Instagram’s one billion users make the platform a fertile ground for advertising. Companies big and small will be doing themselves a disservice if they don’t take advantage of this wide reach. If you own a business and have been running a Facebook page that has experienced a drastic dip in organic reach, you should consider pivoting to Instagram ads.
Then again, it is not as easy as it seems. Before designing an ad to push to the platform, it would serve you best to know the placement strategies, the proper way of targeting, the effective techniques of crafting visual content, and more.
Read on to find out the best practices in putting together and managing Instagram campaigns.
Ensure the efficiency of the ad with better targeting
One way of guaranteeing the success of your Instagram marketing strategy is precise targeting. You have the option to target four types of audiences: saved audience, custom audience, a lookalike audience, and a special ad audience.
Saved audience
This type refers to a target audience derived from an existing one. You must first segment an audience according to a specific location or demographic. You’ll be able to gauge the reach of the audience eligible to see your ad. Based on the settings, the ad will be shown on Facebook apps and services in the past 30 days.
Custom audience
This group enables you to build an audience from different sources that matter to you, including websites, emails, events, lead forms, and more. Facebook Pixel plays a vital role here. It’s a tool that allows you to keep tabs on people who have visited your website after viewing your ad. The pixel helps you track down the viewers independent of devices. You can create a custom audience targeting people doing particular things like adding products to their card, downloading your free resources, signing up forms, or purchasing a product.
Lookalike audience
This type targets people who are likely to do business with you based on their similarity with your existing consumer base. The smaller the audience, the more targeted your audience will be. You’ll be able to target people who have visited your Instagram page or profile or have engaged with the content you post.
Special ad audience
This group gives you the opportunity to reach new people who exhibit similar behavior as your other valuable customers. It uses existing customer information to reach new people. The audience hinges on factors like their credit, employment, or housing status. Those who don’t meet the criteria won’t be included.
Your ads shouldn’t explicitly look like ads
Audiences these days resonate more with organic content instead of hard-sell ads. It’s essential, then, that you put together eye-catching, high-quality creatives that don’t appear like “in your face” advertisements. Since Instagram is a visual-centric content platform, it pays to use attractive photographs or animation over cliche promotional posts.
To help you figure out which types of design your audience likes best, you should try A/B testing with different kinds of visuals. You can experiment with varying designs and deploy them alternately. Keep a close eye on the engagement rate, which will offer you detailed insight as to how your consumers respond.
Pick the best ad format
Lastly, it’s also important to choose the right dimension for your ads. Uploading poorly-cropped content will only ruin the design of your ad, and your campaign probably won’t be as effective.
Your target customers are most likely hanging out on social media, and Instagram is one that you should take advantage of to boost your business. Remember the tips above, so you can run successful Instagram ads.
If you’re looking for help in designing effective Instagram ads that convert, get in touch with us to see how we can help.
