MVMT, the popular watch brand, has invested heavily in Instagram for years.

Gabriel Anderson, who runs VaynerMedia’s small business division, said MVMT was “the poster child of how to build a business on the dark arts of Instagram with influencers and microinfluencers.”

With more than 50% of its users between the ages of 18-34, Instagram offers a straight line between these B2C brands and younger consumers who continue to gravitate to B2C (and DTC) brands.

While Instagram will always hold a special place in the hearts of B2C brands, B2B brands have a growing fondness for the platform as well as they shift their ad dollars away from print and other traditional formats.

It’s conventional wisdom to think of different social media platforms serving different purposes: Facebook for small businesses, Pinterest or Instagram for eCommerce, and LinkedIn is unquestioningly king of B2B.

But that seems less true every day, with digital ads in all forms and social media, in particular, becoming the norm. B2B advertisers are increasingly focusing on their brands, and as they do, their ad dollars will flow to Instagram—and the rest of the social media ecosystem.

What ‘Consumer’ Social Media Has to Offer B2B

“It’s absolutely possible to successfully market a B2B brand on Instagram, driving traffic, leads, and conversions,” writes Kevin Kononenko at Databox.

To substantiate the claim, Databox polled 25 marketers with a simple question: Is it possible for B2B brands to succeed with marketing on Instagram?

All of them said yes.

B2B marketers, it seems, are going beyond the print page and niche ecosystems ad to reach their audiences.

“Instagram isn’t just for travel bloggers, influencers, and consumer brands,” Kononenko concludes.

How B2B Brands Can Thrive with Instagram Ads

So, how can B2B brands take advantage of Instagram advertising’s proven prowess? Here are a few ways:

1. Nurture leads: B2B sales cycles are notoriously slow, long, and frustrating. Add to that the down economy and sales cycles are only getting longer and more daunting.
   
   While that may be discouraging to sellers, all is not lost. B2B sales opportunities are still there; they’re just taking shape differently, meaning that brands still need to engage them.
   
   Many of these leads and prospects are on Instagram. B2B brands delivering ads on the platform instantly gain another valuable touchpoint to push leads down the funnel.
   
2. Augment trade event promotion: Trade events are returning after the pandemic put them on the back burner—and you better believe B2B brands are excited.
   
   Almost half of the respondents to a survey from The Event Participation Index said they’d return to events in 2023.
   
   As they do, B2B brands can augment their in-person tactics with Instagram ads to continue the story during off-hours, attract consumers to their booth, and continue the conversation after the event ends.
   
3. Introduce SMEs: Influencer marketing is so popular because consumers have made it clear that they trust their peers more than brands when making purchase decisions.
   
   Instagram has long since been the go-to for brands investing in influencer marketing. In fact, 72% of marketers used Instagram for influencer campaigns in 2022.
   
   B2B brands can take advantage of this inherently human nature by bringing subject matter experts (SMEs) to the table. This can be an effective way to deliver valuable information and drive purchase intent when the SME recommends products.
   
4. Take advantage of product tags: Instagram continues to invest in social commerce; Instagram Shopping is a prime example. Product tags at the heart of the platform’s commerce push make it easy for consumers to purchase directly on the platform.
   
   Meanwhile, product detail pages provide additional information related to pricing and descriptions. As consumers tap into social to make purchase decisions, B2B brands can use these commerce-related features to deliver a seamless buying experience to millions of consumers.

The even ‘newer’ kid on the block is Snapchat, the app associated with a young audience and, of course, selfies. But that, by itself, doesn’t disqualify the platform from appealing to B2B advertising.

Writing at Entrepreneur, marketer Renee Yeager reminds us of the fundamental truth of successful marketing: the story is king.

“And Snapchat is great at telling stories quickly to an engaged audience,” Yeager writes.

With an app like Snapchat, there’s the opportunity for exciting and engaging storytelling, especially as the platform invests in social commerce similar to Instagram. Snapchat’s separating itself on this front by weaving AR into the shopping experience.

As of Q3 2022, Snapchat had 363 million daily active users (DAUs), up from 347 million in Q2 2021.

Even more appealing to advertisers is the engagement levels of Snapchat’s users. The average user spends 30 minutes on the app, and 60 percent of ads are watched with sound.

