Blog Post

New Instagram Story Advertising Types: Canvas, Collections, and Carousels Roll Out

by: Dani Paris May 1, 2018

Table of Contents

At Power Digital, we’re big on maximizing unused ad inventory and getting the most for your ad dollars, especially when it comes to placements within Facebook and Instagram. That being said, we have received some insider information from Facebook that will change the name of the game for Instagram Stories ad placements.

Later this quarter, Instagram Stories will be rolling out some exciting new updates that will provide a critical value to your paid social strategy. Instagram stories are getting an entirely new narrative by leveraging some of the more visual ad formats that Facebook offers like carousels, canvas ads, and collections.

Instagram Stories are a great place to advertise especially if the majority of your advertising efforts are aimed at direct to consumer. We’ve seen huge success when it comes to running static ads and video on Instagram stories for a lot of our clients, but now that Instagram will be rolling out the different ad formats for Stories, we’ll be able to optimize that marketplace even further. This will enhance the experience for both the user and the advertiser. The advertiser has more opportunities to creatively reach their customers, and the user is being served high quality content by brands that might be relevant to them…win, win!

If you’re familiar with Facebook ad formats, you know the value in taking advantage of different ad types to drive varying results. For instance Carousel ads open up the opportunity to promote numerous products with many different links. This also gives advertisers the opportunity to mix products and lifestyle images into a curated ad format that appeals and resonates to your audience.

Canvas Ads for Instagram Stories

You’ll also be able to use Canvas ads as an Instagram Story placement now too. Canvas ads are a great way to enhance your brand building efforts. They allow your viewers to open a full-screen, mobile optimized experience straight from your ad. This is an ideal opportunity to show off some of your beautiful branding assets and give people that emotional connection to your brand.

Collection Ads for Instagram Stories

Lastly, you’ll now be able to implement Collection ads for your Instagram Story placements. Collections Ads are huge, especially if you’re an eCommerce brand. Collections ads enhance the shopping experience by displaying a variety of items from your product catalogue. If you have only a few SKUs, we wouldn’t recommend this ad format.

Yes, You Should Run Instagram Stories Ads

The best part about this new, untapped feature is that it yields the cheapest inventory from a brand perspective. Not a ton of advertisers are using Instagram Stories as a placement, so the odds are in your favor when it comes to hitting your target audience if you decide to jump on board quickly. At the end of the day, with the influx of users on Instagram and Instagram stories over the past few months, this placement is key in building that emotional connection with your current and potential new customers.

Be sure to check back for updates as they come in for advertising on Instagram Stories.