Two Aussie businesses in Instagram’s most successful Asia-Pacific ad campaigns

Instagram has revealed the Asian-Pacific businesses that are achieving success by advertising on the photo-sharing social network, with Australian fashion retailer The Iconic and cheese-maker Philadelphia among those whose sales have jumped as a result of ads on the social media platform.

In a blog about Instagram ads, the Facebook-owned social media platform singled out The Iconic as one of five standout businesses out of 400 campaigns that have run since the global roll-out of Instagram ads in the Asia Pacific area.

The retailer used creative Instagram photos and videos in its recent Instagram campaign and then showcased individual products via direct response ads to the same users on Facebook.

It used Instagram to lift ad recall and increase purchase intent, while Facebook helped to drive online sales.

Of the audience that saw The Iconic’s posts on both Instagram and Facebook, there were 23% more conversions and 25% more basket adds than of those who saw only the Facebook ads.

The Iconic’s managing director and co-founder Adam Jacobs said in a statement the strategy had worked.

“From a brand marketing perspective, working with Instagram has reinforced our hypothesis that traditional media isn’t where our consumers are anymore, and there was a bigger opportunity to engage with them in more emerging digital platforms,” he said.

Nicole Reaney, director of InsideOutPR, told SmartCompany Instagram ads fit in more organically with a user’s feed than ads on other social media platforms.

“People aren’t automatically seeing it as an ad and turning away, which can be the natural behaviour of consumers because they are bombarded with advertising,” she says.

Reaney says in this case The Iconic had been able to directly link to an online platform that results in sales, and the results are impressive.

“A 5% increase is generally good, anything above that is certainly brilliant,” she says.

She says Instagram is all about inspiring people and ideal for SMEs in industries that can take advantage of visual advertising.

“Those in food, fashion, online businesses that are inspirational will succeed,” she says.

“It gives the SMEs the ability to advertise and make their mark in the online space, and almost puts them on an even keel with bigger brands.”

SmartCompany contacted the Iconic and Instagram Australia but did not receive a response prior to publication.

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