Well we all knew it was bound to happen. Instagram advertising was expected to arrive within a short time frame once Facebook acquired the favourite photo social network. Instagram made the announcement via their company blog.
The interesting part of the post is that at this point is appears it will only be US users that will see this, before opening it up the rest of us. The potential for a large injection of revenue for Facebook will be a great boost to shareholders.
In the next couple months, you may begin seeing an occasional ad in your Instagram feed if you’re in the United States. Seeing photos and videos from brands you don’t follow will be new, so we’ll start slow. We’ll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.
There are a number of good brands that already make strong use of Instagram to build their brand and social media community. Nike, Starbucks and Australia have a large following and post great photos of landscape and products alike.
(Image below is an Inside Facebook illustration. Not an example of an ad.)
Once small businesses get the opportunity to advertise on Instagram like they can on Facebook, there may be an up swell of brands taking to it further. This will be great for marketers and the the creative types to get their brand to a broader audience. The down side will be to the community itself. Many users joined close to Instagram’s inception and may feel jaded with ads interfering with their photo sharing app.
Will you continue to use Instagram once advertising begins to fill your feed? Let us know your thoughts.
