Instagram advertising: proof that there is another way

A survey of advertising preferences by eMarketer puts Instagram’s global revenue from smartphone publicity for 2015 at $595 million, and for $2.8 billion by 2017.

When Facebook bought the company in April 2012 for $1 billion?—?which ended up being “just” $715 million due to a fall in the value of Facebook’s shares, many pundits through their hands in the air, saying paying such prices would create a bubble, and that this was a company that despite it fast-growing popularity, had no business model as such.

It’s easy to lose perspective when events move at internet speed. That purchase, which seemed to make so little sense three years ago, has proved profitable, thanks to the business being properly developed, after the emergence of synergies with Facebook, and after creating the right advertising model. In fact, the company is not just profitable, but fantastically so, and able to amortize the investment in its acquisition in a relatively short period of time.

But what’s important here isn’t that the acquisition was visionary, but that it shows how another advertising model is possible. For the moment, advertising on Instagram is only available in English-speaking countries. Facebook says that it will be available more widely, including Spain, where I live and work, from September. It’s going to shake things up, because the thing about Instagram advertising is that it is a generally positive experience.

To begin with, there isn’t much of it, and it respects your space, so to speak. Occasionally, a photo will pop up that an advertiser has paid to put there, but that simply looks like a new account. Far from being intrusive, it seems like part of the furniture, trying to blend in, hoping to show you something you like and that you might even decide to follow the account. This low-key, discreet approach really stands out from the traditional advertising we have grown used to, covering up what we’re trying to read, and that seem to have hijacked our screens.

Instagram’s success on smartphones, where the majority of these bothersome advertisements appear, is good news. Google recently showed in a survey that people really don’t like some of the most widely used smartphone advertising formats, and that the experience was putting people off using their devices online. The smartphone can be a fantastic platform for interacting with the public: the last thing we should be doing is blocking navigation, getting in the way, or trying to trick users into clicking something they think will get rid of a spot, but that actually leads you to another site, etc. It’s very simple, if advertisers are going to respect your computer screen, they should do the same, if not more, as regards your smartphone. The problem is that there are a lot of advertisers out there whose only goal is to get their product under your nose at any cost, even if they annoy you in the process.

Say what you like about Facebook, but it is one of the few companies that is making an effort to come up with non-intrusive advertising formats. Facebook ads do not leap out at you, unfold, or bother you, and if you don’t like them, you have the option to report them. In the case of Instagram, a format that has been developed since the company was taken over by Facebook, it’s clear that a balance has been established between what the users is prepared to accept and what the advertiser sees as appropriate: people prepared to give a “Like” to your brand, comment on the advertisement, or even to open a privileged communication channel along the lines of a “follow”, and that you can keep open so long as you don’t take advantage. This is advertising about engagement, involvement, rather than hollering in somebody’s face, an approach that tends to produce a hostile reaction.

We can only hope that more advertisers start to get the message, after all, it’s just a matter of common sense.

(En espa?ol, aquí)