The image network with 200 million users has begun testing video ads on their platform. Like their image offerings, Instagram is being quite selective about the advertisers and creative, encouraging more lifestyle imagery opposed to traditional product shots and ads. The same will likely be the case for the 15 second video, so don’t expect to see repurposed video ads. While Instagram has a highly engaged audience, one has to wonder how long this tailor-made approach will last. With programmatic on the rise, one wonders when Instagram will go self-service.
Tag: instagram
Instagram Personalizes Explore Tab
Instagram has been struggling to make the app a more user-friendly experience off of the home feed that most users stay in. Now, the explore tab has been tweaked slightly such that the tab now displays photos and videos suggested for each individual user. Before, the section was for posts that were popular amongst all Instagram users. It also only posts photos and video from public accounts – there are no private feeds appearing in that section at all (and no direct messages, either). The replacement for the Popular section has yet to entirely catch on, but by making the app more broadly tailored to individuals means that, at least in theory, more users will use more features within the app and ideally stay glued to the app for longer periods of time.
Carlsberg’s Instagram Campaign Links Bars & Drinkers
A new Carlsberg campaign in Denmark, called #happybeertime, aims to bring bars and their patrons closer together over social networks. Dubbed “Happy Hour 2.0,” the beer company extended happy hour via Instagram and hashtag mentions. Bar-goers upload their photos to Instagram and tag them with the name of the bar and #happybeertime, and a counter displayed above the bar fills up with more time for half-priced beer, effectively adding a few more minutes to happy hour. Bars add specially hacked HDMI sticks to HDTV’s to make it work, and as a result their name is shared across the social network. The goal, of course, is to bridge online and offline, brick-and-mortar and digital landscapes into one effective solution that brings customers closer to the bars while creating organic marketing for the bars. And by exploiting two major consumer trends – happy hour and Instagram sharing – Carlsberg is cashing in on serendipitous sharing that drives brand engagement.
Instagram Has More U.S. Mobile Users Than Twitter
According to a new E-Marketer report, Instagram now has more American based smartphone users than Twitter. Here are the specifics: Instagram has 35 million US mobile users, while Twitter has only 30.8 million. But for all users – which includes desktop users – Twitter still claims 40 million more users than Instagram, with 240 million total active users worldwide each month as compared to Instagram’s 200 million. The news comes on the heels of Twitter’s attempts to increase mobile engagement with multiple photo uploads and image tagging to, at least by the looks of it, compete with Instagram. Clearly both are viable platforms based on the numbers, but for the moment Instagram is creeping out in front, from a mobile point of view.
VSCO Cam Introduces Follow Feature
VSCO Cam is arguably the preferred “mobile darkroom” app, with options to tweak photos in ways that were previously impossible in a mobile setting. Most liked the app because it was entirely dedicated to photo editing, and was very good at what it did. But from a development perspective, there was no way to take photos, make comments, or really make friends in the VSCO Cam social section. Now, the Grid section in the app’s sidebar offers pure inspiration from strangers: it features a handpicked section of VSCO’s favorite inspiring photos from around the web. It keeps the app focused on photos rather than social discovery – something that was appealing about Instagram in early days. Whether it becomes Instagram remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a step forward for the app.
BBC Experiments With Instagram Video
Instafax is a new program launched by the BBC to bring Instagram video-length news updates to its subscribers. The idea is that three fifteen second videos will be published at different points during the day to highlight different news stories during different parts of the day.
The service, a reference to the short-form Ceefax news service, also mimics other forms of condensed news services, like NowThis News, who has been creating Vines, Snapchats, Twitter videos, and Facebook Videos of the news for some time now. The BBC clearly feels that it’s time to break into this space to build its news and brand on social media as opposed to traditional news forms. Whether it actually proves an advantageous move for the storied news network will likely depend on how sharable the snippets become. But if it does prove a shrewd move, expect to see more of this in the near future.
Introducing: Instagram Direct
In a secretive event held today Instagram announced one of the biggest technical developments in the company’s history. Called Instagram Direct, the technology gives users ways to share moments with smaller groups of people – not just their followers. It’s essentially a form of direct messaging Instagram pictures to individuals, or specific people. Only those people that you follow can send you pictures or videos directly, but there will be an inbox for those who don’t follow you where you’ll have to accept the image before you can see it; not surprisingly, Instagram recommends against accepting such unsolicited images. The move seems like a pretty obvious catch-up to Twitter DM and Snapchat, so whether users actually make the shift to using Instagram Direct – as opposed to these other, pre-existing apps – will be interesting to watch.
Study: Instagram Is Best Business Social Media
According to a new study from marketing analytics service SumAll, Instagram is the most effective social network for driving engagement and sales figures. SumAll’s work looked at unpaid and organic Instagram traffic over an 11 month period, and concluded that US businesses that used Instagram saw revenue increases between 1.5% and 3.5% – while their UK partners experienced a 3.6% revenue boost. Nonetheless, SumAll also cautioned that businesses saw diminishing returns on platforms that they over-targetted. It’s up to each business to determine its requisite middle ground.
Russia Announces Mobile Photography Ban For 2014 Winter Olympics
The Sochi Winter Olympics, coming this January, are reportedly coming with a ban on any mobile photography by journalists. In fact, the ban extends to all non-professional equipment, ruling out the possibility for reporting via Instagram, Vine, Whatsapp, Frontback, and any other media-creating platform presently shaking up what it means to broadcast information and media online. This attempt at placing tight controls on the flow of news out of Russia during the games is not new – London tried to ban social media during its turn hosting the Olympics in 2012 – but the question remains, how effective can it be? Will journalists and news outlets be willing to risk their credentials to reach consumers faster, more effectively, and more intimately than ever before during one of the world’s testing grounds for media coverage?
Brands Flock To Instagram
According to a new study from Simply Measured, 71% of the most recognized brands in the world are now active on Instagram. That number represents an 80% year over year growth rate, and brands’ adoption of the platform rivals Google+ and Instagram. That same study also concluded that as brand activity on Instagram increases, so too do followers, with automobile brands leading the way. It’s easy to see why automotive brands would do well on Instagram; people love sharing photos of cars. But what’s also important to note is the fact that brands with the most engagement actually didn’t use hastags as often as most users or other brands. Believe it or not, hashtagging the world doesn’t give you more reach or impressions.
