30% of all Instagram users have made a purchase from an Instagram ad or post so far.
With 1.2 billion active users worldwide, Instagram ads are your gateway to enhance brand visibility, generate leads & increase sales.
Brands & businesses are embracing Instagram ads for fabricating an impactful digital footprint via visual storytelling. Instagram ads empower marketers to stay relevant in the growing digital scenario.
But creating an effective Instagram ad that gets you leads requires a lot of time, efforts, money & A/B testing.
If you're struggling to get a positive ROI from your Instagram ads, we've listed a few tips that'll help you maximise conversions.
- What Are Instagram Ads?
- 10 Tips To Create Instagram Ads That Convert
- Insight On Instagram Ads Placement Options
- Best Practices To Create High Performing Instagram Ads
- How Statusbrew Helps Brands to Create Instagram Ads That Convert?
You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.
Click here to download detailed infographic on tips to create Instagram ads that convert.
What Are Instagram Ads?
With 200 million Instagrammers visiting a minimum of one business profile on the platform regularly, Instagram is the significant social media platform for marketers to promote their brands, businesses & products.
Instagram ads are the paid feed posts, short videos, carousels, stories that brands can use to reach out to the desired audience.
Though they look like regular Instagram content, ads on Instagram are labeled as 'Sponsored.' You can use CTAs like 'Swipe Up,' 'Sign in,' 'Shop now,' to entice your users to visit your website or to buy your product.
As a visual storytelling platform, Instagram ads are images or sets of images or videos accompanied by text.
Primarily utilized to grow website traffic, brand exposure, generate new leads, and move current leads down the sales funnel, Instagram ads help brands reach more extensive and more targeted audience.
Image Source: Leverage Edu Instagram
Why You Should Run Instagram Ads?
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Organic marketing strategies may seem cost-effective, but it is time-consuming. Brands & businesses have to rely on a lot of trial and error to reach the set goal organically coping up with Instagram algorithm. Hence it is crucial to amalgamate both paid and organic efforts.
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As per stats, 11% of U.S. social media users use Instagram for shopping. Beside engagement with brands on Instagram is ten times higher than Facebook. If we analyze the holistic view of Instagram traffic, 60% households with yearly income above $100,000 use Instagram.
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For high conversion brands can create multiple Instagram accounts with minutely segmented audience & can run ads on each of the accounts to reach out to the ideal prospects. It ensures delivering the right message to the right people at the right time.
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Instagram ads provide you the insights into metrics. You can monitor the success of your ad campaigns in real-time and gain information about your conversion rate.
Read More: How to Manage Multiple Instagram Accounts From Your Phone Or Desktop
Instagram Ad Cost Statistics
How much does it cost on Instagram Ads?
Instagram ad cost varies based on the industry competition. However, the average Instagram CPC is around $0.50 – $1.00.
For industries like travel & apparel, due to high competition, Instagram ad cost can boost up to $3.50 per click.
In 2021, the average CPM cost for Instagram ads is between $2 – $20.
Instagram ads also have a high ROI. The average of per referred sale on Instagram is $65. Instagram posts have a high conversion rate of 1.08%.
10 Tips To Create Instagram Ads That Convert
A precisely planned campaign on Instagram can supercharge your social media marketing process. Check out the tips to create Instagram ads that effectively produce results.
1. Focus On A Single Goal
To create effective Instagram ads, setting up a specific goal is vital to attain positive results. Hence before stepping into the process, make sure to prepare a strategy.
Ask yourself what is the purpose of that ad. Do you want to sell a particular product, or do you want to educate your audience about your business or want to create ads that can generate leads.
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Along with setting up goals, make sure to figure out your set of the target audience. Develop and analyze your buyer personas.
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Instagram allows you to target an audience based on their occupation, age, hobbies, and interests, among other criteria. Assess your audience's corresponding demographics & psychographics.
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Suppose you have an extensively diverse product line & a noticeable diverse audience. In that case, it is always advisable to create multiple profiles with segmented audience to create ads that can generate more sales.
2. Keep Your Message Short & Straight
No one wants to spent time reading an ad, so your Instagram ad message should be short, crisp, engaging, and to the point. Mainly when you create an 'Instagram Story ad, 'sponsored' label is displayed on the top right corner of your post.
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The label reveals that your post is your paid activity, and often when the viewers notice an ad, they have a tendency to tap or swipe away from your story.
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To develop & place an ad on Instagram stories that can generate conversion, catchy & easy to read messages are vital.
