Instagram ad options for brands give businesses a wider audience

More than 200 million businesses, mostly small ones, use Instagram tools to connect with customers

More and more businesses in India are using Instagram through brand campaigns and creators to reach a wider audience, a senior executive said.

“We started with only (Instagram) Feed, and then there are products like Stories, Live, IGTV, and now Reels is the latest addition. What we see is that our audience continues to engage and interact with creators, public figures and brands. And today, 90 per cent of people follow at least one business on Insta­gram. This means they actually want to see more about this business or brand, when they have new launches or something new to share,” said Arun Srinivas, director of Global Business Group at Facebook India.

With branded content ads, advertisers can promote creators’ branded content posts as feed and stories-based ads.

Srinivas added that Reels, the short format video product that was launched in India last year, shortly after TikTok was banned, has gained massive traction. An average of over 6 million Reels are produced in India every day, as of the last three months ending July 2021.

While Reels has been around for a year, advertising on the product began only six weeks ago. “We have some early campaigns which have gone live. For example, Nykaa has done a campaign to promote its new ranges of make-ups, from foundation or eyeshadow, through creators. 

Another example is audio streaming service of Spotify’s #Listenwiththeworld campaign, where it worked with creators to develop content that showcased how diverse playlists on Spotify inspire their work.

Using a combination of influencers and promotions on Instagram, Spotify saw an increase of 23 per cent in its daily average users in India on the “Today's Top Hits” playlist. The Sweden-based firm also ran a #SpotifywaaliHoli campaign using Reels to host a “Reels Holi party,” which resulted in 60 million views and the “Holi Ke Rang” playlist ranked among the top three most consumed playlists on Spotify for the week.

“We combined the power of authentic influencer recommendations with the targeting options on Instagram on this campaign. It has helped rapidly build awareness in India for one of our global flagship playlists,” said Neha Ahuja, head of marketing, Spotify India. Similarly, toothpaste brand Closeup’s #FreedomToLove campaign for Valentine’s Day had worked with creators to develop content. This resulted in a 4.4-points lift in ad recall for the campaign.

Other brands such as Red Label’s #letsunstereotypeIndia campaign also resulted in a movement of 8.7 points in ad recall. The product a brand choo­ses on Instagram to drive its advertising depends on the kind of announcement or campaign it wants to do, said Srinivas. The platform helps brands connect with creators, helping them monetise opportunities.