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Instagram Just Gave Brands a New Photo Feature That Regular Users Would Love

Instagram is testing a new way for brands to deliver ads on the network, and it’s something that the average user would probably kill to have access to. The company has just announced a new form...
Instagram Just Gave Brands a New Photo Feature That Regular Users Would Love
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Instagram is testing a new way for brands to deliver ads on the network, and it’s something that the average user would probably kill to have access to.

    The company has just announced a new format called Carousel ads. It lets brands add multiple photos to a single post, which users can cycle through by swiping left. The Carousel ads will also feature a link to a site of the business’ choice.

    “One way to look at it is carousel ads bring the potential of multi-page print campaigns to mobile phones – with the added benefit of taking people to a website to learn more. For instance, a fashion company could use the carousel to deconstruct the individual products in a ‘look.’ A car company might share an array of different features of a vehicle and provide a link to learn more about the new model. Or, an advertiser could showcase how multiple ingredients come together to make a delicious meal,” says Instagram in a Business Blog post.

    Instagram is right. The possibilities for this type of multi-photo post are endless.

    And I’m sure your average Instagram user would love to explore that.

    Instagram has always been about posting that one perfect shot, but people sometimes have more photos they want to share at one time. There are basically two ways to do this. First, you could just post each photo as its own individual post, back-to-back-to-back, annoying the hell out of everyone who follows you. Or, you can use a third-party app like Pic Stitch to craft photo collages.

    But a “carousel” of images within one post would let people see all of the photos you want them to see at the time in all their glory.

    Of course, this may never happen. This is just a small test Instagram is running with a handful of brands.

    “We are introducing this new format on a limited basis. In the coming weeks, you may see carousel ads and might notice variations of the format as we learn what people are most interested in and what performs best,” says Instagram.

    But a company spokesperson did tell The Verge that its at least thinking about making this a wide feature.

    “Once we iterate and see how people engage with the content, [we] may explore the possibility of bringing it to other types of users on Instagram,” said the spokesperson.

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