With it’s fast and steady growth, Instagram has become one of the most powerful social platforms.
In my last post 5 Questions To Ask Before Running Ads on Social, I went over the general strategies to use when deciding to advertise on social media platforms. Now with those questions in mind, let’s take a deeper dive into each social ad platform specifically, starting with Instagram.
Instagram users aren’t just following their friends and celebrities anymore. They are following their favorite brands too. Could that be you? Read on to learn about the types of Instagram ads and the benefits they could provide for your business.
From driving awareness, to increasing sales, Instagram offers limitless possibilities for businesses. Instagram uses the same advertising tools as Facebook. That way, you can set up, run and track campaigns the same way you do with Facebook ads.
Types of Instagram Ads
There are four types of Instagram ads to choose from. Whether your goal is to build brand awareness, increase website visits, or increase downloads of your mobile app, Instagram can help you access a large, engaged audience.
Photo Ads
Tell your story through a clean, simple and beautiful creative canvas. Photos can be in square or landscape format.
Video Ads
Get the same visually immersive quality of photo ads – with the added power of sight, sound and motion. And now, you can share videos up to 60 seconds long in landscape or square format.
Carousel Ads
Bring a layer of depth to campaigns where people can swipe to view additional photos or videos in a single ad.
Stories Ads
Complement your feed content with ads on Instagram stories. Connect with the 200M+ people using stories daily.
In late 2015 Instagram added several new features to its advertising platform, including call-to-action buttons such as Shop Now and Install Now. The Call to Action (CTA) button is there to bring the most important objective of your campaign to the center of your Instagram presence. Call to action buttons link to any destination on or off Instagram that aligns with the goal you’re trying to achieve. With just a click of a button, shopping right from Instagram has become a very simple process. Research backs this up showing that users tend to spend more money with brands on Instagram than a majority of other social platforms. This report from Shopify shows that Instagram users spend an average of $65 per sale compared to Facebook at $55 and Twitter at $46.
According to a Pew Research study, 55 percent of all 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States are using Instagram. So if this is your target demographic of who you’re trying to reach, Instagram will likely be a beneficial place to start with your social advertising campaign.
Instagram Stats:
monthly active users
daily active users worldwide
%
of users follow a business on Instagram
With over 80 million photos uploaded to Instagram each day, how do you stand out from the crowd? Consider adding these best practices to your approach.
People buy from companies they trust
Connect with your audience by showcasing behind-the-scenes photos.
Target your competitor's audience
Convert their followers into your followers by engaging with them, such as liking photos, commenting and following.
Produce consistent, engaging, relevant content
No social campaign is complete without a content strategy in place. Consistently update your Instagram feed with fresh content that specifically ties into your campaign objectives. Research recommends 1-2 posts per day.
Incorporate a hashtag strategy
Every hashtag represents an opportunity to reach new people who might be interested in your products. You can add several hashtags per post which is generally accepted under best practices unlike other social networks. Research recommends that posts with 11 hashtags receive the best interaction rate.
Utilize the ‘discover’ tab
This section of the mobile Instagram app allows you to explore different hashtags. Look for communities that are small enough to engage with.
Utilize CTAs to send people to your shop
Create a sense of urgency with one-day sales and promotions. Your fans will get to feel like they saved money by paying attention to your content. This way, they will be more likely to look for your posts in the future.
