Instagram talks up the impact of ‘Stories’ as it reaches half a million advertiser milestone
Instagram Stories has “shown a new side to our business” according to Amy Cole, head of brand development for EMEA, with the photo sharing network today (22 September) reaching a milestone of 500,000 monthly advertisers.
Instagram says it has more than doubled its advertiser base over the last six months, having grown to just over 500,000 active monthly advertisers.
It is the latest milestone for the Facebook-owned social network, with it hitting 500 million global users back in June.
Speaking at a press briefing, Instagram’s head of brand development for EMEA Amy Cole said the top five advertising verticals on Instagram were now consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, retail, entertainment and technology.
“Since we opened up our advertising platform last September, there have been one billion actions related to ads on Instagram,” she said.
Just last month, Instagram launched ‘Business Tools’, which provides brands with the option to add a contact button to their page and deeper data that reveals personality traits of their followers.
And today (22 September), Instagram also revealed 1.5 million businesses had so far converted over to a new profile on Business Tools.
Stories is making an impact
In August, Instagram launched ‘Instagram Stories’, which allows users to share different moments of their day into a single post.
Although critics claimed Instagram was just imitating its close rival Snapchat, Cole said this has not prevented users from using the new feature.
Responding to a question from Marketing Week, she added: “Stories goes back to the concept that people are coming for inspiration. When you go in and watch stories, you see stories from brands, musicians, celebrities and people you are not necessarily directly connected with everyday.
“You can think about mood boards or daily rituals. Stories has shown different sides of the business and given light to areas that aren’t necessarily a permanent feature.”
Cole was also keen to talk up the impact Stories has had on marketers. “We have seen brands make use of the fact that you can message people through stories and they go straight into your direct messaging. Brands can use this to obtain feedback, for competitions or to privately ask for email addresses. It gives brands that extra flexibility.”