Dive Brief:

Instagram's direct response ads have not fully caught on with direct response marketers, according to interviews with agency execs conducted by Marketing Land.

According to the report, the main issues include perception problems with the visual-focused app, advertisers not yet used to mobile-first marketing, and relatively low ROI compared to Facebook's direct response ads.

Instagram first launched direct response ads a year ago. Ad firm Nanigans found that the percentage of its clients who have bought Instagram's direct response ads increased from 31% in October 2015 to 54% in April 2016.

​Dive Insight:

Instagram launched direct response ads with all the advantages its parent company Facebook could offer, but it appears Facebook's own dominance in the space has cast a long shadow over Instagram's efforts. Instagram's biggest barrier to success may in fact be the success marketers see on its parent company's platform.

“Facebook is outperforming Instagram to such a degree that it would be difficult to rationalize — if you had $1, you’d put that dollar in Facebook,” Jeanne Bright, VP and group director for paid social at DigitasLBi, told Marketing Land.

Marketers are also very comfortable with Google’s direct response offering, putting Instagram behind Facebook and Google for direct response advertising. The other barrier is that Instagram’s ads are more focused on imagery than links.

“In our experience the appetite is still for Facebook,” Gila Wilensky, search and biddable director at GroupM-owned media agency Essence, told Marketing Land. “There’s still a ton of opportunity on Facebook direct for DR campaigns, and we haven’t really even fully exhausted that inventory. So our clients are typically focused on maximizing Facebook [owned-and-operated inventory], and interested in testing into Instagram for DR but less focused on really investing in Instagram as a standalone property.”

One place where direct response advertisers are seeing success on Instagram is mobile app install ads, according to ad agency execs, which is an organic fit for Instagram given the mobile-first nature of the social media platform.