Instagram releases hard-copy handbook for its advertising program

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom has repeatedly emphasized that a big focus for the company is to “keep the standard really, really high” for its first ads, something Facebook and mobile ad networks like AdMob perhaps missed the boat on. But how will brands know how their “rich” ads should look? Instagram today gave brands their first hints.

Instagram’s latest method for walking brands through the A, B, C’s of advertising doesn’t require batteries. Major brands are drooling over Instagram’s advertising program, and rightfully so: the Facebook-owned social network has hardly been tapped. But there’s a problem afoot: Instagram is attempting to balance, delicately, its dreams of monetization and the obvious risk of self-destruction. Unfortunately for the service, that balance isn’t fully up to Instagram — if it wants to scale an advertising program. This is why Instagram is investing so much in setting standards, first with a limited test period to avoid angry protests and now with a physical book for select brands.