Instagram Adds Reminder Ads and Promoted Results in Search

Instagram’s launching two new ad options, with Reminder Ads, that enable users to opt into alerts ahead of an event, and ads in search results, helping to better connect with users in a discovery mindset.

First off, on Reminder Ads – as you can see in the below example screens, Reminder Ads will enable users to opt into alerts about specific events in the app.

As per Instagram:

“Reminder ads, rolling out to all advertisers as an option in feed, help advertisers build awareness, anticipation, and consideration for upcoming moments.”

Once a user opts-in via the ad CTA, they’ll then receive three subsequent notifications of that event, with the first coming a day before, then another 15 minutes ahead of the start time, with a final alert as it begins. Which will ensure that you don’t miss out – and while three reminders may seem a little much, if you’re really keen (or forgetful), it could be of benefit.

Reminders can be set up to three months ahead of time, and once you’ve added a reminder to a post, you can create additional posts with reminders for the same event, without adding new event details. The event time will also be displayed in local time equivalent:

“For example, if you’re in New York City and select 8pm as the event time, the event time will be set as 8pm EST. But someone who’s in Los Angeles will see the event time as 5pm PST.”

It’s another way for brands to better promote their live events, and encourage engagement, which could be used for in-app events, like live streams, or as per the example above, TV shows, movie releases, sporting events, etc.

There’s a range of possibilities, and it could be a handy consideration for your events, depending on your IG audience.

Instagram’s also launching new ads in search results, helping to connect with users based on contextual keywords.

“Ads will show up in the feed that people can scroll when they tap into a post from search results. We plan to launch this placement globally in the coming months.”

That’ll provide another way to get your promotions in front of users as they go looking for specific content, with Instagram also adding ads in Explore last year. This new placement is more specific, with the ads showing up when users tap into a specific post from the Search results, which is the next level of discovery in the app.

Interestingly, Twitter announced the same in January, which it had actually offered as a placement in the past, before depreciating it because it wasn’t highly effective. Though I’m sure Instagram came up with this entirely independently – I’m sure Meta isn’t monitoring other apps and just copying what they do.

Either way, some new considerations for your IG ads, and some new ways to reach audiences in the app, in different mindsets.   

You can learn more about Reminder Ads here, while Search Ads are being rolled out with selected accounts from this week.