Instagram's first ad: success or fail?

http://thenextweb.com/media/2013/11/05/instagrams-first-ad-generated-370-likes-michael-kors-says-nitrogram/

Earlier this week, Michael Kors became the first brand to run ads on Instagram, a new form of social media that has been gaining popularity in the past few years. Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to post pictures of whatever they may choose, and allows users to connect with friends, celebrities, and even companies.

Enter Michael Kors. With Instagram's recently released feature of "Sponsored Posts" (similar to the sponsored posts on the top of Google search results), it allowed Michael Kors to directly place its post (which was an ad) above other people's posts and results. This feature is huge for advertising, as it allows brands to specifically target consumers based on their Instagram profiles, which are just as if not more personal than Facebook profiles.

And the results were amazing. According to the study done by Nitogram (http://nitrogr.am/blog/key-metrics-first-instagram-ad/) the first Instagram ad gained Michael Kors a 370% increase in likes and hits in 18 hours. That is over 218,000 likes in 18 hours. This number is outstanding, as a brand being able to successfully target 218,000 people in under a day, with a simple social media ad is overwhelming.

But this is just the beginning. As Instagram, and social media as a whole, continues to grow, so will the potential advertising. Michael Kors was just the first, but many more are soon to come.