No single entity can control everything. Even titans of the web like Facebook knows that trends can shift.
One of the ways to meet the everchanging trends, is with Facebook in opening Instagram’s Explore section to advertisers. By announcing the roll out of ads into Instagram's Explore section, advertisers can follow the gradual migration of user activity from personal news and photo feeds towards other areas of the social networks.
Explore was introduced as a merger of the app’s search and 'popular' tab.
Allowing users to get into Instagram in different ways by surfacing things that otherwise wouldn’t be surfaced, Explore is somehow unique since it represents a very different strategy implemented by Facebook.
It is designed to expose Instagram users to accounts they may not previously follow.
From its about 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram said that half of its daily visitors (around 500 million users) view the Explore section.
How the Explore ads work, is by allowing advertisers to indicate that they want their sponsored posts to appear in Explore by selecting it as an extension of their Instagram campaigns.
To do this, they can buy the slots through the same Facebook ads manager and API they use to buy Instagram feed and Stories space.
When attempting to show these ads to users, Facebook chooses not to bombard users with marketing materials right when they open Explore. Instead, Instagram is only showing sponsored posts when a viewer goes deeper into Explore, or after they choose a video and then scrolling through the newly generated feed of videos.
Explore ads in Instagram's words, is allowing advertisers to be "part of what’s culturally relevant and trending while reaching new audiences who are looking to discover something new.”
By releasing the ads "slowly and thoughtfully" means that the move is a respectful way to monetize Explore without annoying users too much, or breaking the high visual quality Instagram is already known for.
The social media giant continuously evolve how advertisers advertise on its platforms, in order to meet the trends and the changes in people's habits.
In 2017, it was reported that average post engagements from brands and businesses on Facebook have fallen dramatically. In 2018, Facebook's monthly traffic fell by about 50 percent in a period of just two years.
On that same year, it has also been reported that people are spending less time in its main News Feed.
This happened because users habits change as trends change. As a result, Facebook can no longer boast reach when engagement is declining. Less time spent on Facebook translates into fewer chances for marketers to reach the network’s users.
Fortunately, Facebook owns both Instagram and WhatsApp. Literally owning most of the internet's social media market, Facebook can turn the table to benefit its own.
Knowing that Instagram was its way out of this declining activities, Facebook started focusing on building the photo and video-sharing platform. Most notably, Facebook introduced Stories by taking cues from Snapchat.
So long gone are the days Facebook in targeting growth speed on its core platform.
Using features like Stories, influencer content and video, Facebook is making sure it can steadily increase engagement, despite knowing that the number can only go up slowly.
And as for Explore ads, Instagram’s director of business product marketing Susan Bucker Rose said that she believes the ads will feel natural because users already come to Explore “in the mindset of discovery. They want to be exposed to new accounts, people, and brands.”