It hardly comes as a surprise, but the time for using this network without advertising has now passed.
Instagram has now officially changed its social media marketing strategy as sponsored advertising is now being delivered to its users in the United States, eliminating the “preview” time in which user feeds were free of ads.
Sponsored photos will become a regular part of this Facebook owned network’s feeds.
Among the first social media marketing campaigns that will be viewed as sponsored ads on Instagram for U.S. consumers will be courtesy of Michael Kors, the fashion brand. The ad will feature one of the watches from that company’s collection of Timeless pieces. When this first ad is posted on the site, it will mark the close of the “preview” period on the site that was designed to help the network’s approximately 150 million active users to become accustomed to the idea of seeing images and video ads within their feeds that had previously been free of any advertising at all.
This has become what is appearing to be a social media marketing trend that is closing in on universal.
American users of Instagram will see the Michael Kors image regardless of whether or not they are following the brand on their accounts. This ad will include a sponsored label to identify it as a placement that has been paid for by the brand. Viewers will then be able to choose to hide it, leave it as it is, or even provide feedback if they don’t appreciate the content of that ad or any others that will be displayed in the future. The hope is to help to integrate the social media marketing into the feeds without taking away from the user experience.
Social media marketing with ads in feeds has not been present on Instagram throughout its entire three year lifespan, so far. However, when the service sold to Facebook, last year, for $1 billion, it had intentions to offer magazine-quality ads that it hoped its viewers would like. This appears to be the first visible phase in that new effort to further monetize the network.
Mobile commerce competition continues to heat up
It is not uncommon for companies to compete with one another, especially in the field of mobile commerce. It is relatively uncommon, however, for start-ups to target large corporations as their major competition. Mobile commerce firm Zapp, which is based in the United Kingdom, has taken aim at both Visa and MasterCard, seeking to dethrone these two companies in the mobile commerce arena. Zapp plans to boast of more than 20 million users by the end of 2017, an ambitious goal that if achieved would make the firm one of the most successful entities in the mobile commerce field.
Zapp aims for 20 million users by 2017
Zapp was launched earlier this year and aims to make mobile payments in stores, online, and through applications more convenient and accessible to consumers in the United Kingdom. The firm intends to incorporate its mobile payments system into banking application from some of the country’s largest financial firms. Zapp is reportedly close to closing deals with three prominent banks in the UK, which will give the company significant momentum to launch its mobile commerce services through these institutions at some point next year.
Banks could incorporate Zapp services
Zapp is designed to bypass card networks. Using Zapp, consumers will have a direct connection to their bank accounts, which can be used to make mobile payments for goods and services. Zapp claims that this will make mobile commerce more convenient for consumers as they will never have to deal with physical cards or other forms of physical currency.
Retailers show interest in Zapp
The mobile commerce firm is not only focused on banks, of course, as it also expects several prominent retailers in the UK to make use of its services. Zapp is proving attractive to retailers through the promise of higher checkout completions and the low fees associated with the services it offers. Whether Zapp will be able to compete with Visa and MasterCard among retailers and banks has yet to be seen, as both Visa and MasterCard have a significant head start over the mobile commerce start-up.
