What's happening in social? Three moves not to miss - #1

News out of Instagram which came as a surprise (but shouldn't have come as a surprise at all based on what other networks have done) tells us that the feed for users will, in the future, no longer show content in chronological order. According to Instagram the change is being made because 'people miss on average 70% of their feeds' and they want to ensure that users don't miss the content they think is most valuable to them.

What this means for marketers right now is still unclear with Instagram saying that ads will show to users 'no matter how many accounts they follow or what time zone they are in.' What is clear though is that the major social networks want more control over what content is shown to users and when. We expect, just as with Facebook, that Instagram will become more of a pay-to-play network in the future with organic brand posts becoming much less visible in a user’s feed.

No official word from Facebook on when this feature was rolled out or the impact for advertisers but I’m seeing a new option in the drop-down menu next to ads. Users can now choose to select 'I already own this product' which removes the ad and presumably stops it from being show again to that user.

We work hard to ensure our clients' Facebook campaigns are targeted at the right people with the right motivations and at the right time using some of the more advanced Facebook marketing tactics. The Facebook pixel is just one way we tie specific user events - such as placing a product into a basket - to campaigns to bring an increased ROI for our clients and a better experience for those being served ads.