Just like Twitter and Facebook, Instagram has announced plans to roll out sponsored posts in the UK market across the next few weeks. It revealed the news in a post and promised users the process will be slow and won’t affect the user experience.
In June, Instagram first announced its vision to expand the UK ad proposition (would happen ‘later in the year’ commenting the service would also roll out to Canada and Australia within the year. It follows its move last November to launch ads in the US market, where it tried to ensure the ads would be engaging and feel natural within people’s feeds. The US ads appeared with a sponsored label on them and gave the user the ability to hide the ad by clicking on a tab in the bottom right, or engaging with the ad just like usual posts, with likes or comments.
At the time, Instagram reassured users it would not change the terms and conditions of photograph ownership, stating: “As always, you own your own photos and videos. The introduction of advertising won’t change this.”
On top of this, last month Instagram released three new tools that allow brands to monitor their performance and “help brands monitor their posts and campaigns by providing information on reach, impressions and engagement”.
MEC Says
The new ad format gives advertisers a new environment to build awareness for their brand, it will challenge creative agencies to find a unique way for their creative to standout while at the same time not ruin user experience across the platform. As digital buyers MEC need to ensure the brand is the right fit, as well as ensuring the KPIs for that campaign justify choosing that route to promote the brand in question, ensuring positivity for the campaign not negativity.