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Since its launch in the year 2010, Instagram has rapidly gained users’ admiration. No doubt, the app now has over 1 billion followers who share and create visual content for Instagram. With the introduction of new updates such as stories, filters, etc. instagram story ads have also become wildly popular.
These followers also include businesses, as organizations from multiple industries were quick in catching the Instagram-fever. With an increase in businesses on Instagram, came the opportunity to utilize Instagram ads for improved brand outreach and increased user interaction.
Although businesses have the ability to attract a dedicated audience toward their brand and specific products, there’s still confusion on how to go about selecting images, formats whether to use videos or just images with copy on them. In this article, we are going to discuss just that.
Formats Used On Instagram for Advertising
Before we move on to the tips for Instagram ads, let’s understand the actual cost of advertising on Instagram and the type of adds that you can utilize on your Instagram profile:
1. Carousel
Carousel ads have multiple pictures, each with a CTA that allows the viewer to visit the website for better understanding.
2. Video
Video ads have video content that is beautiful and appealing. Instagram now allows users to put video ads of up to 30 seconds in vertical as well as landscape modes.
3. Photo
Photo ads contain images which are created to attract the attention of the user. These adds are created to either spread awareness or generate clicks.
4. Other Types
There are other types of ads, which are frequently utilized on Instagram:
- Stories ads
- Explore ads
- Collection ads
- IGTV ads
- Shopping ads
5 Tips for Instagram Ads That You Should Know
While it is hard to measure the success of an ad campaign before trying it, some factors can help you improve your chances of success. Here are these factors:
1. Natural and Appealing images
Instagram was originally launched to share pictures. Let’s not forget this because fantastic images are widely popular across Instagram. So, give maximum focus to the appealing nature of the images that are being used for the Instagram ad.
Some things that should be kept in mind to improve recall, reputation, and sales through the ad are:
- The images that are being used should look natural. In fact, these images should look naturally attractive.
- The images should be of high-quality. Hence, don’t take blur, low-resolution, or even average quality pictures.
The reason behind using natural and appealing images is simple: your ad should look normal and natural. This will encourage your audience to view the ad rather than skipping the ad as soon as it appears on the screen. This will help your ad campaign to blend in, thus, allowing you to improve the conversion of the ad.
2. Effective Yet Indirect Branding
Of course, ads are utilized to brand your product or business. The purpose of the ad campaign is pretty obvious. But, it is not necessary to make it look obvious.
As already discussed in the previous pointer, your images and graphics should look natural so that these ads blend in. It also includes not making the ad sound like a sales pitch to the user.
Here’s what you can do avoid making your ad campaign look like a sales pitch:
- Don’t let your logo or company graphics overshadow the original picture.
- Instead, allow your graphic to promote your brand indirectly and effectively.
The idea here is to avoid your branding to overpower the campaign. Most of the people are there on Instagram to find engaging content, and your over-branding might not suit their preferences. This means that these users will scroll quickly through your ad without even glancing.
Brand yourself, don’t try to dictate the outcome.
3. Fewer Words = Better Ad
If you look at it, then Instagram allows marketers to use up to 2,200 characters in the ad. But, then, more than 2 rows will be cut off from the campaign text. The ad will have a ‘more’ link to read more, and it is practically a hassle for your users to click on it.
So, each and every word counts on Instagram, quite literally!
Other than this, it is necessary to remember that a major part of your audience may only see the image. For this reason, your image should tell a story that you are trying to convey through the Instagram ad.
There’s a reason that a 20% text limit is not placed on Instagram ads like Facebook ads. This is because Instagram ads are already unlikely to reach a very large audience if there’s too much text on the image.
Be crisp; let the picture speak for your brand.
4. Test and Analyze Your Ads
If you have utilized a campaign sometime in the past and received good results, it is not necessary that a similar ad campaign will work now. Before putting all your ad budget in this ad campaign, test the campaign.
Run some analytics to find out more about your audience, their preferences, and intent. Once you have the user persona, match your campaign with these requirements. If it passes, put some money on this ad at first. If it doesn’t, brainstorm and make a new ad campaign.
The market is consistently evolving, so older ads don’t always stay relevant.
Use innovation to make better ad campaigns.
5. Facebook and Instagram Ads, Not Same
There’s a difference in Facebook and Instagram ads. For that matter, there’s a difference in every ad campaign on every platform. Don’t duplicate your ads on each platform alike.
- Instagram has young users. Many of these users are women. So considering these factors, Instagram ads have to be created in a different way. For instance, young individuals like to see innovative ads.
- Compared to Facebook, your young users are more likely to convert on Instagram. The users on this platform are more inclined towards engaging with innovative brands.
Therefore, as far as advertising is concerned, don’t replicate your efforts on every platform in a similar manner.
Make new, more engaging ad campaigns for Instagram.
Conclusion
Instagram can help you achieve more conversion and improve your brand outreach. However, for this outcome, you need to make your ad campaigns better and more engaging. Your images have to high-quality and attractive, and your text needs to be on point. If you are successful in implementing all these measures, you are set to see an upward trajectory. You can conquer the social media ad space now that you know how to advertise on Instagram.
