Patricio Robles says, “Instagram has fast become a go-to social platform for brands and Instagram’s owner, Facebook, has been encouraging advertisers to embrace it as its user ranks have swelled to more than 300m. One of the ad offerings that Facebook recently rolled out on Instagram is carousel ads, “a way for brands to share more images with people interested in their post, in much the same way as a multi-page print campaign.” When a user swipes left on a carousel ad, additional images the brand has selected are displayed and the brand can provide a link to its website”. Instagram... [...]

Karissa Bell says, “Instagram is making it easier to keep tabs on posts from friends, celebrities or other users you want to follow more closely. The app’s latest update adds the ability to subscribe to posts from specific users and introduces two new editing tools that allow you to adjust the color tones of your photos The new editing tools, fade and color, appear in the app’s adjust menu and allow you to tweak the way colors look in your photo. Fade softens all of the colors in your image “to bring a quiet tone,” Instagram says. The look is similar to certain filters... [...]

Allison Howen says, “ShipStation is helping improve retailers’ selling initiatives on Instagram, as the e-commerce shipping solution has unveiled a new integration with social commerce app Penny. Retailers can leverage Penny to sell products on Instagram with a hashtag. To use the service, retailers simply need to sync their Instagram accounts to Penny and provide their bank account information to the service. Retailers can then tag sale posts with the hashtag “#paywithpenny” to help new Penny users discover their shops. When a consumer wants to make a purchase, they simply comment... [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “In a perfect storm of storytelling and somehow trying to make Instagram a monetisable platform, your 14 year-old niece’s favourite social network introduced a clickable carousel function last week. Marketers have been clamouring for a way to turn Instagram into a source of measurable revenue instead of a mere engagement/brand awareness tool. As we reported a few months ago, there are ways that ecommerce sites can use Instagram but they are through third-party affiliate sales platforms that don’t exactly scream user-friendliness or best practice”. Monetising... [...]

Craig Kilgore says, “Since coming into existence in 2010, Instagram has given brands the opportunity to engage with their audience and tell their story through the power of visuals. The Facebook-owned app was one of the fastest growing major social networks in 2014, and is now home to more than300 million accounts. In addition to the network’s impressive growth, users are also highly engaged with the platform. Each day, half of all users use the app and spend an average of 21 minutes on the app. Top brands have quickly realized the potential Instagram presents. Simply Measured’s Quarterly... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Brands are now posting more content to Instagram than they are on Facebook, according to a new report by research firm L2. It’s not quite an unfriending situation. More like brands have found a new best friend. You can probably guess the reason. Giving plunging organic reach on Facebook, marketers have been cutting back on posting on Facebook and paying for reach with advertising dollars, the report says. On the other hand, Instagram is mostly a free-for-all. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing network has some advertising options but most brand activity is organic, and... [...]

Gina Broom says, “If you’re tackling the social media arena as a part of your business strategy, you’ve probably set out on Facebook and Twitter, and possibly either Google+ or Pinterest. Sound familiar? It’s just the way it’s been done across the board thus far. I’m going to cut right to the chase, and make some hefty claims. Instagram has surpassed Twitter, and the way it’s growing, it looks to have its eye on global social media domination. It’s getting to the point where you almost have to feel”. How to Use Instagram for Business Mark Ling’s  ’Affilorama’... [...]

Todd Wasserman says, “Instagram broadened its options for advertisers on Wednesday with a new type of ad unit that lets readers swipe left to learn more about the brand or product. Called carousel ads, the product was developed after marketers clamored for a way to “tell sequenced stories in beautiful, compelling ways that lead to meaningful results for their businesses,” the Facebook unit wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. Instagram has addressed that need with the new Tinder-like functionality, although here, you swipe left instead of right if you like what you see”. Instagram... [...]

Seth Fiegerman says, “Facebook‘s decision to buy Instagram looks smarter and smarter each year. Instagram, the fast-growing photo-sharing network, is projected to generate about $700 million in revenue this year and $5.8 billion in revenue in 2020, according to new estimates from analysts with Cowen & Co. That surge in sales, according to the report, is based on Cowen’s surveys of user and advertiser interest as well as projections for Instagram’s user numbers to more than double to 680 million by 2020 and for larger advertisers to follow. “Given the user scale, adv.... [...]

John Egan says, “In less than five years, photo-sharing app Instagram has grown from Internet infant to social media star. New data from the Pew Research Center shows that among social media networks, Instagram has surpassed Twitter in popularity among U.S. adults. Pew’s report states that 26 percent of online adults in the U.S. used Instagram in 2014. That’s up from 17 percent in 2013 and 13 percent in 2012. By comparison, 23 percent of online adults in the U.S. used Twitter in 2014. Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom told TechCrunch that “what began as two friends... [...]