Instagram officially switched on its ads API yesterday, a big move towards becoming a major mobile advertising platform. This represents an enormous leap, because now marketers can buy ads on Instagram in an automated fashion for the first time. Previously the only way to take out ads on Instagram was to contact an Instagram sales rep directly, which were only available in certain countries and required a major investment in budget and time.
Better tracking
There was also only a very limited ability to track the effectiveness of Instagram ads, but now with this new API brands will gain the ability to track their Instagram marketing activity, but this is changing with the realise of this API. Interaction and the effectives of the posts can now be measured from desktops via 3rd party applications plugging into the API.
Easier to buy
According to an Instagram representative: “The Instagram Ads API will help us make ads more relevant to the community, serve more diverse business objectives, and make buying on the platform easier for advertisers. We started working with a group of Facebook Marketing Partners a few weeks ago and they’ve brought great experience and technological savvy onto the platform. We’ll continue to build upon the Instagram Ads API in the coming weeks and months.”
Rapid growth
The release of the ads API will open up a huge array of opportunities and allow Instagram to grow rapidly now that it has generated a highly successful revenue stream. Analysis at Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted it’s revenues could increase almost tenfold over the next two years, to reach near $1 billion in 2017, and continue to skyrocket, to over $3.8 billion by 2020. This is huge growth that would see Instagram over taking Twitter and rivalling Google for mobile ad revenue.
Looking to the future
Instagram overtook Twitter late last year for number of monthly active users, within the next few years it will almost certainly overtake it in revenue. It is particularly popular with the millennial generation; over half of 18-29 year olds in the US use the platform, and is slightly more popular with women than men. It’s success with younger people means it is likely to grow in popularity and importance as an ad platform as its user base ages and starts to want to purchase cars, houses and all the trappings of modern life. The release of an API for ads by Instagram is, therefore, a big moment for advertisers everywhere. Anyone looking to advertise to a youngish demographic should certainly give Instagram ads a serious thought.
This article was originally published at SmartInsights.com, by author Robert Allen.
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