Dive Brief:
- For the first time Instagram is testing direct response ads in its Stories feature with marketing goals like registration for lead generation and app installs instead of more basic brand awareness messaging, per Ad Age.
- The tests are bringing ad formats that already appear on the Instagram platform to Stories.
- With the direct response ad test in Stories, Facebook is once again taking Snapchat head-on in an area where it is finding success. A direct response advertiser told Ad Age app install ads have been a hit on Snapchat.
Dive Insight:
Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, is constantly expanding its ad offerings and has no qualms about taking cues from its competitors around what resonates with users. Testing direct response ads is a natural fit given that Snapchat users are already responding to the format and advertisers are interested in Stories ads because they take over the entire screen, grabbing the full attention of viewers.
Instagram rolled out the Snapchat lookalike Stories feature last August, cribbing not only the basic user experience but also the name from the popular Snapchat feature. It recently added Location Stories to its Explore tab, two months after Snapchat launched its Stories Search to find posts by location and topic.
Giving marketers additional ad formats on Instagram Stories is Facebook’s latest move in its cat-and-mouse game with the upstart social media app.
