Celebrations abound online and off this holiday season, with ecstatic client brands, recently migrated to Instagram’s new API, creating meaningful interactions with new audience segments. They experienced zero gaps in coverage and have had very merry holiday returns as a result, unlike lots non-clients who have yet to experience the update’s full potential. We’re here to help!
Instagramming for the Holidays
Have you considered how important Instagram data was for your Christmas, Holiday and New Year campaigns? Our clients sure have, and they’ve been thrilled to have access to Instagram’s latest API changes straight out of the gate – and their clients (of those who are agencies) have been as well.
Instagram, of course, has become an increasingly strategic channel for brands of all sizes:
- AdWeek reported a shift in marketing ad dollars from Facebook to Instagram, as well as a shift in ad dollars from Instagram’s feed to Stories.
- Today there are 8 million business on Instagram – an estimated 71% of businesses are using this social network.
- By June of this year, there were 1 billion monthly users on Instagram. It’s hard to imagine a target audience that isn’t represented there.
Given these numbers, you can see why this reach is important for brands when it comes to creating effective marketing campaigns and engagement strategies. So here are some questions to consider in light of its importance:
- Could you afford to risk not having Instagram data during one of the busiest times of the year?
- What Instagram data is expected from your internal and external clients?
- And what are you going to do if you can’t get access to this Instagram data in the near future?
Speed to Market Matters
We’re always ready to accommodate social network changes the moment they’re available. Offering best-in-class Instagram coverage before the API change (3x better coverage than our competitors), so we have a pretty high standard to maintain with our clients. Fortunately, our commitment to pushing out platform updates every three weeks keeps us ever agile and ready to adapt.
This current update provides a pretty clear case-in-point: On December 11, just six weeks after Instagram’s announcement, we were the first service provider ready to support the new API and we quickly and seamlessly, without any interruption in their Instagram listening data, migrated more than 1,000 of our customers to the new Instagram services.
Also – and this is important – NetBase provides ways to scale up large brands’ listening efforts in fully compliant ways as well, and with an equally seamless migration. The proof is in the pudding, of course, and we’re already doing this for our biggest brands and agencies.
And we can understand the worries some non-client businesses have when reaching out to us, particularly of late, as we’ve fielded questions around “preferred” vendors.
Facebook and Instagram Do NOT Play Favorites
Don’t be misled by social listening vendors claiming special relationships with Facebook or Instagram. One customer was approached by a social listening vendor boasting a “preferred” Facebook partnership and higher rate of Instagram API calls. This is just not true.
It’s intentionally misleading and brands and agencies should be wary of such claims.
Everyone has access to the same data and announcements from Instagram, but not everyone works as diligently to update their platforms to support new APIs as soon as they become available.
Committed to Keeping Clients Competitive
There are certainly some changes – and challenges – with the new Instagram restrictions. But you can rest easy knowing that NetBase, and our clients, are advantaged in the new model. We do not make exaggerated claims, because we don’t have to. We are committed to continuous improvement.
NetBase will always answer all of your Instagram questions with honesty and transparency – and that’s probably why we’ve seen so many businesses switching to NetBase in the past six months (though our converged media capabilities may have something to do with it as well!).
Contact us for a demo to see how we’ve implemented changes to migrate clients to the new Instagram API and how we can help your business win in the New Year!