Core DNA makes the argument that it’s about early adoption; most Snapchat users are fairly young for now; the thinking goes: The platform only has room to expand.

Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia boils it down: “One day, there will be some plumber in America who becomes famous by doing two-minute videos broken up into 20 sections on how to fix things yourself.”

All of this translates into one thing: B2B brands are no longer sticking to the middle of the road regarding marketing.

While just over 30% of B2B brands invest in Instagram ads right now (compared to 60% of B2C), B2B marketers will continue to look beyond legacy channels for even better engagement. Instagram will be one of those ways.

For more insights, sign up for MediaRadar’s blog here.

To put Meta’s advertising stranglehold into perspective, Twitter’s ad revenue in 2021 was just over $5b, while Snapchat’s was a touch over $3b. 

With the exception of TikTok, which could generate $12b in ad revenue by 2026, it’s hard to imagine Meta relinquishing control of the lion’s share of social advertising budgets. 

Still, advertisers remain at a crossroads when deciding where their ad dollars should go inside Meta’s walls. 

Should they go with Facebook, the undisputed leader in social advertising?

How about getting in front of Millennials and Generation Z on Instagram?

Do they blaze their own trail and get the best of both worlds?

Here’s how advertisers spent on Facebook and Instagram through August 2022.

In Facebook We Trust

The numbers make it clear that Facebook is still on a pedestal.   

Through August, 48k of the 64k companies—that’s 72% of them—only bought Facebook ads. (For comparison, 10% of advertisers only bought Instagram ads, while 18% bought a mix of both.) 

The number of Facebook-only advertisers doesn’t tell the entire story, but it does show that Facebook still reigns supreme. 

In an evolving social world, Instagram has the upper hand given its popularity with younger generations—70% of 12-to-34-year-olds use it.

But with nearly 3b monthly active users (MAUs) and the most mature ad tools available, many advertisers still trust Facebook.

Despite this, Meta appears to be seeing the writing on the wall—that the future is with other platforms, namely, Instagram and TikTok. 

Proof of that is Meta’s announcement that ads are coming to Facebook Reels; Reels, of course, being Meta’s response to TikTok. 

Not only that, but the announcement said that creators would get a share of the ad revenue. 

This development perfectly illustrates Meta’s go-to-market strategy: Introduce features that appeal to younger generations, give advertisers access to this inventory and open the door to the growing creator community.  

As Meta looks to reestablish Facebook, especially with Millennials and Generation Z, innovation will continue to flow—and that’s great news for everyone involved, including advertisers. 

Facebook & Instagram Are Safe Havens for SMBs

As big as Facebook and Instagram are—they have about 2.9b and 1.2b monthly active users (MAUs), respectively—they aren’t abandoning small-to-medium businesses (SMBs).

In fact, their commitment to SMBs is stronger than ever—a welcome fact for the nearly 57k companies that spent less than $1mm on Facebook and Instagram. 

• In June, Meta introduced the Meta Pro Team—an expansion of Facebook Marketing Experts that provides complimentary live support to businesses.

• In July, it launched Small Business Studios, a virtual and in-person initiative to support SMBs, including an online training hub and workshops.

• Finally, in early October, Meta rolled out Pages to make it easier for small businesses to connect with their customers.

Combine this constant innovation aimed at SMBs with mature yet easy-to-use ad tools, and both Facebook and Instagram will remain safe havens for advertisers that don’t have as much to spend. 

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t attracting advertisers with deep pockets, too. 

Notable names that spent between $1mm and $10mm include Greenies (Mars’ dog treats), John Deere, Klarna (payment technology), Merrell, 1-800-FLOWERS and Ashley Furniture. 

While Facebook and Instagram will undoubtedly continue to woo SMBs, their unparalleled reach and proven ad tech mean they’ll remain a staple for the biggest advertisers. 

The Perfect Recipe: Facebook + IG

There’s a growing contingent of advertisers investing only in Facebook. Still, they only represent a fraction of Meta’s ad revenue—the 48k advertisers who only bought Facebook ads accounted for just 9% of the ad spend on these platforms.

In reality, the big bucks came from advertisers investing in Facebook and Instagram. 

