Due to the increasing demand from retailers to advertise on Facebook and Instagram, the company is launching new advertising capabilities.
As social media continues to be the number one place to interact with shoppers, retailers are now the dominant group of advertisers on Facebook and Instagram.
The retail’s share of Facebook advertisers has increased, from 15% in 2020 to 17% this year, according to Media Radar.
The most successful form of advertising on social media appears to be within video posts. According to Facebook data, over 2 billion people watch Facebook In-Stream eligible videos every month.
“Facebook In-Stream videos” and “Instagram Reels” are video clips users post on their feeds or stories, which they can monetize by choosing to insert short ads. It is similar to the ads that we see while watching youtube videos that we usually skip, but on Facebook, 70% of those video ads are viewed completely, according to Facebook.
In-Stream Video Topics
In-Stream ads were introduced to Facebook a few years ago but now the company is testing out a Video Topics feature. The feature allows advertisers to choose video topics, in order to give them more control over the type of video content they want their ads to appear in. The ads are inserted in the videos and can be from 5 to 10 seconds long.
Instagram Reels Ads
Instagram will begin testing Reels ads in India, Brazil, Germany, and Australia, with tests expanding to more countries in the coming months. Ads can be up to 30 seconds in length and let viewers comment, like, view, save, share and skip.
Sticker Ads for Facebook Stories
Facebook is testing custom Sticker Ads for Facebook Stories with select advertisers and users. These ads allow users to monetize their Facebook Stories with ads that look like stickers, and the story creators receive a portion of the resulting revenue. Brands can create stickers and users can proactively place these Sticker Ads in their Facebook Stories.
Social Media is the Future Base of Retail
Generation Z, born between 1995 to 2012, is the first generation that has completely grown up with technology and they are the new wave of consumers. Market research shows that 85% of Generation Z learn about new products on social media and they are 59% more likely than older generations to connect with brands on social.
Instagram is the most popular app for brand discovery, with 45% of teens using it to find cool new products, followed by Facebook, which comes in at 40%.
According to this data, we can see that social media will continue to transform into shopping platforms where product purchases will be driven by micro-influencers that consumers trust.
We need to keep a close eye on social media platforms, as they are playing a major role in reshaping the global retail market.
