FEB. 13, 2020
Instagram now allows you to bring users to your Direct conversation. The new feature was discovered today by one of AdvertiseMint’s digital marketers, Christian Sierra.
With the new Instagram Direct option, your Click-to-Messenger ads will take users to your Instagram Direct, where they can start a conversation with your business. To use this feature, you must choose “Messages” as your objective; otherwise, it will not appear to you.
Previously, advertisers could only direct users to Messenger or WhatsApp. Now Instagram is opening its platform for more ads. Earlier this week, social media informant and software engineer Jane Manchun Wong discovered a test that allows content creators to run ads in their IGTV videos. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri confirmed the test in a Tweet:
It’s no secret that we’ve been exploring this. We focused first on making sure the product had legs — else there would be little to monetize in the first place. IGTV is still in its early days, but it’s growing and so we’re exploring more ways to make it sustainable for creators.
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 7, 2020
“It’s no secret that we’ve been exploring this,” says Mosseri in his Tweet. “We focused first on making sure the product had legs—else there would be little to monetize in the first place. IGTV is still in its early days, but it’s growing and so we’re exploring more ways to make it sustainable for creators.”
How to Bring Users to Your Instagram Direct
To create ads that take users to your Instagram Direct conversation, you must follow these two steps.
Step 1: Choose “Messages” as an objective.
Step 2: Under “Message Destination” click “Instagram Direct.”
When tying Direct to advertising, Instagram must proceed with caution. Users may not mind ads that bring them to the messaging windows of their favorite businesses, but should Instagram choose to bring ads within Direct, as Facebook did with Messenger, users may not be so forgiving. Messaging spaces are private and sacred—bringing in ads may feel too invasive.
By Anne Felicitas
