Are you looking to invest in Instagram ads to generate leads for your sales funnel?
Do you want to make sure you aren’t going in blind so as to waste spend?
This is everything you need to know about Instagram ads.
Instagram ads have been around since 2013 but were only available to a select few big brands.
Since they were made available to everyone, businesses have started to get themselves familiar with this new source to become masters of it.
So what opportunities do Instagram ads provide you with?
I will explain everything you need to know including some great ideas to get you started.
Your Instagram ads will look pretty much the same as your normal Instagram posts with the difference being that the ad will include a clickable button.
Instagram specifically wanted to have ads blend in with all of the other posts on the feed.
You can tell which posts are sponsored because it will have the word “sponsored” to the right of the username.
Users will be able to do the same things on your sponsored post as they would on an organic post including liking and commenting.
The addition is that users will be able to click through to your landing page via a clickable button that is not on organic posts.
We all know how frustrating it has been posting about a product only not to be able to add a link to that product.
Now we have a way… even if we do have to pay for it.
A report was done by GlobalWebIndex on the demographics of Instagram users, and it found that user base of Instagram is young and affluent.
This is like music to many business owner and markets ears.
Tapping into a market that is affluent is something that is attractive to all businesses.
The even better news is that Instagram is still growing which is why it is such a great time to jump on it if you haven’t already.
In fact eMarketer found that Instagram is growing faster than any other social media network.
Ben & Jerry’s was one of the first big brands to test Instagram ads with the goal of wanting to increase brand awareness.
As a result, they reached 9.8 million people, had a 33-point increase in ad recall and 17% more people became aware of their brand.
The reason why it has taken so long for Instagram ads to circulate is because when it was released, it was only available to brands who had already established success on Instagram.
That rule has been scrapped since then and now everyone, and anyone can advertise on Instagram.
You are able to advertise on Instagram using your Facebook business manager.
From there, setting up your Instagram ads is almost the same as setting up your Facebook ads because it is done on the same platform.
Now that you know what Instagram ads are and why you should be using them let’s get to the good stuff… ideas you can use for your Instagram ads to generate leads for your sales funnel.
I always say to use channels in the way that they want you to use it.
Instagram want ads to blend naturally into the feed and not interrupt user experience.
His is pretty much the same motto that Facebook has about their ads.
I have listed some great ideas you can use for your ads that will stay in keeping with what Instagram wants.
A great way to sell your product without being pushy is to take your audience behind the scenes.
I’m sure you agree that to sell, you need to build a relationship.
Even though many businesses know this, though, they don’t interpret this into their Instagram ads.
One way you can connect with your audience is to treat them to sneak peeks behind the scenes so that they get to know you better.
Behind the scenes could be of how your product is made, meeting the team who works on your product or anything else.
There is no better way to blend your ads naturally into Instagram than to post inspirational photos which are what Instagram was made for.
Instagram is a visual social media source that was made for people all over the world to share beautiful images.
You can get creative with this and shoot some great unique inspirational photos that your target audience can relate to.
A company that does this very well is Levi’s:
As you can see in the above image, they haven’t just taken a photo of their product on a model.
They have created a whole scene that is absolutely beautiful to look at.
This is a perfect ad that will blend into their target audience’s Instagram feed perfectly.
Do you know who can sell you product better than anyone? Your customers.
You can use your blog, social media and email to ask your customers to send in their photos of them using our product.
You can then use these photos for your Instagram ads and tag the person that took the photo so your audience can see that others are using your product.
You can even accompany this with a quick success story from the customer.
For example, if you have financial management software, you could ask customers to send photos of them using your software and accompany it with “say congrats to @[customer] who has reduced their expenses by 10%.”
This is a much more gentle and valued way to sell your product than if you were to post a logo and mention your products features.
Starbucks certainly know how to use customer photos to promote their product on Instagram ads:
You have probably already seen the carousel ads on Facebook however you might not have known that you can also create carousel ads on Instagram.
Your product offers so many benefits that you want to shout out about, but it can be hard to do that in such a small ad space.
This is where carousel ads come into play.
They allow you to include multiple products, benefits, etc. into one single ad.
I have written plenty before about how storytelling is the best way to sell your product so you want to interpret this into your Instagram ads.
You can tell your story by creating carousel ads.
You can add multiple images so that your ad tells a story rather than state one thing about your product.
This will help to achieve your goal of generating leads for your sales funnel.
Below is an example carousel ad from GMC who have really captured the concept of these storytelling ads:
Up until recently, Instagram only allowed for image ads.
Now you can create video ads to pique truly your audience interests.
Treat Instagram videos ads like any other form of video marketing:
Instagram video ads only last up to 60 seconds so you only have a short space of time to stop them, engage them and convince them.
This is not an impossible mission, though, you can read about how to use storytelling in your sales videos on our “The Essential Guide To Storytelling In Your Sales Videos” blog post.
Now that you are equipped with some great ideas for your Instagram ads let’s see how Instagram ads compare with Facebook ads.
It is no secret that Facebook is the giant of social media networks and has influenced the modern day social media we have today.
While nobody is arguing that Facebook is the giant, that does not mean to say that the new kids on the block like Instagram can’t give Facebook a run for their money.
Instagram came at the right time when people were using their mobile devices to browse images from their friends, family, celebs and favorite brands.
They really took on board that visuals are what matter and that mobile were the future.
Both Facebook and Instagram offer great opportunities for your business and are closely connected since Facebook owns Instagram however they do have their differences:
Neither one can replace the other, and both have their advantages for their different user base demographics.
It is not a case of Instagram vs. Facebook; it is a case of how to strategize to take advantage of both.
Launching your first Instagram ad campaign is exciting.
You want to make a great first impression on this new audience so take your time to plan carefully what they will want to see from you on their feed and not what you want them to see.
Have you tried Instagram ads yet?
What happened?
Share your stories by leaving your comments below.
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I want to to do it but instagram send me directly to facbook ads when i want to make instagram ads i dont know why ? I just want to look and apear like u mentioned