Ads Are Coming to Instagram Stories
Instagram began testing of a way to monetize Instagram Stories Wednesday, adding immersive, full-screen ads from more than 30 advertisers, including Maybelline New York, Nike and Yoox.
The disappearing content feature was introduced in August and has proven to be a popular way to organize social sharing around particular events, such as the Golden Globes awards show.
Going forward, Instagram will gradually let brands add a call to action in their ads. Mulberry, for example, said users are already “swiping up” within Stories to learn more.
“We’ve been early adopters of Instagram Stories and were impressed by the reach and engagement,” said Mulberry head of digital marketing Felipa Monteiro. “Our recent campaigns, which included a stories link, received five times more clicks to site and engagement when compared to the average seen across our other social channels.”
Instagram is also giving marketers information that will help them understand how users interacted with their stories and ads. In the coming weeks, tools will be added to help businesses see the reach, impressions, replies and exits for each individual story.
According to the social network, Instagram Stories draw 150 million users daily. On Instagram in general, 70 percent of users follow a business and one-third of the most viewed stories are from businesses.
Instagram reports that about 70 percent of Stories are watched with the sound on, which means that a full-screen ad would provide the rare opportunity for an “immersive” experience for marketers.
Asos content and engagement director Leila Thabet said she has been impressed with the early signs of traction from Instagram Stories.
“We’ve seen a great deal of success over the past year with landing our brand messaging through video content formats, which are naturally engaging and emotive ways to speak to our audience,” Thabet said. “We’re eager to be able to showcase how Instagram Stories will help drive brand awareness and engagement among new audiences and continued international growth in 2017.”
In November, the platform added the ability for verified account-holders to add links to Stories, which would, for example, allow a brand to link to an e-commerce site. Instagam also added the ability for all users to add Mentions to Stories, meaning that, for example, a fashion blogger could tag the brands seen in the image.
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