Case and point: The 12k advertisers who went with a mix of Meta’s platforms were responsible for 87% of the $14.2b ad investment.

Nearly 75% of this spending came from advertisers in five categories: media & entertainment, retail, apparel, technology, and services. 

With the exception of apparel advertisers like Nike and Pandora that leaned heavily into Instagram, advertisers in these categories spread their love fairly evenly between the platforms, ranging from 52% to 56% on Facebook and 45% to 48% on Instagram.

For example, of the $3.5b invested by media & entertainment companies, including website advertisers like Brainjolt and Enphase Energy, nearly $2b went to Facebook, and $1.5b went to Instagram.

At the same time, retail advertisers, including Bridesblush, J. Crew, Amazon, Overstock, Publix and Signet Jewelers, spent $1.3b and $1.2b on Facebook and Instagram, respectively. 

The ubiquity of this 50-50 strategy shows how big brands look at Facebook and Instagram as check-the-box platforms.

In contrast, advertisers with less to spend are defaulting to the safety of Facebook. 

While that’s a logical strategy given Facebook’s standing in the social world, Instagram is just as proven. Neglecting it could be leaving opportunities on the table—and a straight line to the Millennials and Generation Z, who hold all the buying power.

Meta’s Feeling the Heat

For the first time since launching out of Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm in 2004, Facebook—now Meta—is feeling the heat.

After losing users for the first time ever, Meta’s series of unfortunate events continued with the closing of one of its NYC offices in the wake of cutbacks and a hiring freeze.  

On top of that, Facebook’s stock fell by $232b—the longest one-day value drop in stock market history. 

With everything seemingly going wrong in Meta’s world, the social media giant is pulling out all the stops to regain its footing. 

One of those moves is bringing more ads to Instagram, including the potential for augmented reality ads, which Meta recently started testing. 

Meta announced that it’d also start allowing advertisers to run ads on the Explore home page and in profile feeds. 

While Meta is walking down the only path available—one to make more money—doing so with increasing ad loads is a dangerous game. 

In an online world already jam-packed with ads, Meta will have to find the right balance between revenue and a great user experience. If it does, users and ad dollars will follow. 

For more insights, sign up for MediaRadar’s blog here.

If you asked 100 people, 99 of them would include Instagram. 

From January through June 2022, more than 17.5k companies spent nearly $4.7b on Instagram ads or 39% of total social media spending during that time.

Instagram will always attract ad budgets—rivaled only by Facebook and Google properties—so the spending habits of advertisers should always be top of mind.   

Here are 3 Instagram advertising trends you can’t ignore and what they mean about future digital strategies.

Size Doesn’t Matter to SMBs

With more than 1.2b users, Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, trailing only Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.

That size isn’t scaring SMBs away. 

In fact, it’s attracting them. 

Through June 2022, 87% of Instagram advertisers spent less than $50k; 50% of those companies spent less than $10k.

While it might be surprising that one of the most mature ad ecosystems is enticing smaller, likely less experienced advertisers, Instagram has made a concerted effort to do just that.  

For example, a drop-down menu brings current or would-be advertisers face-to-face with a guide aptly titled “Small Business How-To Guide.”

Other features, like an intuitive ads manager, also cater to these businesses. 

Meta, Instagram and Facebook’s parent company, is following suit.  

In July, Meta introduced Small Business Studios, a virtual and in-person initiative that includes online training sessions, workshops, creative inspiration and in-person events for smaller businesses.

Although Instagram has successfully carved a niche for itself with these smaller advertisers, ones with bigger budgets aren’t turning away. 

Nearly 1.1k advertisers spent more than $500k on Instagram during the first half of 2022, including those for Brainjolt, Pandora Jewelry and Biohaven Pharmaceutical Company. 

What’s more, the top 20 companies advertising on Instagram spent more than $772mm. 

Long story short, Instagram has advertisers of all shapes and sizes wrapped around its finger.

Omnichannel Strategy is Still

One-time buzzword, now industry gospel, omnichannel campaigns (or cross-channel campaigns) have become a go-to strategy for digital advertising.

With people using more devices than ever on their path to purchase—the average US household now has access to 22 connected devices—it makes sense.

