Did you know that 80% of all Instagram accounts are personal? Instagram is one of the most powerful social media platforms to advertise on. They have a worldwide audience that loves checking out content. If your company is ready to produce the right videos and images, you could increase sales.
To make things easier, we’ve created this short but complete guide. Let us walk you through the world of advertising with Instagram, so your campaign can be a big hit!
How can you create Instagram advertising campaigns that work? Read on to find out.
How Social Media Platforms Launch Campaigns
Instagram ads are special posts that companies can purchase. These ads are going to appear directly in front of Instagram users worldwide. Before creating Instagram advertising campaigns, you’ll need to understand how these advertisements operate.
Like other social media platforms, Instagram’s ads appear throughout the user experience. They appear in stories, news feeds, explore, and every other aspect of the Instagram experience.
These ads will look just like regular posts. However, users will be able to identify them as advertisements thanks to a sponsored label. You’ll also have more features than a typical post when choosing an ad format. You’ll be able to include special swipe-up links that direct users to your website to make a purchase.
Your advertisements can also include product catalogs, which also help drive store purchases. Other feature advertisements include call-to-action buttons or CTA buttons. CTA buttons encourage users to take some type of action. The action might be to download your app, find out more about your company, or subscribe.
Instagram Advertising Budget
How much is your campaign going to cost you? The amount you’re going to spend on Instagram ads relies on a few different factors. There isn’t going to be any benchmark or average price. A couple of the factors to keep in mind are the audience you’re targeting and how competitive your industry is.
Purchasing ads during peak sales, such as black Friday, will always cost you more. Your placement choices are also going to play a big role. To determine an accurate budget, create a draft campaign in the ads manager.
Look at the estimated daily results and identify your audience definition. It’ll be easy to set up the right campaign when you know your estimated budget.
Choosing the Best Ad Formats
After determining your budget, you’ll need to decide which type of ad formats you’d like to use. You can use a variety of advertising formats that include automatic insta likes.
However, it’s best to understand the main objective each format helps with first. Some of the most popular Instagram ad formats include images, stories, videos, carousels, and collections. There are also IGTV, shopping, reels, and explore ads. By offering companies a wide range of advertising formats, Instagram makes it easy to meet your specific business goal.
Every advertising format will have a unique call-to-action opportunity. For instance, image ads typically have a call to action button. Also, it is necessary to mention that using a term like a store now and compelling images can drive sales.
Image ads are also great for encouraging users to install an app, visit your website, or reach out with questions. Instagram story ads are going to use a video or full-screen image. The story ads appear directly between users’ stories. Since Instagram users enjoy the app’s stories feature, you’ll be buying a guaranteed audience.
Engagement tends to be higher with story ads, and they work great for mobile devices. Unlike in-feed ads, story ads are interactive. They should feel just like regular ads as well. You can create organic Instagram story ads using special filters and interactive stickers. It’s also helpful if your story ads include carousels, photos, and videos.
Pairing Video Ads With the Right CTA
At the end of the ad, there can be a special swipe-up link. The swipe-up link will be your call to action. Moving beyond story ads, you can also look into video ads. Video ads give users the perfect opportunity to learn more about your services, product, and brand voice. You can create long video ads, but shorter content tends to be more effective.
Consider using carousel video ads if you’d like to showcase a feature. Carousel video ads use up to 10 videos.
Users can swipe through the videos as they learn your multi-part story. A carousel can also include still images. Since carousel ads work great for promoting catalog sales, it helps to pair them with collection ads.
Collection ads work wonders for e-commerce brands. Collection ads blend shopping ads and carousel ads. You’ll be able to introduce users to your products directly from your product catalog. Once the user is interested in your product, they can make a direct purchase right from the ad. Moving on, it’s in your best interest to look at what explore ads have to offer.
When to Use Explore Ads
Explore ads allow users to discover new accounts and content. The content will be tailored based on their previous usage habits. Instagram explore ads aren’t going to appear on the topic channels. Instagram users tend to use the explore feature every month. It’s an excellent way for your company to gain exposure.
Instead, the ad can appear after someone clicks on a photo or video from the exploring feature. The content in a user’s explorer tab is constantly changing.
You’ll be able to showcase your products and services alongside trending topics and culturally relevant posts. You can use videos and images to explore ads.
Some of the best supportive objectives of exploring ads include brand awareness and promoting lead generation. The best part is that you don’t need to design brand-new assets. Instead, you can reuse existing assets to help save time.
Understanding Format Specs
Did you want to take advantage of an ad designed for vertical full-screen viewing? Then an IGTV ad will be the best option.
IGTV ads are special videos that play once users watch an IGTV video from their feed. IGTV ads appear mid-roll, which means they pop up in the middle of the video. The ads can be up to 15 seconds long, and they work best for vertical full-screen viewing.
Sometimes these ads pop up with the option to skip. Users who have Instagram creator accounts can take advantage of IGTV ads. Individuals focusing solely on their e-commerce needs should invest in shopping ads.
Shopping Ads
Thanks to new shopping features, Instagram users are shopping more than ever. Many purchases can be made in-app, and Instagram checkout is fast and easy to use. Instagram shopping ads will take a user directly to your product description page.
From there, they can purchase through your mobile website. You’ll need an active Instagram shopping catalog to qualify for Instagram shopping ads. Finally, there are reel ads.
What About Instagram Reels?
Reels have been a successful Instagram feature for a while. Now Instagram is taking advantage of the success by allowing advertisements to appear within the reel experience. These ads work best for full-screen vertical videos using similar specifications as story ads.
A reel ad can be 30 seconds long, and it’s best if you include music or sound. Music and sound will help your advertisements fit in naturally.
Reel ads work best for supporting link clicks, post engagement, conversions, and brand awareness. Some of the best calls to action buttons will be “Add to Bag, and “View Products.”
Using Video to Create Instagram Advertising Campaigns
Now you know about all of the different ad formats for your Instagram campaign. While some formats use images, others rely on engaging video content. Instagram video content applies to stories, Instagram videos, Instagram live, and reels. If your ad blatantly stands out, users will just scroll past it.
You’ll need awe-inspiring content to stop the scroll and encourage users to watch your video ads. The type of content that can organically blend into the user’s feed. Since there are a ton of Instagram business profiles out there, you’ll need to do your best to create advertisements that have a natural feel.
You’ll be on the right track if you’re creating gorgeous video content that makes people want to watch it. Your content should also encourage the brand association to increase user interest. You can check out these tips to freshen up your video editing skills.
Work on focusing on one thing. Instead of overwhelming your audience with many different video ad angles, try to focus on one objective.
It’s also important that you don’t spam Instagram with too many ads. People will scroll past your ads as fast as possible if you over-promote your content.
Start a Successful Campaign With Social Media Platforms
Now you know how to create Instagram advertising campaigns that drive results! It’s all about choosing an ad format that makes sense. Then all you have to do is focus on finding ways to make your ads better than the competition.
Blending advertisements naturally with user feeds and creating compelling video content is a great start. Pick a video ad format today, and start designing some content to go with it.
Did you need more tips to help boost your marketing strategy? Look around the rest of our website for more friendly advice.