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Add text & images on the creative with easily digestible content. Check out @nike Instagram story ads to get inspiration & understand the know-how of creating straightforward, astute content that delivers core messages aptly to diverse groups of prospects.
Image Source: The Insta Hustle
3. Add A Clear Call To Action
Another vital parameter to high-performing ads on Instagram is to create a clear call to action. Instagram ads support CTA buttons such as, Apply Now, Book Now, Call Now, Contact Us, Get Directions, Learn More, Get Showtimes, Download, etc.
CTAs on the ads are buttons asking your audience to do an activity that leads them to your sales funnel. To create Instagram ads that convert, it's crucial to choose & set up strong CTAs because they guide people on what to do & how to do it after your ad pitch.
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Create CTA aligning to the goals of your ad; clear CTAs add context to your advertisement; it compels your prospects to take action & also displays your brand's personality.
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According to a survey, carousels on Instagram get 1.92% more engagement than any other Instagram format. To get more leads in your sales funnel, create carousel ads on Instagram with an impactful call-to-action.
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Also, to entice viewers to engage with the rest of the carousel, including the word "swipe" or word phrase "swipe left."
Image Source: Facebook Ad Business
4. Optimize Text In Instagram Ads
Instagram users are cautious of sponsored posts, and to draw their attention away from the 'Sponsored' tag, you need to be creative & strategic in positioning texts on your ads.
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Place your core message or graphics in the center of the screens, or you can place it to the closest position to the 'swipe up' link.
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Due to decreased audience attention, make sure to fully utilize the first few seconds of your ad to hook your audience. While it comes to advertising on Instagram, each second is potential to convert prospects to customers.
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Attaining the audience's attention boosts the click rates in the ads, resulting in enhancing the probability of buying a product.
5. Use Hashtags Properly
Hashtags can be incredibly useful to create Instagram ads that connect more of your target audience. Explore the platform to find out your industry-specific & ad specific trending hashtags.
Ensure to apply the most relevant hashtags to your ad, motivating people to interact with ads & search for hashtags that establish clear two-way communication.
Besides, applying hashtags on your ads makes it easier for people to find out. You can combine hashtags according to the level of popularity and use them to expand your ad reach.
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Use your brand's name & physical address as a hashtag. You can use the search function on Instagram to begin mining ideas or look at what hashtags competitors are using.
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However, while using the hashtags, do not go overboard & refrain from using the limit of 30 hashtags. Choose five to ten relevant hashtags aligning with your ad's core message.
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Using the absolute limits creates the perception of unprofessionalism and desperation. Also, you can use different tools like Statusbrew to monitor the performance of your hashtags.
6. Audio & Captioning
Instagram ads with audios have 60% more viewers. So the key to getting the attention of your users is to add music to Instagram story ads.
Next time you place an ad on stories, try out a voice-over or a music or any relevant sound effects. Check out brands like @calm, @juicycouture to understand how to use audio impactfully on your story ads!
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Another factor to consider is compelling ad captions. Ensure to use relevant, concise, and accurate caption on your ads.
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Carefully amalgamate appropriate emojis, hashtags & minutely chosen words to your caption. It humanizes your products or services and potentially creates more attention towards your ad.
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However, remember that focus of your Instagram ad is the images, so ensure to avoid wordiness on your captions. Also, check out the spelling, punctuations & avoid making any grammatical errors which can negatively impact your brand image.
Image Source: Happy Wagon Instagram
7. Focus On Using Effective Video Ads
Video has a significant presence on the platform. Use different types of videos as your key to improve your ad metrics. Just like Facebook, Instagram videos have the potential to drive more clicks to your ads.
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Ensure to add motion to your Instagram story ads.
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Followers usually get more engaged with video creatives with motion rather than static images.
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Along with the videos, create GIFs using high-quality images. Motions usually create more emotion on followers, and gradually it enriches the chances of converting.
8. Carousel Instagram Story Ads For Detailed Message
Carousel ads are comparatively a new edition to Instagram. These ads empower the advertisers to deliver a sequenced story over several parts. Consider to use carousel ads to deliver a longer message.
Carousel ads are perfect for any industry with multiple product lines or that want to depict the ad with multiple prespectives.
When you creatively place the broad product development story, it automatically captures the audience's attention. With implementing the correct call to action button & a detailed message, carousel ads have high chances to create an effective ad funnel for sales.
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It is crucial to be highly creative with carousel ads, also; try to deliver your product message in a way where you can depict how it can solve an issue.
