Kind of a big deal for those of us who use Instagram as a marketing channel. Until very recently, Instagram never allowed URLs to open. They wanted people to stay on their platform browsing photos. But after pressure from advertisers wanting, “meaningful results for their businesses,” Instagram has caved.
So for the first time, they will start showing clickable links, but only in the new multi-photo carousel ads. These ads are meant to tell a small story by letting users swipe through four branded images in sequence followed by a “Learn More” button. The button will open an internal browser within Instagram. Don’t worry, they’ve made it easy for you to quickly jump back to the feed with a tap of the top bar.
(Hat tip: Tech Crunch + Instagram)