So Instagram has joined the advertising game with its first ad published on Friday, having Michael Kors take the honors of the being the first brand to advertise on the platform. This isn't as surprising (I mean, Instagram = Facebook) as it is annoying to many of Instagram's users. The ad has so far garnered close to 300,000 "likes", likely mostly by Michael Kors' followers, however it has also attracted a lot of negative comments indicating a backlash from Instagram users regarding advertising on their feeds.
Instagram ads will not only be posted on the accounts of the brands themselves, but will also be posted on the feeds of many users who do not follow the brands who are issuing the ads. This means that all of us who do not follow Michael Kors (and the other 9 brands who have already signed up: Adidas, Ben & Jerry's, Burberry, General Electric, Levi's, Lexus, Macy's, PayPal and Starwood) will start seeing photos in our Instagram feeds.
Yet this was surely to be expected since Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion almost 2 years ago. Of course there will be an initial backlash by many users, by like anything else, over time people will get used to them and forget the days when there were no ads on Instagram.
However whats most interesting is that Instagram proves that the platforms for digital advertising are ever-changing. The environment for digital advertising will likely keep on growing, keeping those growth numbers in the double digits. It will be interesting to see how advertising on Instagram, and digital advertising in general, progresses in the next couple years.
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