Kinetic Social Joins Instagram Ads API, Helping Brands Like Sunoco, Automatic and Amore Pacific Tap Into a Deeply Engaged Audience

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Sep 21, 2015) - Kinetic Social, a leading social marketing data and technology company, announced its participation in Instagram Advertising through Instagram Ads API integration, giving its brand advertiser clients access to Instagram's rapidly growing audience through engaging visual ad content, including video and images.

As one of Instagram's beta testers, Kinetic has helped clients such as Sunoco, Amore Pacific, H&M and Automatic, the smartphone-enabled driving assistant app, deliver ad creative to Instagram's audience, now over 300 million monthly active users. Kinetic will also launch campaigns in coming weeks for Tyson Foods, Lenovo, Jet.com and other major brands.

With these campaigns, Kinetic is transforming the Instagram channel from an aspirational, visual-driven engagement tool into a full-funnel marketing solution, helping brands drive consumers to action from the Instagram app. Amore Pacific is using the best performing audiences from Kinetic-run Facebook campaigns and retargeting those audiences on Instagram. Meanwhile, Automatic's initiative is to drive product purchase, all while adhering to Instagram's mobile-native roots.

"Social advertising has evolved beyond simple text or display ads, and Instagram offers a compelling visual ad format that we can use to further engage with our audience," said Buckley Slender-White, Head of Marketing at Automatic. "In our initial Instagram campaign, we've found that we're generating clicks at a much higher rate and much lower cost compared to some of our other social media initiatives. We're eager to expand our reach on Instagram, tapping into this audience while leveraging all of the targeting, measurement and creative services that Kinetic Social has to offer."

Early campaign results indicate that Instagram is a valuable channel for these brands, helping them achieve high engagement and low costs-per action. Automatic saw 14% of consumers engage with an ad through commenting, clicking, or liking. Meanwhile, Sonoco Racing has experienced 22% completion rates for its video ads.

A representative from the engagement strategy team at Allen & Gerritsen, the agency for Sunoco, commented, "With the successes we achieved through Kinetic Social for Burnt Rubbér across Facebook & Twitter in Phase 1, we refueled the campaign with content that continues the narrative for Phase 2, and are excited by the opportunity to promote it on Instagram -- a platform that will continue to drive reach to new audiences."

Kinetic is among the first marketing technology partners to access the Instagram ads API, putting it in select company as one of the few platforms that is also a Facebook Marketing Partner, Twitter Official Partner, and Pinterest Ads API Partner.

"Social advertising is a medium that is perfect for story telling, perhaps more so than any other form of digital marketing," said Don Mathis, CEO of Kinetic. "Visuals are of the utmost importance for telling these brand stories in a compelling, engaging way, which makes Instagram an extremely important piece of a brand's social strategy."

Advertisers will spend $23.68 billion worldwide on paid media through social networks this year, according to eMarketer. Kinetic serves a wide variety of clients in the financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, and travel verticals, providing these clients with innovative and best-in-class solutions for campaign management, ad optimization, and creative services. Whether the goal is brand awareness or direct sales, Kinetic yields quantifiably superior returns on its client's paid media investments.

About Kinetic Social:
 A leading social marketing platform, Kinetic helps brands deliver quality encounters that delight consumers, build brand value and drive sales. Through our strategic partnership, campaign management and SaaS offerings, we design and manage campaigns across social, display and the mobile open web. Our powerful, intuitive technology reflects how the modern marketer thinks and works. We combine that proactive innovation with strategic thinking at every step. Kinetic is based in New York with offices in Toronto, Chicago and San Francisco. More at www.kineticsocial.com.