Chapter 11. Instagram Advertising Overview
The days of advertising on mass media platforms such as a television, radio
and print media have long passed. Marketers of today are taking advantage of
where their target audience not only spends most of their time but also where
their eyes are firmly fixed, and this is where social media has become a gold
mine for businesses to present themselves to their audiences.
Instagram advertising found its origins firstly within a small group of
business accounts who discovered how to use the platform for commercial
purposes, taking beautiful photos and integrating advertising periodically to
not only keep their followers engaged and interested but also to bring them
value whenever a new product was launching. Advertising wasn’t just limited
to business accounts either, a number of high performing profiles were able
to capitalize on their own accounts through ad-hoc sponsored posts allowing
various businesses to employ the services of these larger accounts to pitch
their products and services to millions of people at a time.
This strategy then advanced in 2013 with the launching of Instagram's own
sponsored photos and videos which allowed businesses to work through the
Facebook advertising platform to integrate their own sponsored posts to
appear in the feeds of users who had been targeted based on their interests,
through the accounts they were following. Multiplying the success of this
campaign by the millions of photos shared each day and Instagram became
the giant advertising behemoth it is today. If you are just getting started in
business or you are moving towards a digital marketing solution for your
existing business, there has been no better time to get involved with
Instagram advertising as the platform reaches many more million users every
single month.