It’s about 7 pm PST on the first day of my last semester in the MCM program and I am just winding down for the evening after a long day at work, something to eat, and going through my course assignments. I take a detour (per the usual) to my social media accounts and instinctively tap on Instagram. Like an addict, I instantly go to the stories atop my feed and start living vicariously through my friends who are posting fun videos and beautiful shots in blissful locations until . . . BAM: an ad for Verizon shows me two individuals I do not know doing a mundane thing with their smartphones on Verizon’s “3G wireless network” #buzzkill.
Okay . . . so maybe it wasn’t that sudden, but it was that obvious that I was being led to an ad from a brand I did not “follow” disguised as a friend’s story. Maybe it’s the keen eyed marketer in me, but I’m sure the consumer in me was not alone in this sentiment. It wasn’t the first time I noticed it (and I’m sure it won’t the last), so the marketer battled the consumer with the questions: a. how useful is this hinderance?; and b. are these really a thing now?
According to many articles, Instagram’s Story Ads are one of the most underutilized marketing resources (Goos, 2018). In a study done by Agorapulse’s Social Media Lab (HJH, 2018), the Instagram Story Ad was tested against the traditional Instagram Feed Ad to see which would provide the most cost effective click through rate for their podcasts. What they found was that IG’s Story Ads generated 1,039 unique link clicks at $0.29 per click versus the 592 unique link clicks at $0.53 per click generated by IG’s Feed Ads. While they admitted audience age varied between the two ad types, the difference was noticeable and most likely due to the shortness of the video ads (15 seconds to be exact).
Since Instagram launched the product in 2016 as Instagram Story Ads, “more than 50% of their business accounts utilize the tool” and “one-third of the most viewed stories come from business,” which is not hard to believe considering they just casually throw them in while you are indulging in stories you actually signed up to watch (Instagram | Business, n.d). With the recently added Carousel Ads, the likelihood of them stopping their ad innovation is slim to none.
Despite the consumer in me being irritated by them, the marketer in me acknowledges their somewhat “sly” effectiveness. But both in me still wonder: are there less invasive ways to get a consumer to click to your website without you, as the company’s strategic marketer, high-jacking their “me” time?
References:
Instagram | Business: Instagram stories. Retrieved from https://business.instagram.com/a/stories-ads
Goos, C. (2018, May 18). Why It’s Primetime for Instagram Stories Ads [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/digital/why-its-primetime-for-instagram-stories-ads/
HJH, J. (2018 February 28). Instagram Stories vs Feed ads. Which is more effective at driving traffic? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.agorapulse.com/social-media-lab/instagram-stories-ads
20 Responses to IG Story Ads: Are They Even Useful?