Imagine you are launching a new product and need to get the word out to potential customers. Before the social media era the most effective ways of doing this would involve advertisements broadcast on television, and print advertisements in newspapers and magazines. One thing in common between these types of advertisements that makes them effective is their use of images to catch the viewers eye. Now that social media has become a powerful tool for advertisers, it only makes sense to choose a platform that uses images and can quickly deliver the message to a potential customer before they lose interest.
Enter Instagram. Because Instagram is an incredibly visual form of social media by using photos and videos, any advertisements fit seamlessly into one’s feed. Individuals may not even realize that they are being advertised to. Also customers can easily how the product looks or ways that it can be used. Social Media Examiner posted an article on 5 Ways Marketers Can Use Instagram. Take a look and think about ways that you have seen companies use some of these techniques.
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While it is great for businesses that their photos will enter someone’s feed without appearing like advertising, I’m not sure this is always effective. For example, one of the ways to use Instagram mentioned in the article was to provide promo codes or discounts, the image examples provided included links for viewers to click for more information. Not being an Instagram user myself, do you think these links are actually used, or are viewers more likely to just keep scrolling past them?
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I agree that these techniques may not be effective immediately. They may see sooner success by using promo codes to give a consumer a discount on a product. However, I think the most important part of using Instagram for marketing is that it increase name and brand recognition, making it more likely for someone to purchase something from the company even if it is not the product explicitly advertised.
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Being that Instagram is arguably the most well known social media site that focuses on images, it seems natural that image-based advertising would quickly find a home there. What do you think is the most likely target of advertisement after Instagram? I personally feel like Facebook has seen a pretty big advertising focus lately with pages cropping up for just about every legitimate business.
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I agree that Facebook is one of the largest sources of advertisement. In fact is some ways, Facebook has more advertisements than Instagram. However, I feel that Instagram is more effective at creating brand recognition subtly while businesses on Facebook scream, “BUY OUR PRODUCT!.”
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I think your opinions are based on what each one of you uses the social media the most. However, I think the rate of advertising is very similar across social platforms.
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I think the number of ads may be similar between platforms but the intensity of these ads may very. Some are very “in your face” while others go nearly unnoticed.
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I wonder what the statistics are for the effectiveness of adverting on various platforms. I bet the advertising is heavily influenced on the demographic on the site as well as their target audience.
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The target audience certainly makes a difference. Since there are very few Instagram uses over 65 it would make sense to try to market to that age group.
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I always find it amazing how many people get paid on Instagram and other social media sites to advertise for other companies. Also, I’ve recently noticed how many random advertisements that are “promoted” show up on my feed. I don’t follow their account, they just show up.
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I’ve noticed those advertisements as well. Often they don’t try to sell you a product directly but instead help build a reputation for the brand and company. The idea is that when you decide you want to buy something you will think of their brand and be more likely to purchase from them.
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