But the downfall of third-party cookies, which many advertisers use to connect the dots between these channels, is making many advertisers nervous. Here’s the breakdown:

Advertisers who only bought ads on Instagram

• 28% of Retail advertisers
• 40% of Services advertisers 
• 24% of Media & Entertainment advertisers
• 31% of Finance advertisers  
• 48% of Restaurant & Bar advertisers 

Advertisers who bought ads on Instagram and other social channels

• 60% of Retail advertisers 
• 50% of Services advertisers
• 51% of Media & Entertainment advertisers
• 55% of Finance advertisers 
• 45% of Restaurant & Bar advertisers

Given the increasingly connected world, the fact that advertisers are keeping their money inside social’s walls goes against the fundamental digital habits of literally everyone. 

There could be a good reason for it, though. 

Actually, there could be two.

Actually, there could be two. 

1. Younger generations are obsessed with social media. 

These generations live and breathe social, especially Instagram—about 53% of Instagram’s user base is between the ages of 18 and 34—and rely on it for everything, including purchasing decisions. 

Advertisers appear to be seeing the writing on the wall and shifting their dollars to social accordingly. 

As these younger generations gain more spending power, their preference for social will influence budget allocation and almost certainly push more dollars to social media.  

2. The death of third-party cookies. 

While Google recently pushed back its plan to sunset them, they are going away, meaning that finding an alternative is top of mind for most advertisers. 

Social media platforms, including Instagram, could be one of those alternatives since it powers ad targeting with first-party data; the same goes for every social platform.  

Either way, a shift is occurring and omnichannel campaigns could be making way for the cross-social version.

Instagram Is Top Dog—But It Has Some Competition

Right now, Instagram is the cool kid who everyone wants to be friends with. 

Small businesses? Check. 

Big businesses? Check. 

Absolutely massive businesses? Check. 

Instagram’s reach and mature ad capabilities rightfully attract the masses. 

The same can be said about the types of advertisers it attracts. 

While Retail and Services advertisers accounted for 42% of total spending from the top categories (Media & Entertainment, Retail, Apparel, Tech, and Services) through June, the amount that other industry advertisers are spending is nothing to snuff at. 

• Apparel advertisers spent $483mm 
• Tech advertisers spent $385mm
• Services advertisers spent $320mm

For these advertisers, Instagram could be a “check-the-box” channel. 

In other words, it’s too powerful to abandon completely and still generates ROI. 

That said, rising ad loads, especially from major brands in Media & Entertainment and Retail as well as the growth of more organic forms of advertising involving influencers and creators, could be pushing some away. 

Where are they going? 

Retail media. 

Of the 19.8k brands advertising on Instagram through June, 1k (5%) invested in retail media, including those promoting the Apple Watch (consumer electronics), Finish (household goods), and Ritz (snacks & desserts). 

While these brands combined to spend less than $1mm on Instagram during the first half of the year, they spent more than $27mm on retail media.

For advertisers that align with retail media, not only does it provide an escape from the rising ad loads on Instagram, but it also allows them to get their hands on some of the most powerful audience targeting data. 

Sure, Instagram’s first-party data is powerful in its own right, but the purchase-level data offered by retail media networks is unmatched.

For this reason, retail media networks will continue to be a valuable avenue for advertisers —and given the increasing investments from some of the biggest networks, like Walmart and Kroger, advertisers should continue to move their dollars from Instagram.

Follow the Trends & Keep Instagram Central

With billions in ad revenue every year—Instagram’s ad revenue is expected to come close to $40b by 2023—Instagram deserves its designation as one of the biggest digital advertising powerhouses. 

Its size, reach and robust ads manager all but demand it. As third-party cookies and other identifiers fall by the wayside, this won’t change.

That said, retail media networks are posing a threat. 

As retail media networks advance, ad spending from certain industries will follow, putting unprecedented pressure on Instagram. 

The rise of social commerce could help Instagram fend them off, but only time will tell.

Watch for MediaRadar’s upcoming Social Media Trend Report that dives into some interesting trends, different “sweet spots,” ad spend overlap and some year-over-year trends for social media platforms. 

For more insights, sign up for MediaRadar’s blog here.

