if you happen to be attending this year's Shoptalk, then make sure that you pop by the Instagram space at Facebook's conference headquarters to experience our shopping solutions in person.
Top Of Your Game
Instagram is where sports fans connect with brands.
Instagram Business helped get AdWeek Europe 2018 off to an inspirational start on Monday with a talk hosted by Sunil Singhvi, Instagram’s UK Strategic Partnerships Manager, with Russell Stopford, CDO from Paris Saint Germain, and Nick Lewis, Brand Strategy Director from COPA90 to discuss how Instagram helps brands to tap into global moments and develop valuable relationships with audiences with a passion for sport.
Game-Changing Passions
Instagram is now the place to go for breaking sports news and highlights. A remarkable 1 in 3 accounts on Instagram follow a sports-related account or individual athletes, and engaging more and more during global sporting events in real-time. Instagram is where sports fans consistently go to get amped about upcoming matches and enjoy insider access to exclusive match-day footage.
Fans are looking to scratch that itch and to get their fix of football, whether that’s behind the scenes on the training grounds to stories that entertain.
Russell Stopford, CDO, Paris Saint Germain
Fan Connections
The interests of sports fans are not confined to the sporting world. Fans share their passions on Instagram, making it the perfect place for brands and businesses to connect with audiences on emotional levels and create deeper relationships.When you overlay culture and football you get this wonderful sweet spot in the middle. Football fans are more than just football fans, they also have many, many passionsNick Lewis, Brand Strategy Director, COPA90Get Closer
With an international, always-on sports fan community, sporting events are being amplified in ways that have never before been possible, and bringing the sports world closer together. Now that fans can not only watch live at the stadiums, but also be there digitally through their smartphones, viewing habits have changed so that more of the match is consumed more intimately on smaller screens. This has created a desire for authenticity and a preference for video—and Instagram is where sports fans go to when they want live, authentic and video content.What clubs are looking to achieve [from Instagram] is that engagement with their fan base and actual contact with them and connection with their audience, that’s where they see the valueRussell Stopford, CDO, Paris Saint GermainGiving the audience accessibility in new and interesting ways is what we’re most excited about…letting them see what they’ve never seen beforeNick Lewis, Brand Strategy Director, COPA90
True Stories
Brands connect with passionate sport fans all year long, finding success not just during a sports event, but pre and post as well. From creating authentic moments on the platform, to harnessing the power of Instagram Stories to engage in real time, businesses have learned how to use Instagram creatively to achieve their goals.
[Instagram stories] let’s us showcase fan experiences in more interesting ways and is super important to us — we use stories a lot to show that candid experience”
Nick Lewis, Brand Strategy Director, COPA90
Inspiring Action
As a platform powered by visual expression, Instagram fires the imaginations of sports fans and is now the place where passion reaches fever pitch—before, during and after every match.
We think about [sporting events] as a curve with spike in anticipation just before the game”
Russell Stopford, CDO, Paris Saint Germain
Striking visual imagery combined with precise demographic targeting gives advertisers on Instagram the power to tap into key moments and transform aspiration into awareness, and passion into sales—with a success rate that can be measured.
Discover for yourself how Under Armour, Gatorade, Golden State Warriors and many more sports-related businesses use passion to bring their audiences closer, as well as gain actionable tips and insights into successful Instagram advertising strategies by downloading your copy of Top Of Your Game now.
Providing full-screen support for all ads in Instagram Stories
Starting today, creating native, immersive Instagram Stories ads just got simpler. When advertisers upload Instagram Feed creative within Ads Manager, it will be transformed into the full-screen format of Stories, allowing advertisers to run ads easily across Instagram.
How it works
When a business uploads a single photo or a video under 15 seconds within Instagram Feed aspect ratios, Instagram will automatically provide full-screen support for this content on Instagram Stories. Whether exclusively or across multiple placements, advertisers can seamlessly reach people across Instagram and Facebook.
• Our pixel-matching technology will automatically select a background gradient to turn the ad into a full-screen format.
• If the ad creative is square or landscape, the text from the Instagram Feed or Facebook Feed unit will be added in Stories text font below the photo or video. If the ad creative is taller than square, caption text will not show at this time.
• Swipe up capabilities allow an advertiser to add a destination link to their Stories ad.
With this expansion of full-screen support for all Instagram Feed dimensions in Stories, it's never been easier to get started with Instagram Stories. To learn more about this update, click here.
