Instant Articles are Facebook’s way of hosting external content on its own site, allowing readers to see content without leaving Facebook and allowing companies to offer larger pieces of content instantly to Facebook readers.
Like any new initiative there are pros and cons to using Instant Articles and it is up to each individual page to identify if Instant Articles is the right marketing plan to increase awareness.
Scannable Content Will Be Read On Mobile
The truth about how people consume content is that mobile is now the preferred method, especially for Facebook. Because many readers have made it a habit to grab their phone and scroll through Facebook content when they have a free minute, any brand without Instant Articles will miss out.
Another pro is that Instant Articles are fully loaded and are designed to be easily scrolled through, requiring the reader to scan through the message in order to get to the next piece of content. It gives businesses countless opportunities to hook uninterested readers as they scroll.
Sacrificing Page Views For Fresh Eyes
Because the content is hosted directly on Facebook, there is no reason for readers to click through to the brand’s website. This obviously poses some problems for companies that rely on the traffic being sent from Facebook, but it also presents an opportunity.
The amount of fresh eyes that the content is made available to will increase drastically as many people no longer wish to click through to visit an external site, even if it’s for content they are interested in. Keep track of whether the additional exposure counterbalances the decrease in website traffic to determine whether or not it’s worth it.
Options For Advertising
The biggest question for publishers when Instant Articles was made available to everybody in April of 2016 was how ad revenue would work. Thankfully it works out for all parties involved.
Publishers can choose to handle all the advertising within the article themselves and keep 100% of the ad revenue. However, a smaller company may choose to give Facebook 30% of the revenue and have the social media giant manage the advertisements themselves.
There is no reason for any publisher not to try Facebook’s Instant Articles on a trial run to see how it works out. The faster loading times will increase readership among people who do not like to leave the Facebook App and, although website traffic may decrease, it can bring in new eyes to a product.