This year, the platform will generate even more.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, creators have increasingly turned to the platform to teach a wide variety of classes. Likewise, followers have more free time to watch Instagram Live or IGTV to learn cooking, fitness or art tips from the influencers they admire.

Until now, Instagram influencers have made money outside of the platform by signing contracts with brands or receiving tips from followers using Venmo. 

Last week, Instagram announced they were offering influencers new ways to make money directly within the platform. 

“We have always been committed to supporting creators as they turn their passion into livelihoods,” said the team at Instagram in an announcement. “Given the uncertain circumstances many are facing today, that commitment is more important than ever.”

These changes are framed as great for small businesses and personal brands, but they’re also new opportunities for advertisers.

What are the latest features (and what does it mean for YouTube)?

We encourage you to subscribe to our Blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

Instagram’s hints become a reality

After being hinted at for over a year, Instagram is beginning to directly monetize content via two new main features. 

Badges

Instagram said it has seen a 70% increase in viewership of Live since the health crisis changed our daily realities. People have been at home using social media more, looking for ways to alleviate boredom, exercise or learn new skills.

Users engage with Live videos by responding with likes, comments and donations to the creators. 

The new Badges will allow fans to give money to influencers. In return, they will stand out in the comments, be put on a list of the creator’s badge holders, have access to a special heart and have access to other features.

There are three tiers of Badges valued at: $0.99, $1.99 and another at $4.99.

Currently, all the revenue will go to the influencers, but as the program scales, Instagram will begin to take its cut. 

IGTV Ads

Insta is adding advertisements to IGTV videos. If a viewer clicks through to IGTV after watching video previews in their feed, a brief ad shows up before watching the entire video.

While currently limited to 200 creator partners and big name advertisers, like Sephora, IKEA and Puma, Instagram said that it plans to test user experience throughout the year to make it a good fit for people, creators and advertisers.   

The ad partner program has unlimited room to grow once Insta fine-tunes the experience. MediaRadar found that over 500 brands have placed ads on Snapchat. The appetite for social media is there — and people are willing to see ads to access the content. 

Just like YouTube, Instagram will share 55% of the revenue with its partner creators.

The IGTV rollout comes after the recent release of Facebook and Instagram Shops.  

Instagram Shops allows small retailers to shop on the platform without switching to Amazon or another website. This will make advertising on Instagram even more valuable for consumer brands.

Instagram and YouTube ramp up the competition

As the platform transitions its revenue model, it will become a direct competitor to YouTube.

They both allow anybody to upload videos and now offer the same cut of revenue for self-made stars. However, Instagram has the advantage of learning from YouTube’s weaknesses. 

For starters, Insta has created a strict monetization policy for partners. Instagram is coming off aggressive in this arena because YouTube, on the other hand, has had a difficult time assuring brand safety.

Each video with an will be human-viewed first before being given the green light to ensure that content is safe for brands.

They aren’t just putting brands at the center. Creators appreciate Instagram’s approach with them — it treats them as collaborators, rather than treating them as expendable resources. 

One creator, actress Amanda Cerny, who has 24.8 million followers, is transitioning away from YouTube to Instagram.

“I never know who I’m going to reach [on YouTube], when I’m going to have ads, when I’m not going to have ads,” she explained to The Verge. “It’s not very transparent, and I don’t really understand it fully. Even as one of their bigger creators on the platform, I’m still trying to understand the platform.”

Instagram has its own talent-scouting and development team, much like Hollywood, rather than relying on algorithms to find the next star. Instagram wants to treat creators as valued members of a community and make sure they are set-up for success, rather than letting them guess how the algorithm is changing. 

YouTube has its own plans to increase revenue for creators. Its Super Chat feature is improving, but more importantly it’s launching new ways for creators to sell merchandise, membership subscriptions and Super Stickers. 

As the advertisements roll out, we’ll see how the two platforms create better experiences for all participants: consumers, creators and advertisers. 

For more updates like this, stay tuned. Subscribe to our blog for more updates on coronavirus and its mark on the economy.

Instagram introduced the Explore feature a full six years ago, less than two years after the app initially launched. 

Instagram Explore allows users to see posts and photos that are trending, related to the user’s interests and based on search. Until recently, the tab has remained ad-free.

