Instagram announced an update to the overlays that appear on its ads. Rather than a generic “Go to Website” or “Go to App Store” message, it will provide the advertiser’s Facebook Page name and the display or destination website URL selected at set up.
The overlay has been around to help users understand what action to take with an Instagram ad since Instagram launched ads to all businesses in the fall. It appears when the ad is first tapped on. As the company notes, this helps ensure quality traffic. Advertisers are only charged for clicks that come from the overlay as opposed to the initial tap.
“Consumers can take action on your ads one of two ways—either by tapping once on the ad’s photo to reveal the overlay or by clicking on the call to action button,” Instagram says in a post on its business blog. “The majority of clicks occur on the call to action button you select, which will take users either directly to your website, the app or deep link them directly into your app experience.”
For mobile app installs, a View in App Store message appears for iOS ads and a View in Play Store message appears for Android ads.
The overlay is automatically included on all photo and carousel ads. Advertisers don’t have to do anything different to take advantage of the update. You can edit your campaigns to include specific display URLs. If one isn’t selected, it will default to the destination URL.