TBG Digital's Guide for brands getting ready for paid advertising on Instagram

INSTAGRAM ADS
Getting ready for sponsored posts

 The social media landscape is changing—
emerging platforms are maturing
 It’s no longer a straight choice
between Facebook and Twitter
 It’s important for brands to prepare for
the launch of new social ad platforms or
they may be left behind
WHY?
INSTAGRAM
© 2014 TBG | Pg 2info@tbgdigital.com UK: +44 (0) 20 7428 6650 US: +1 917 933 7875

 Launched in October 2010, Instagram has
quickly positioned itself as the leading
mobile app for photo and short-form
video sharing
 Users can edit and add filters to their
photos or 15-second videos and share
them with friends on the platform or post to
other social networks
 Facebook acquired Instagram in late
2012 for an eventual $715 million
WHAT IS INSTAGRAM?
INSTAGRAM

 Instagram began testing its ad
product, Sponsored Photos and Videos,
with brands including Adidas, Burberry, Levi’s,
Lexus and Ben & Jerry’s in October 2013
 While ads are still a novelty, it appears that the
visual nature of Instagram, combined with
Facebook’s softly-softly approach to advertising,
will pay off
 Analysts predict a $340m profit for Instagram
in 2014
SPONSORED POSTS
INSTAGRAM

 Instagram is now the stand-out social
network when it comes to delivering
engagement, according to a recent report
by Forrester
 In terms of MAUs, even if we use current
growth rates to predict size in 2016,
Instagram is behind Goole Plus, LinkedIn
and Twitter
 However, user numbers don’t tell the
whole story
HOW BIG IS INSTAGRAM (REALLY)?
INSTAGRAM

 The time users spend there must also be
considered, so we have devised a more
accurate estimate of the true size of a
platform
 A platform needs users to be a viable place
for advertising, but high user numbers are
useless if those users are in and out of the
site in a few seconds
 Conversely, a highly engaged user base
spending hours at a time on a platform is also
pointless if the user numbers are low
MAN-HOURS
INSTAGRAM
Monthly active users
Average monthly time
spent on the platform
X
=
Monthly man-hours
spent on the platform

 Combining the two figures gives a true
reflection of the size of the active user
base and time spent on the site
 Using man-hours as a guide, we can see that
Instagram is actually much more
important
MAN-HOURS
INSTAGRAM
A quadrillion is 1,000 billion, or a one with 15 zeros

 Instagram is even more important on
mobile, takes second place at 1.3 times the
size of Twitter
 Facebook is seven times larger than
Instagram on mobile, compared to nearly
twelve times larger when we include all users
MOBILE MAN-HOURS
INSTAGRAM
A quadrillion is 1,000 billion, or a one with 15 zeros
The time spent figures are all from a Nielsen report in
May 2013, and the active user numbers are the most
recent official figures for Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter, all after May 2013

 In terms of eyeballs and ‘stickiness’,
Instagram is the second biggest
social network
 However, the size of the audience and
the time they spend on the platform
isn’t the most important factor for
marketing
 Locating and engaging an audience size
that’s of interest to a brand is
crucial, as is measuring the influence
generated by a brand’s activity on its
business goals and KPIs
HOW BIG IS INSTAGRAM?
INSTAGRAM

 Advertising on Instagram isn’t like other
platforms
 All Instagram ads are promoted content
 To promote content, brands must have a
successful existing Instagram account
 If you are thinking about advertising on
Instagram, it’s essential to get your account
up and running as soon as possible
GETTING STARTED
USING INSTAGRAM EFFECTIVELY

 Share authentic content—make it instantly
recognisable as your company’s account, using
pictures of both products and logos
 There are no clickthroughs on Instagram post
or ads so content must engage users within the
platform
 By adding a call to action, such as instructing
followers to include the brand’s username or a
branded hashtag in their photos, you can increase
user engagement
 Develop series of content streams and create
a calendar around these streams
CREATING CONTENT

 Publish ‘behind the scenes’ images, events and
close ups of your products
 Some content will be ‘in the moment’ while
other images should be planned ahead
 Engaging photo descriptions that describe the
image and reflect your brand’s message, will
increase interactions
 Interact with your followers by following,
reposting, and commenting on other people’s
posts. Interact as a human being –interacting
with ten specific photos taken by people in your
target market is better than liking random images
CREATING CONTENT

 A recent study by TrackMaven of Fortune 500 brands
suggested that because Instagram's video service is
fairly new, photos perform slightly better for
brands versus video
 On average, an Instagram video receives up to 24
interactions, compared to 37 for photos. However,
Instagram videos can provide two advantages
 Brands can distinguish themselves by producing a
different mix of pictures and videos
 At 15 seconds long and with the capability to upload
videos that were not taken with the Instagram app,
brands can leverage videos more by creating videos
with high production values
CREATING CONTENT

 Make sure your content is interesting, attractive,
engaging, emotional and memorable
 Make content socially discoverable by using
multiple relevant hashtags
 Data from TrackMaven shows that for bigger brands
like Nike and Adidas, between four and 11
hashtags can increase interactions on Instagram to
an average of 77 interactions per post
 Connect your Instagram account with other social
accounts. Many consumers discover branded
Instagram posts when they are shared on the
company’s other social channels like Facebook,
Twitter or Tumblr
CREATING CONTENT

PROMOTING CONTENT ON INSTAGRAM

 Facebook sees Instagram as its premium ad
product with monthly costs reportedly ranging
from $350k to close to $1million, so it’s not an
option for all
 Brands will also need a strong presence on
Instagram before signing up for ads, which
means users will only see ads that feel right for the
platform
 Instagram is also vetting the standard of ads,
so artwork must be high quality—this ensures that
the platform isn’t overloaded with ads
ADVERTISING ON INSTAGRAM

