My Three Cents

As of last night, I saw my first sponsored ad on my Instagram newsfeed. It was from Instagram and I have to say, I didn’t really mind it all that much.

It’s the start of a new era. Instagram will no longer be ad-free. The social media platform has long since taken over as my personal favourite from Facebook. The interface is so easy to use and so visually pleasing. You get a picture, the photographers small thought, and you move on. However, another one of its perks over Facebook was that it was without ads until this point. That isn’t to say that the new addition has been a huge inconvenience to me, though. The ad that I saw was still visually pleasing and simple. Other ads that I’ve seen where Instagram has already rolled out its new feature have also been quite good looking…

These ads give companies a new way to expand their campaigns. Facebook posts tend to be long and cluttered and Twitter posts are too short and don’t give the user enough incentive to explore. I like to think of these ads as the ‘Goldilocks’ of content. The picture catches your attention, has ‘stopping power,’ and the short caption gives you reason to identify with the picture and to further explore the brand. It also gives companies a chance to capitalize on their hashtags, as in the Levis ad above. A picture with a theme of exploration and being outdoors and a hashtag to compliment it.

Overall, I’m excited to see where Instagram ad campaigns go, and I’m not scared. Users will still be able to hide content that they don’t want and it will make for a very personalized Instagram experience.