Instagram Finally Reveals Advertising Tools

After months of radio silence about how the public can apply for Instagram advertising services, the moment has arrived. On August 21, the multimedia-based social media platform released details about how they plan to cater to businesses in the following weeks. Descriptions and screenshots of several tools were posted to the official Instagram for Business Blog. The offerings include Account Insights, Ad Insights, and Ad Staging. Let’s take an in-depth look at each option.

Watch Your Metrics

Since the Instagram Ads launch about 10 months ago, the service has been notoriously unreachable by the public. The social media company piloted sponsored posts with just a handful of high-profile advertisers like Michael Kors, Lululemon, and Burberry. So it’s been hard to a get a thorough understanding of engagement metrics on this platform. However, the new business offerings will come with Account Insights analytics, so you can monitor your company’s presence right out of the gates. The summary view provides users with impression and reach details for various time periods. “Performance,” “Audience,” and “Posts” tabs can help you glean even more details about your audience demographics and engagement rates.

Campaign Success

Another panel familiar to social media marketers will be the Ad Insights feature, which provides you with live numbers marking your campaign metrics. This gives you a snapshot of all your active campaigns, so that you can easily split test and end straggling projects. This feature details total impressions, reach, and frequency for each campaign you’ve got in play. You can also get an overview of the total comments and likes each post has received. These insights can help marketing teams decide how to replicate success, address opportunities, and cut out failures.

Team-Oriented Interface

One of the most exciting prospects about Instagram’s upcoming business features is the Ad Staging feature, which promotes collaborative work. While so many social media platforms have slowly evolved their advertising services to accommodate teams, it looks like Instagram will try to launch a polished product for organizations. Multiple users should be able to “preview, save, and collaborate” on post content. This will be a great feature for companies that want to plan and draft Instagram post campaigns across creative team accounts. Instead of having to invest in a third-party solution, collaborative management will be built right in.

So When’s This Happening?

Instagram is keeping us on the edges of our seats by withholding a set release date for these detailed business features. According to their official blog, these tools will appear “over the coming weeks and months.” However, if the Account Insights, Ad Insights, and Ad Staging features are as promising at the blog preview makes them look like, then the tools may be well worth the wait.

Advertisers around the world will soon get to take advantage of ad campaigns through Instagram. This platform, which has over 200 million active users, is a treasure trove of potential social media engagement. Soon, you’ll be able to track the performance of your company’s video and images on Instagram.