With the new announcement coming from Instagram, we will shortly begin to see advertisements in the Explore page. The Explore page recommends posts it predicts a user would like based on other posts they’ve looked at in the past. It also shows categories of posts like fashion, architecture, and food.
Instagram said more than 50% of accounts globally visit the Explore page every month. When user’s first get to the Explore page they will not see the ads, but once they click on content and begin to scroll through, ads will appear. The ads will be shown as both videos and photos, and are expected to be released to everyone over the next few months.
“Explore is where people are really open to discovery, and that’s why we’re really excited about this,” says Susan Buckner Rose, director of business product marketing.” Instagram is trying to leverage the fact that people visit the Explore page to uncover new content and see what interests them, this is a perfect opportunity for personalized ads to be shown. It is the perfect platform within Instagram where a users motive usually is centralized around learning something new or to discover a new account, brand, or product.
Another Reason FB is leading towards Ads on Insta
Facebook has reported that their ad sales machine is slowing down as they have hit a ceiling of how many ads it can show a user on FB. Furthermore, they will lean heavier on Instagram ads and its other platforms to keep the advertising up.
Instagram has continued to grow in popularity with the public while more controversy around Facebook arises. Beyond just ads in feeds, Instagram has begun placing advertisements in stories and branded content ads. These branded content ads give brands the power to create social media influencers’ sponsored content appear as ads to provide a larger audience. In the past, only people following the influencers were able to view their paid content.
Going forward
Social networks share a common goal, to drive user engagement so they can serve ads. These platforms are beginning to integrate new placements for ads to diversify their advertisement inventory. Instagram implementing ads into the explore page is a step in the right direction for marketers. As many Instagram users can become agitated when their feed is congested with ads, users on the explore page are there to discover new content. This aligns perfectly with the user’s motives & provide a benefit for both the marketer and the prospective customer.
