When Instagram Ads was initially

launched back in $2013,$ fast food chain McDonald$$s was one of only a few brands

selected to test ads on the platform. Unfortunately, it did not take long for

one of the world$$s biggest brands to make one of the biggest missteps. In the

summer of $2014,$ McDonalds initiated a campaign that focused on its bacon

clubhouse burger. It launched a campaign of paid social ads that would appear

in users$$ home feeds. The ads featured glossy imagery of McDonald$$s burgers

filtered through one of Instagram$$s lens effects. Although the ad generated a

significant amount of engagement, much of it was negative. The ads received a

high volume of negative comments from Instagram users who were unhappy to see a

huge fast$-$food chain like McDonald$$s appear on their social media feed.

McDonald$$s Instagram marketing effort can be understood as an example of

interruption marketing. This is an aggressive type of advertising that forces

an audience to encounter a brand and its message in a manner that disrupts the

user experience of the platform. While interruption marketing can be a useful

strategy for brands looking to make an impact with a high$-$intensity movie

trailer or upcoming event, this strategy is less effective for marketing

hamburgers. Additionally, McDonald$$s campaign was not targeted specifically at

users who had shown any previous interest in McDonald$$s or other fast$-$food

brands. Instead, McDonald$$s chose to target its ad at the widest possible

audience. Inevitably, the ad was bound to interrupt the experience of an

Instagram user who already disliked McDonald$$s$.$ This type of situation will

result in a negative encounter for the user and might even encourage them to

leave a negative comment on the ad$.$

For digital marketers, the harsh

reception that McDonald$$s received on Instagram offers some important lessons

about how sponsored content should present itself to potential customers:

$1.$ Pick a strategy that fits the

brand: Loud and broadly$-$targeted ads can be a great strategy to build brand

recognition. They are also risky, as they could potentially disrupt users$$

experience in an unwelcome way. As McDonald$$s early attempt at Instagram ads

demonstrates, for a brand that already has a lot of brand recognition, these

risks are not always worth the reward. With that in mind, digital marketers

should aim to select a marketing strategy that is suited to the brand that they

are marketing.

$2.$ Add to the user experience:

For some social media users, sponsored posts will always be interpreted as an

interruption of their social media experience. While not every piece of ad

content can please every Instagram user, it is important that digital marketers

aim to produce content that adds to the user$$s experience. Especially on a

visually focused platform like Instagram, digital marketers should aim to

produce high$-$quality and appealing content for their ad campaigns. Not only

does this reduce the risk of negative interactions with users, but it also

helps build a stronger sense of community with a brand$$s audience.

$3.$ Target the right audience:

Finally, one of the biggest mistakes McDonald$$s made when developing its

campaign was to not focus the advertisement on users that had demonstrated some

interest in the brand. Without a well$-$targeted audience, McDonald$$s ended up

displaying its ad to many hostile users, who ruined the campaign with negative

comments. Many of these negative comments could have been avoided by targeting

the ad campaign to users who had already demonstrated an interest in fast food

brands.

What critical error did McDonald$$s make in their Instagram ad targeting strategy?

$2$ points

A$)$ They targeted users who were already interested in fast food.

B$)$ They targeted the widest possible audience, including those with no interest in McDonald$$s$.$

C$)$ They targeted only users in urban areas.

D$)$ They used personalized ads for each user.