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Make sure to incorporate your ad with animated text as well to make it more engaging. The percentage of text in the image should be 20% or less.
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Here are a few things to keep in mind regarding the design and technical requirements before crafting your ad. The maximum number of photos/videos that can be used on a carousel ad is 10 & the maximum video size or length is up to 4 GB for 60 seconds.
Image Source: Sahil Shah Instagram
9. Define Your Ad Budget
Ad budget and schedule also impacts the success of your ad campaign. Analyze & understand how much money you require to invest in getting profitable ROI. Primarily four core factors determine Instagram advertising cost: bid amount, ad relevancy score, estimated action rates & competition.
Your chosen bid amount influences the amount you want to spend on your Instagram advertising campaign. Instagram bid rates are higher, hence to get more clicks & impressions set a higher budget.
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Choose a daily budget that runs an ad indefinitely, spending up an allotted amount each day. However, you can set the start date & end date for your campaign.
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Choosing a lifetime budget allows brands to select a specific schedule for their ads to run. It empowers the advertisers to select days and times to display the ads to thier audience according to the best ad placement time.
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As a beginner, you can let the Ad Manager choose your budget automatically because the ad management system is designed to bring you maximum ad value. Or you can go to the budget setting and customize the spending limit & bid cap.
10. Target Lookalike Audience
Ad Manager allows you to choose the set of lookalike audience who are already engaged with your content. Use this feature to maximize your ad reach & boost content engagement.
Lookalike audience are a audience segmentation tool, and it explores users whose demographics and interests match your existing followers.
Lookalike audience can be created through Facebook Ad Manager. Create & implement this segment of audience to find high-converting users efficiently.
Consider following steps to create a lookalike audience in Ad Manager:
- Open Ad Manager & go to the 'Audience'. Now select 'Create Audience' dropdown menu & click on 'Lookalike Audience.'
- Follow the process by choosing the source audience. Your source audience can be a 'Custom Audience'.
- Select the country where you'd like to explore a similar set of people & choose the audience size, and click on Create Audience.
To create your lookalike audience, it may take from six to twenty-four hours for review & approval. Remember that your source audience requires to have a minimum of 100 users from the single country to use it as a base for lookalike audience.
Also, from one single source audience, you can create up to 500 lookalike audience. Ad Manager allows you to use multiple 'Lookalike Audience' simultaneously for a single ad set on Instagram.
Note: The fastest way to reach your prospects is through influencers. Instagram influencers already have a large audience. Influencers have the potential to impact your prospects buying decisions.
When you collaborate with an influencer on Instagram for your ads, your prospects perceive it as information coming from an authentic & reliable source rather than a brand.
To create high-performing Instagram ads, get started with Instagram influencer marketing & drive substantial sales. Collaborate with relevant micro-influencers who have an authentic voice & who are already interested in your niche to create a lasting impression!
Image Source: priti_goundar Instagram
Insight On Instagram Ads Placement Options
Instagram allows brands & businesses to place two types of ads: Story ads and Feed ads.
Instagram Story Ads
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Instagram stories offers a full-screen 1080 x 1920 vertical image or video; the image or video covers the entire mobile screen. After the end of a story on the platform, the following story automatically begins. The story ads are immaculately placed between the stories.
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Instagram story ads are more economical. The duration of Instagram stories is 15 seconds; place your ad image or videos or motions on the stories within that specific time frame. It helps your ads be consistent with the native stories shared on the platforms, & it does not abruptly catch attention as the paid effort, which otherwise may be ignored by your prospects.
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Instagram story ads also supports carousel ads. A brand that wishes to display a fixed number of carousel cards has the option to choose expansion. Choose ad manager & select Instagram stories as the exclusive placement for your ads.
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Another thing to remember is the cost of an Instagram story ad. Story Ads cost by the impression they receive not by watch time. Irrespective of the fact that whether your users have seen your ad for a second or for the entire 15 seconds, you have to pay equally. So precisely use the initial time frame of the story ads by creating attention-grabbing and exciting content so that your audience is hooked.
Image Source: BossBabe Instagram
Instagram Feed Ads
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Instagram's feed ads cater to multiple image sizes: landscape, vertical, and square. Real-life photos on the feeds perform well as Instagram feed ads.
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While developing the copy for Instagram ads, make sure to create a compelling first sentence. While scrolling through the ads on the feeds, prospects generally see only a section of your Instagram captions, so ensure to use it the most impactful way.
