Instagram link adverts launched in autumn 2015, allowing advertisers to elicit actions from adverts, such as website clicks, mobile app installs and website conversions. Because driving actions offsite isn't an organic behaviour on the platform, we set out to help advertisers turn intent into action by increasing the number of ways that Instagrammers can interact with advert content. Through a series of studies, we learned that the presence of our call-to-action button was not well known in the original advert format. In an eye-tracking study, we concluded that people simply weren't seeing the button tucked in the bottom-right corner of an advert. So, in June, an enhanced call-to-action button was released, which extends across the full width of the advert, with the call-to-action text appearing on the left-hand side. The redesign has been successful, with performance increasing by more than 45%.¹

With the updated call-to-action button paired with Instagram's precise targeting, advertisers are seeing strong performance with link adverts. To acquire new subscriptions of its beauty brand Honest Beauty, The Honest Company, founded by Jessica Alba, turned to Instagram's performance-based adverts. "In our business, it's never been more important to reach the right person with the right message at the right time, especially on platforms such as Instagram where people rally around their passions," says Chris Thorne, CMO at The Honest Company. "What we're seeing on Instagram is that people who have taken an action from the platform tend to make a higher-value purchase than those from other channels." In fact, its Instagram adverts drive so much action amongst its community that the company attributes a significant amount of its total conversions to Instagram compared to other channels.

With this increase in performance, we're rolling out even more action-driving enhancements to link adverts. Each of the three new solutions is focused on driving better visibility and interactions for our community, while driving better performance for our advertisers.

To guide people to take an action, the call-to-action button will be highlighted when people show interest in or around an advert, such as resting on the advert for four seconds or tapping on the profile name.

When Instagrammers tap into an advertiser's profile from an advert, a call-to-action button currently appears at the bottom of the profile. In addition to the button being added to advertisers' profiles which was implemented in June, the button will now be extended to the comments section. Now when Instagrammers open an advert's comments, they can engage with a business quicker without additional tapping or scrolling.

For video link adverts, when people unmute a video, they'll be taken to the destination URL while the video continues to play at the top of the screen. Now people can explore, browse and take action on a landing page while continuing to watch the video. People can also go fullscreen or dismiss the video player if they'd prefer to browse the web page.

These new solutions are being rolled out over the next month, and we'll be testing and optimising the way in which they work for both our community and our advertisers. With link adverts being optimised for better performance, now is the time for advertisers to take advantage of these enhancements.