 Brands can convert a standard
Instagram post into a sponsored post
 The only difference is that the post has a
‘Sponsored’ flag at the top, and it can be
targeted to certain users, rather than a
brand’s usual followers
 Users can also hide any sponsored posts
from their feed and submit feedback
THE ADS

 Ads are targeted based on a user’s activity on
Instagram (the people they follow and the
posts they like) and if a user’s account is linked
to Facebook, their Facebook interests and
other basic profile information are used
 Measurement focuses on reach, ad recall and
awareness
 Instagram’s ad product is for brand campaigns;
there are no clickthroughs here
TARGETING & MEASUREMENT

Results for initial tests with Ben & Jerry’s, Adidas, Burberry, Levis and Lexus in October 2012:
TEST RESULTS
Ad Recall:
 Across the four campaigns, there was a 32-point incremental
lift in ad recall per campaign for people who were repeatedly
exposed to a particular campaign versus control groups
Awareness:
 Across the four campaigns, there was a ten-point incremental
lift in brand message awareness per campaign for people
who were repeatedly exposed to a particular campaign versus
control groups
 In particular, 17 percent of people who saw a single ad for
Ben & Jerry’s Scotchy Scotch Scotch-flavoured ice cream
not only became aware of the new flavour, they also
associated it with the brand
Reach:
 All four initial ad campaigns measured were successful
at delivering the broad reach our advertisers
were seeking
 The marketers achieved a high impact with a very
low average frequency of ad impressions per user
 Levi’s reached 7.4 million people in the U.S. across a
nine-day period, targeting people aged 18-34
 Ben & Jerry’s reached 9.8 million people in the U.S.
over eight days, targeting people aged 18-35

 Ben & Jerry’s, it isn’t the biggest brand
on Instagram—ranked 90th in terms of
followers and use of its hashtag
 99% of its non-sponsored posts feature a
packshot, and a short witty comment
CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S

 The same posts are often shared on
Facebook and Twitter, interspersed with
more aggressive promotional content
 Nearly all its Instagram posts record
something between 20,000 and
30,000 likes
 In terms of organic engagement,
Instagram is well ahead of
Facebook for Ben & Jerry’s
CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S—ORGANIC CONTENT
the Facebook post generated
2,345 likes, 107 shares and
193 comments from a
potential audience of 7.4
million Facebook fans
The Instagram post
generated 22,300 likes and
20 comments from a
potential audience of 391,000
followers

 Creatively, their sponsored content is similar
 For this campaign, each ad was only inserted into a
user’s feed once, meaning no repetition, a major
annoyance on other platforms
 On average, each targeted user was exposed to
three different ads during the campaign (full case
study here)
 In an eight-day period they were able to reach 9.8
million users, 25 times their usual reach and
5% of the entire Instagram user base
CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S—SPONSORED CONTENT

 Based on these figures for monthly costs, we can estimate
that if this kind of activity costs approximately $600,000
per month, an eight-day run would be around $160,000
 A reach of 9.8m users at an average of three impressions
is 29.4m exposures, giving us a CPM of $5.44
 This might be seen as expensive compared to
Facebook’s Q4 2013 CPM of $1.09, and Twitter’s CPM of
$3.50 (this figure has been reported for around two years
as Twitter doesn’t really work on CPMs), but it’s less
than the $7.60 average CPM on YouTube
CASE STUDY: BEN & JERRY’S—ESTIMATED COSTS

 Ranked as the 115th largest brand on
Instagram, Levi’s has over 233,000
followers and is growing quickly
adding 20,000 followers per month
 Levi’s posts are very fashion and
product-led, featuring models and
jeans
 Recent images focus heavily on the
cut down jean shorts trend for
women and denim shirts and
jackets for men
CASE STUDY: LEVI’S

 Messaging is played fairly straight,
identifying the products using
hashtags
 Levi’s has just created a new Facebook page
so we can’t compare posts
 On Twitter, most of the images posted
are the same as on Instagram, with
slightly different text
 Engagement was much higher on
Instagram from an audience half the size
CASE STUDY: LEVI’S—ORGANIC CONTENT
Instagram
generated
4,356 likes
from
233,000
followers
Twitter
generated 28
retweets and
54 favourites
from
458,000
followers

 Promoted content follows Levi’s normal style of
post—this campaign had more of a theme,
featuring outdoor scenes, echoing the kind of
images Instagram users would post
 The campaign ran over a week in November
targeting US adults aged 34 and under
 Results were just as impressive as Ben & Jerry’s
with the campaign reaching 7.4 million United
States consumers and achieving an ad recall
lift of 24% versus the control group
CASE STUDY: LEVI’S—SPONSORED CONTENT
Julie Channing, Levi's director of digital said, “Not only were
we able to reach a large audience with our ads on Instagram,
but the metrics clearly show we engaged with them in a
memorable and authentic way.”

 Instagram is growing fast and it has a highly engaged user base
 It’s different to Facebook and Twitter—both in the way brands must
approach the platform and the way that its users consume branded content
 It’s still very early for Instagram ads, but so far, the results look promising
 Brands are routinely seeing engagement rates for non-promoted Instagram
content that dwarfs the engagement levels seen Facebook and Twitter
 It is our strong recommendation that brands set up and develop an Instagram
following. Then, when sponsored content becomes available to all, brand’s with
an established account will be poised to take advantage.
 To discuss how your brand can leverage Instagram, get in touch with
TBG.
CONCLUSION
THE VERDICT

TBG Digital's Guide for brands getting ready for paid advertising on Instagram

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TBG Digital's Guide for brands getting ready for paid advertising on Instagram