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Use a catchy opening sentence & impliment CTAs. Instagram allows users to use up to 2,000 characters to caption or copy, write your copy on Ads Manager. Accordingly, it will appear on your Instagram. Use CTAs in the caption or use buttons on feed ads; feed ads do not allow to place a CTA on the image.
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Craft your message & get your desired activity like shop, sign in, or start order. Instagram feed ads also support videos up to sixty seconds, and you can place a carousel ad as well.
Note: Videos on Instagram are growing like wildfire. Among USA's Instagram users watching videos on the Instagram feed is the third most popular activity. While creating videos and make sure to consider the following points.
Be creative, as users on Instagram are already consuming too much content. So make sure to add the unique elements on your ads that insist the users tap them from the very first moment it's displayed to them.
To spark interest, create short and swift videos. Use the first four seconds for the video to tactically use the audience's attention.
Add polling stickers to the ads to gain engagement. To get the desired result & to increase sales, post videos at your best posting time.
Best Practices To Create High Performing Instagram Ads
Here are a few Instagram ad best practices that will help you to push your products and services to a greater audience and possibly, bring new customers for you:
Ensure To Use Different Ad Formats
As a platform for advertising, Instagram has swiftly gained popularity due to its provision of diverse advertising and posting options. It is not always about posting an ad for new user's feed. The best market for new products and services can be provided by your existing customers, followers, and friends.
And to present these new products and services to them, you should always be trying out different formats of posts and features on Instagram. Don't always stick to one configuration of posts and stories.
Target Segmented Audience
Instagram has a varied number of segments regarding its customers. Not all content is relevant to all segments of customers.
A specific advertisement may be relevant to one particular segment of customers, while at the same time, being irrelevant to another segment.
In a situation like that, presenting the same advertisement to all of your customers and friends will yield minimum positive outcomes while increasing your costs. Hence, you should use the analytical tools provided by Instagram to break your followers into segments.
Find out what kind of content each of your segments is attracted to and impressed by, and then prepare your ad accordingly.
It brings more positive results while keeping your costs within control. Also you can cretae multiple account to reach out to your specific target group.
Rely on Instagram Friendly Images
A particular ad may work very well on one platform but may fail miserably on Instagram. This is because not all images are equally suited for Instagram.
A study conducted by Curalate has shown that most Instagram users are attracted to and prefer images that have a lower saturation, with a bluish tint, a lot of visual texture, and, most importantly, one single dominant color.
Refrain using repurposed posts or ads running on other social platforms as Instagram alters the size of the image to fit in the screens. It sometimes ends up in cropped images, or you may miss input from your post. All these factors can negatively impact your ad performance & brand image as well.
Optimal Hours Posting
One of Instagram's best practices for ads is to analyse these optimal hours when the traffic is high. Posting ads on the optimal hours ascertain that you swiftly reach a greater audience in a shorter period.
You should post during the hours when your target audience most active. It ensures your ad is reaching to the right audience.
On Instagram numerous posts are being made at all times. So, there are significant possibilities that your users' feeds are being updated after every few minutes. If you don't post on the optimal hours, your customers and followers may miss your ad post.
Focus On Developing Contextually Relevant Content
It is always essential for you to create relevant content to develop meaningful ads. When you create contextually relevant ad content, it makes the most sense to your customers and attracts more positive outcomes.
On Instagram, ad content is widely spread, and the available ad information becomes overwhelming; also, it confuses users. Users often filter content that is irrelevant to them. They look for ads which can cater their needs at a specfic point of their user journey. Rest of the ads are simply noise for them.
Image Source: Taboola Instagram
So create ad content that always support a motive; it should address an issue. Also, make sure that your ad content is self-explanatory. Don't use an image or a video just because it looks attractive.
By creating relevant and informative ads, you display to your prospects that your ads have something important to offer which can benefit them.
How Statusbrew Helps Brands To Create Instagram Ads That Convert?
To maximize conversions from your Instagram Ads, you need to proactively manage comments on all your Instagram ad posts.
Statusbrew removes the complexity of managing Instagram ad posts and eliminates the everyday hassle of dealing with Instagram ad comments.
All your comments, ad comments, mentions, direct messages across different Instagram profiles are delivered to your Engage inbox in real time.
With Statusbrew, hide, delete or disable unwanted comments on your posts, regular and dynamic ads. Ban spam bots & trolls automatically.
Book a demo today with Statusbrew to boost your Instagram ad campaign & to create high-performing ads.
Statusbrew is a unified Social Media Management tool that supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, and even Google My Business.!
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