Telco company multiplies its success with Carousel in Instagram Stories
Thanks to its partnership with Aitarget, digital opportunities company MegaFon tripled its click-through results while dramatically dropping CPC using a new video ad format Carousel in Instagram Stories.
When launched, advertisers can use this format to tell a story about their products, promotional campaigns, and services in three full screen parts, rather than a single photo or video. From late 2018, up to 10 horizontal cards can be applied for Carousels in Stories.
The Stories format in general has rapidly gained popularity, with daily users leaping from 100 million to 400 million users between October 2016 and June 2018. Engaging and immersive, it’s become the fastest-growing channel ever seen on Facebook and Instagram.
Stories gives brands and users unlimited possibilities for interaction in a playful and expressive way. Real-time unfiltered Stories can elicit heightened emotions in viewers and encourage communication. According to 2017 statistics, one in five Stories has organic reactions with direct responses from its viewers.
Businesses produce one third of the most-viewed Stories on Instagram, and the format remains profitable. Campaigns can be created for any segment of the marketing funnel: from Reach, Brand Awareness, and Video Views, to Lead Generation, Conversion, and App Installs.
Ads in Stories can consist of both static images (did you know, the Aitarget tool supportsautomatic creation of full-screen images based on any ratio images) and videos. At the same time, mobile-first videos are just as popular. Cisco estimates that nearly 80% percent of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2022. According to the data from Facebook, one and a half times more people watch videos every day on smartphones compared to watching videos on computers. As for Instagram, it is estimated that 40% of Stories are videos.
Case Study: MegaFon embraces video
MegaFon launched the first-ever video Carousel in Instagram Stories with three videos in its “Two smartphones for the price of one” promotional campaign.
The Media Instinct Group agency created three consecutive videos, all with the same plot. The first and the second stories were about a man and a woman wondering about the best present to buy for the upcoming holidays. The third video presented the solution: two smartphones, one for him and one for her.
“The news about the new format in Instagram was very timely,” senior performance specialist at Media Instinct Group. “This format was perfect for the creative concept of upcoming gender-related holidays. Thanks to our partners at Aitarget, we managed to quickly agree on all the materials and have time to become one of the first to utilise the format.”
Carousel in Instagram Stories was added to MegaFon’s advertising campaign at the last stage, aiming to showcase its offer to the maximum audience and increase website traffic.
Aitarget’s Lead Customer Development Manager, says:
“From early on the campaign showed an incredible success. Immediately after its launch, we noticed the decreasing level of CPC, the increase in CTR, as well as the general increase in audience reach.”
The click-through rate for MegaFon’s Carousel in Instagram Stories campaign leapt to 366% of the level of a standard Instagram Stories campaign. At the same time, the CPC dropped to a quarter of the prior level.
More than three times the reach at less than a third of the price. This result demonstrates the potential of the new Carousel for Instagram Stories format, especially when paired with the fast-growing popularity of mobile videos.
“We are interested in increasing the share of video in our split, and given the possibilities of the placement, the format can become extremely effective for our audience,” says manager for media planning in digital media at MegaFon.
