Last month, Instagram announced some new ad formats and ad targeting options and that it would open up its ad platform to businesses of all sizes in the coming months.
eMarketer has a new interview with Jim Squires, the director of marketing operations at the company, and he says Instagram ads will be available to all this fall:
We’ve spent the last 18 months establishing the platform for large brands. The next logical step is to empower businesses of all sizes. Being able to target narrower segments and achieve different types of objectives is essential. We want to offer a complete solution that allows businesses to purchase through self-serve interfaces and achieve the objectives they want to achieve.
We’re testing the action-oriented formats and buying through the API now, and we will be doing that through the summer with select partners and clients. Then we’ll be opening up globally and to all advertisers in the early fall timeframe.
In addition to the video, photo, and carousel ad formats Instagram currently has, it will let people take action directly from an ad to sign up on a website, but a product, or download an app. According to Squires, the ability to take action right from Instagram has been one of the most requested features from both users and advertisers.
The ads will come with “algorithmic approaches” to keeping ads up to quality standards, utilizing signals like negative feedback rates, engagement rates, and comments, Squires told eMarketer. Targeting options will be expanded to mirror what’s offered on Facebook, which is pretty comprehensive.
When Instagram made its announcement last month, it said it would also leverage the best of Facebook’s infrastructure for buying ,managing, and measuring ads.
You can take a look at the official announcement here.
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