Chapter 1: Introduction to Instagram as an Ecosystem of Ad Revenue, Rhetorical Context, and Influence

The purpose of this consultancy is to analyze targeted Instagram advertisements to understand how Instagram as a rhetorical context influences traditional advertising elements.  For this study’s research model, 10 advertising elements were named and defined according to the traditional advertising elements denoted by Joseph Sugarman—an oft-studied copywriter in the advertising industry—in his book, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook. Twenty Instagram ads (10 Post ads and 10 Story ads) from direct to consumer (D2C) brands were analyzed to determine what, if any, traditional advertising elements they contain and how the elements are being used.

To define Instagram as a rhetorical context and understand how this influences traditional advertising elements, one must—above all else—understand that Instagram earns money from advertising. It generates income from the ads it shows to users by leveraging the data it gathers from users (e.g., their interests, behaviors, demographics, etc.) to subsequently target them as consumers. For the purposes of this paper, a user is defined as a one who engages in social media for the purposes of interacting with their social network; a consumer is defined as one who purchases goods and services for personal use. When in Instagram, these two sets of interactors are combined to create user/consumers, who exist within the ecosystem of Instagram as both users of social media and consumers for advertisers.

Chapter 2 establishes Instagram as a rhetorical context that, with regards to its financial motives, produces habitual users to target as consumers. These user/consumers consistently input data via interaction and engagement with other Instagram users and user-generated content. This data (and the ability to subsequently target consumer demographics) makes Instagram an attractive platform for advertisers. Instagram’s ability to manipulate user data for a more precise (and therefore lucrative) targeted advertising experience positions it as a powerhouse marketing channel that influences both user/consumer behavior and advertising behavior striving to successfully appeal to those user/consumers.

Chapter 3 explores how context-specific engagement and ad-context congruity define the impact Instagram has over traditional advertising elements via its rhetorical context. Native, targeted ads are embedded personalized ad content directly within Instagram itself—forcing advertisers to modify their ad content to fit Instagram as a specific context. Context-specific engagement suggests that how a user engages with user-generated content on Instagram is predictive of how they will engage with advertising content on Instagram. Ad-context congruity posits ad content that mirrors its embedded context is predicted to be more successful in engaging consumers. Together, these theories suggest targeted, native ad content that mimics authentic Instagram user-generated content will have better user/consumer engagement.

Chapter 4 analyzes 10 Instagram Post ads and 10 Instagram Story ads from 20 D2C brands to track the precise changes traditional advertising elements have undergone as a result of the specific conditions set by Instagram as a rhetorical context. These advertising elements are defined as the 10 traditional advertising elements posited by Joseph Sugarman in The Adweek Copywriting Handbook. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of each advertising element for Post and Story ads and answers the following research questions:

1. What traditional advertising elements are still in use in Instagram ads?
2. What traditional advertising elements are being removed from Instagram ads?
3. What traditional advertising elements are being innovated upon in the rhetorical context of Instagram?

Chapter 5 posits best practices for advertisers seeking to adapt traditional advertising elements going forward, limitations of this study, and areas for future research. To be clear, this study does seek to posit a theory to understand the effectiveness of Instagram ads in relation to either their rhetorical influence or performative success. Instead, this study analyzes how Instagram as a rhetorical context has influenced the usage of traditional advertising elements in Post and Story ads. Advertisers can use this research to increase the depth of their knowledge about Instagram as a platform, its user/consumers, and how to adapt traditional advertising elements for Instagram.

Ultimately, Instagram advertising is a fascinating ecosystem of ad revenue, rhetorical context, and influence. Its pervasive reach into its users’ lives has empowered it as a platform for advertisers looking to reach consumers. This, in turn, has enabled Instagram to produce a rhetorical ecosystem of habitual users which influences the traditional advertising elements used to target them as consumers.