Brands could manipulate posts to try to appear on Explore when users searched or viewed relevant tags. But these efforts were more closely related to search engine optimization than true social media marketing — at least until now.  

Instagram Introduces Explore Ads for the First Time

With a blog post from June 2019, Instagram announced that it would be bringing ads to Explore, which it calls Instagram’s “Discovery Destination”. 

“More than 50% of accounts on Instagram use Explore every month,” the Instagram Business Team wrote. “It’s where people go when they want to see photos and videos related to their interests from accounts they may not already follow. Today, 80% of people follow a business on Instagram2, and Explore can help them find the next business or product they might love.”

In other words, Instagram hopes to show ads to users as naturally as possible, reflecting user habits, preferences and interests. Instead of having to manipulate the platform to reach users, brands can advertise directly in a format where users are already looking for new content. Instagram sees it as an opportunity for brands to  engage with both what’s trending and what new audiences are already interested in. 

How Explore Ads Will Take Shape 

Instagram is taking pains to ensure the interaction remains as natural as possible. 

The Explore feature is arguably popular because it remains nearly free of text — it’s a grid of photos and videos, an appealing visual. To keep the Explore tab itself clutter-free, the app will only display ads once a user has clicked on a piece of content and started scrolling through similar content. In that vein, the ads will appear similar to those displayed in a user’s normal feed. 

““The move to bring ads into the Explore experience has some logic to it,” writes Josh Constine at Tech Crunch. “Even before monetization made its way to Instagram in the form of feed advertising, shoppable links and sponsored content posted by influencers, brands and businesses had started using the platform to promote products and to connect with customers. Now instead of trying desperately to game the Explore algorithm, Instagram can just sell businesses space instead.”

Watch: Josh Constine at Tech Crunch provides a 1-minute demo video of how the new Instagram Explore ads will work. 

Instagram will start by testing the ad placement themselves. The test ads will focus on IGTV, which has been less than successful since its launch.

Once Explore ads go live, they won’t interrupt operations for current advertisers. “Advertisers will buy the slots through the same Facebook ads manager and API they use to buy Instagram feed and Stories space,” Constine writes. “At first advertisers will have to opt in to placing their ads in Instagram Explore too, but eventually that will be the default with an opportunity to opt out.” 

Instagram wrote that it is introducing ads in Explore “slowly and thoughtfully” for the remainder of 2019 — which many commentators take to mean that the app will be ramping up ads after an initial test phase.

Last year, Instagram announced IGTV — a new featured designed to deliver longform content from Instagram creators, influencers and brands.

Designed to be set apart from certain other online video platforms (including Facebook’s own video feature), IGTV initially made integrated video: it retained the format of Instagram Stories and vertical video a key part of its announcement.

“You could create hour-long episodes of a long-term series, or use Instagram TV as an extension of your standard Instagram profile,” wrote Rebekah Carter at SproutSocial after the announcement.

All of that remains true, but now brands can use IGTV to publish horizontal video. The change was in response to requests from content creators, according to Instagram:

“We’ve learned and grown a lot in this first year. In meeting with creators and viewers, we’ve heard about what they like – and what needs to be improved. Today marks yet another change for IGTV – and it once again comes from listening to our creators and viewers. We’ve heard from creators who want to upload landscape videos for IGTV. Similarly, we’ve heard from viewers who come across landscape videos in IGTV but want to watch them in a more natural way. That’s why we’re announcing support for landscape videos in addition to vertical. Ultimately, our vision is to make IGTV a destination for great content no matter how it’s shot so creators can express themselves how they want.”

In and of itself, the move isn’t a huge one. But some advertisers think that it could be the first step toward monetizing that particular channel of Instagram. And AdAge reports that several advertising executives told them that they have been approached by Instagram about advertising on IGTV.

“The theory is that IGTV’s support for landscape mode will yield a bumper crop of diverse new content, and, by extension, a lift in viewing,” writes Todd Spangler at Variety.

Including horizontal video on the platform certainly makes it more ad-friendly and budget friendly. Up until now, many media companies had to create content specific to Instagram’s platform. With the new change, IGTV can simply become another channel by which to share video — and soon, ad creatives.