Today, Egypt has woke up to exciting news on the social media scene. Instagram Ads are coming very soon. A handful of Egyptians on Instagram noticed this picture on their newsfeed, without opting in or liking the Instagram account
So, finally, Instagram has decided to roll out its advertising platform to our market; after almost a 2-years pilot phase of only the US and select markets in Europe, Instagram is finally opening up ad space for 300+ million users globally.
Read Also: a step by step guide to your first Instagram advert
When should we expect it?
Very soon, as soon as next week. Next week, it is launching to select partners and global clients of Instagram, who get the first right of refusal on new ad formats. Gradually start fading in regular clients, eventually opening up to the public for a full rollout in October 2015.
Update 9/9/2015: Instagram blog just announced the exact date. Which will be on the 30th of September for all large and small businesses around the world.
What kind of ads will you see on Instagram?
It’s very hush-hush at the moment, but from what has been announced so far, there will be the usual photo/video ads such as the picture above, which in turn can direct you to a promoted Instagram account, or the advertiser’s website outside.
There will also be the Carousel ad format, which is a storytelling feature, the Instagram way. Just flip through the story in pictures as you would usually skim through a comic-book.
Interesting for small businesses and direct sales, there will be direct response ads. These are ad formats that instigate a direct action from the consumer to download an app, fill in a form, apply for a certain service, or head over to an online store.
How does this change things?
- While Instagram will deliver only relevant ads for its users but do expect some clutter from stuff, you might not be particularly interested in it because you fit the demographic profile. (that you can opt-out from later)
- More value is directly driven to small businesses, so all the Fashion-stores that have solely been operational on Instagram can now convert this Insta-fame to direct sales, but they’ll need to work on their websites in that case.
- Much less “influence of influencers,” as brands will be able to pay for their own follower-base, they will be relying less on social influencers and more on their brands.
It will be interesting to wait and watch how Egyptian agencies will use and abuse it just like they raped Facebook a couple of years ago, that people will have to seek refuge somewhere else, somewhere more niche and exclusive.. and ad-free… Did someone say Snapchat?
Only time will tell 🙂
Read Also: a step by step guide to your first Instagram advert
