Instagram accounted for 70 per cent of GQ’s social revenue last year

Instagram may not be sharing with publishers any of the revenue from its new between-Story ads. But that doesn’t mean publishers aren’t able to make money on Instagram. For Conde Nast’s GQ, Instagram generates more revenue than any other social network, including Instagram’s parent company, Facebook.

Last year, Instagram accounted for roughly 7 per cent of GQ’s total digital revenue and 70 per cent of its revenue from social platforms, which also included Facebook and Snapchat.

“Two years ago we really decided that Instagram was a platform we wanted to go all-in on because it plays to all of GQ’s historical strengths. It’s a great place to experience men’s fashion, style and lifestyle content,” said Mike Hofman, executive digital director of GQ.

GQ, which boasts 3.3 million followers on Instagram, makes money on Instagram primarily the same way celebrities, or “influencers,” make money on Instagram. It gets brands like Coach, Nespresso, Remy Martin and Tudor to pay for sponsored photos posted to GQ’s Instagram account. As much as those branded posts resemble the ones celebrities’ publish, they also mirror the advertorials GQ has published in its print pages for years.

Early on, a lot of the sponsored posts that GQ published to its account were supplied by the advertiser, which was made those posts “tough to fit within the feed,” said GQ’s social engagement editor, John Lockett. But over the past couple of years, GQ has gotten more involved in the production of sponsored posts, such as by bringing its social and photo teams to the table. And it also bundles Instagram into broader sponsorships, as it did for a travel story that was sponsored by Canada where the photographer shot photos to run on Instagram.

“We want [sponsored posts] to feel at home and of a kind with the editorial content that’s in the same feed. Instagram is a great place to do that,” said Hofman.

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Source: Marketing Land