Tag: ad platform

Why Instagram’s API Is A Big Deal For Brands

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Last week, Instagram officially switched on its API for ads, making it possible for just about anyone to easily purchase ads on the photo-sharing social network. Advertisers can now buy through tools that plug directly into the network, such as Salesforce, Brand Networks, and Ampush. Previously, Instagram has been quite cautious in rolling out its ad products, selecting only a handful of brands to advertise on its platform.

What Brands Should Do
Instagram has quickly grown popular among marketers and brands for its visual-first nature and high user engagement. Its mobile ad revenue is estimated to reach $2.8 billion in 2017, potentially surpassing other digital ad giants like Twitter and Google in the U.S. market. For brands, especially those in visual-dependent verticals like fashion and cosmetics, or those seeking to reach a younger audience, that wanted to advertise on Instagram but got discouraged by its long, complicated buying process before, now is the time.

 

Source: Re/code

WeChat Opens Up Advertising Platform To Brands

Posted on by Lab Team

Just over a week after introducing the Ephemeral Messaging feature, WeChat, China’s top messaging app, launched an open beta of its advertising platform on Monday for official brand accounts with over 100k followers to reach users via its self-serve advertising platform. These ads, however, do not show up in personal messages, instead only show up if users click through to read full-page posts from the official accounts that users subscribe to. Even then, the ads only appear at the bottom of the page.

This is just the newest effort from WeChat to create a “sticky” e-platform to monetize on its 400 million active users, aiming to encourage purchasing behaviors without its users leave the app. As WeChat continues to expand its ambition in e-commerce, we expect to see more functions and features fleshed out in all messaging apps in the near future.