Recently, Facebook-owned Instagram opened up its API for ads, meaning that almost anyone with knowledge of online tools which plug directly into Instagram could use the platform for their own advertising.
The move, which sees marketers now having the ability to reach more than 300 million active mobile consumers monthly via the app, makes it easier for more brands to buy Instagram ads. Before then, the site only sold ads to a select group of big brands it worked with directly.
With the talk of ad technology firmly and thickly almost smothering digital marketing right now, it's no wonder that marketers are looking at developing open API strategies in order to keep the power in their hands.
According to MediaMath global SVP for technology, Wilfried Schobeiri, while the technology behind an open API strategy can seem intimidating for a marketer, “it will revolutionise marketing”.
With open systems and the flexibility they can provide, it's easier than people think and it makes good business sense, he added.
“APIs essentially make it possible to expose the functionality of platforms to external parties, enabling them to build customised solutions based on their needs, leveraging the basis on the platform’s functionality,” Schobeiri explained.
“In a nutshell, an open API strategy allows developers to really 'own' a fully customised digital marketing solution that is catered to a campaign’s needs - allowing for programmatic access to campaign execution and reports, user management, audience management and reports, creatives and ad serving as well as intelligence and optimisation.”
According to Forbes, salesforce.com generates nearly 50% of its annual US$3 billion in revenue through APIs; for Expedia, that figure is closer to 90% of $2 billion revenue.
Schobeiri added that having an open API strategy puts “the power and flexibility” in marketers' hands - the power to have full access to everything the platform provides, and the flexibility to customise technology solutions to better meet their business requirements.
Schobeiri explained how Japanese internet services company Rakuten wanted to offer its data to its domestic market and used white labelling to build a DSP in Japanese, on top of Tier 1 APIs where clients can now log in directly and buy media.
“Today, customisation is what is required for the end-result of reaching out to consumers the
way in which they need. In fact, this is what consumers want, and it is no longer a choice for marketers,” Schobeiri said.
"Engagement rates are proven to be higher where appropriate levels of customisation are used. In many cases, marketers or their agencies are already engaging with technology that makes this possible.
“With everyone being online, being more exposed to content and creating more opinionated content of their own, marketers are closer to their consumers now more than ever before, and the expectation for a targeted approach has been organically created.”
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