Instagram flips the switch on advertising

New York--Nearly two years after its initial launch and testing, Instagram has opened its advertising API, allowing marketers to start buying Instagram ads and planning their marketing strategies through a number of partners.

With the API now live, brands can start buying Instagram ads and scheduling campaigns, allowing them to plan their marketing strategies for the site alongside other similar social and digital platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

The API partners that have been announced so far--including Kenshoo, Brand Networks, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Unified, SocialCode, 4C, Nanigans, and Ampush--also are parent company Facebook’s marketing partners. More are expected to join the API in the future.

In addition to opening Instagram advertising to more marketers, the integration also will allows users to schedule Instagram posts on Hootsuite or other programs like it, allowing them to see interactions and feedback in a more streamlined dashboard.

Before this announcement that Instagram has opened up the API to partners, which allows for brands to use these third-party vendors manage their ads, paid advertising on the site was limited to the brands and companies that were able to dedicate the time and money to contacting an Instagram representative directly and having the social network manage the ads.

Instagram has spent the nearly two years since launch designing and testing to make sure that the advertising experience feels “native,” which Nielsen said has led to an ad recall from sponsored posts on Instagram that is 2.8 times higher than what the firm usually sees for online advertising.

This summer, Instagram also noted that it would begin using Facebook data to offer its advertisers a more targeted system and to reach a more specific audience. 

The news about Instagram’s ad API comes at a time when most retailers are, in fact, turning to paid posts for client acquisition, according to a recent study by the National Retail Federation.

Instagram’s entry into the advertising space is expected to be huge over the next few years. In fact, the social site’s ad revenue is projected to eventually top that of Google.

According to independent market research firm eMarketer, in two years, Instagram is predicted to take in $2.81 billion in mobile advertising revenues alone, which is more than four times what experts expect it to bring in this year.

Fashion and retail both have played large parts in the early stages of Instagram’s advertising venture, with