There are many sites that have gained interest with audiences when it comes to video and pictures – including Instagram and Pinterest – but now there’s a new competitor on the rise, and it seems to be opening its doors to advertisers.
Adweek has reported that Imgur, an alternative site to Pinterest that has managed to gain a large audience of millennials, is working on a new system that would enable advertisers to come on board, and reach out to said audience.
Imgur has previously explained that it was looking to begin offering promoted posts through a series of partners, which it intends to take out of beta later this summer to offer to its mainstream audience. And it’s audience is quite a big one, with over 150 million monthly active users, including a large male component. In fact, 75 percent of this audience consists of males under the age of 35 – an ideal millennial group to attract advertisers.
So how would the program operate to bring advertisers into the mix “We work with the advertiser to develop content that would fit well with the community,” said Steve Patrizi, vice president of marketing and sales for Imgur. “So, users perceive the content coming from brands as something that enhances the experience.”
While there are uphill struggles with integrating such content into its site, Patrizi has explained that it has had a positive effect, with users giving a thumbs-up to such posts in nine out of ten situations.
eBay has played a big part in this advertising, with posts that fit right in with Imgur’s storytelling style, complete with posted GIFs and photo albums that have mostly positive comments.
“We worked with Imgur for several months to research the types of themes and items that were popular on site, and we worked with some Imgurians to source imagery that helped us tell the best stories,” said Johnna Hoff, head of communications for eBay.
Imgur also has a creative team ready to go, which will assist brands with making posts that stand out for its growing audience. “We’re helping brands become citizens of Internet culture, not just a sponsor,” said Michelle Masek, head of communications for Imgur.
One such example of an effective advertising program on Imgur is the Tech Transformations That Happened In Your Lifetime gallery, which shows animated GIF’s on how far technology has come – with a little help from eBay, of course.
“Other companies who want to promote posts on Imgur should take note, THIS is how to do it,” said a commenter on the post.
With such a young male audience (countering Pinterest’s mostly female audience), Imgur definitely has a good opportunity on its hands. “Imgur has the highest composition of millennial males compared to any other mass-reach community,” the site reported.
There are also certain topics that can be utilized with these posts, such as science fiction and video games. “We started tracking the amount of time people are spending on these promoted posts, and it’s 25 seconds a post,” said Patrizi. “That’s getting pretty close to the gold standard of TV advertising.”
Hoff also posted positive results from the beta thus far. “We’ve been extremely encouraged by what we’ve seen in the Imgur promoted posts beta. It’s been a collaborative effort across eBay, Imgur and the Imgur community to understand the imagery and stories that resonate.”