Fused from the words “Instant Camera” and “Telegram”, Instagram was born way back in 2010; its purpose was “photo-sharing, re-invented”.
Fast forward 14 years, one Facebook takeover, and a ton of significant platform changes, our use of Instagram has evolved.
Having ridden the wave of disruption from entrants such as Snapchat (2011) and TikTok (2016), it was voted as favourite social media platform in July 2024, showing it has tread the line between user favourability and ad revenue growth well.Â
But if the way users interact with Instagram has changed over the years, what impact can we anticipate for advertisers?
New features and changing behaviour
Several of Instagram’s core features today were inspired by other platforms.
We only need to look at Stories, Reels and Threads to see where their inspiration came from. But the 2022 backlash, “Make Instagram Instagram Again,” sent a clear message: users did not want a carbon copy of TikTok.
Despite the outcry that users were no longer seeing updates from people they follow in-app, Instagram has recorded sustained active user growth. Its CEO attributes this to the fact that “more photos and videos are shared in direct messages (DMs) than are to Stories or to the feed on any given day.”
We’ve gone from posting our own content to sharing others’ content (fuelled by the algorithm). As such, the “shareability” of content is now a key ranking factor in the algorithm.
A focus on direct messaging
The message icon now appears in the main, central icon, replacing the posting button, signalling Instagram’s continued investment in messaging features.
With DMs now the primary channel for user engagement, making it a key signal for content ranking, advertisers must ask themselves: Why might users share our content? How can this inform our future creative?
As usage evolves and Instagram further shapes the platform, media and creative teams must work closely to ensure media and content plans align with the algorithm to successfully improve reach and engagement. If you need to supercharge your strategy, our team can help.
