Instagram is a popular social media site where users can share photos and video. This social media platform has millions of active users a month with over 80 million photos uploaded a day. Even more impressive, billions of photos are liked a day.
“Instagram is incredibly popular and has become a great place for paid advertising,” explains Issa Asad Florida businessman and entrepreneur. Mr. Asad is also a social media marketing expert, and is the CEO of Bond Media, Q Link Wireless, and Quadrant Holdings, all located in South Florida. Advertising on Instagram is more effective than ever with the launch of Carousel Ads, and a feature that allows for call-to-action buttons that lead to the advertising sites.
So, how can you make your advertising effective on Instagram? Read on for 3 tips to make effective Instagram ads.
1. Know Your Ad Options
Instagram has many ad formats, with four being the most commonly utilized. Photo Ads are the first type. These ads are pretty basic and feature one image with a sponsored icon in the corner with a simple call to action such as “Learn More” or “Shop Now”. Next is Carousel Ads, which let brands use multiple images in an ad. The name ‘Carousel’ is a reference to the fact that users can scroll through the photos horizontally and ads can tell sequential stories. They too feature a call to action that will let users find out more, but cannot promote mobile app downloads.
Video ads are particularly effective for reaching an audience– all a user has to do is scroll over the video to activate sound. Video ads are appealing and can also have a call-to-action button them that allows website direction or installation of a mobile app. Lastly, Marquee Ads allow brands to create a campaign for a single day that display various creative ads but also allow you access to the top of Instagram’s feed for maximum exposure.
2. Create Great Visual Ads
Ads with great visual content are going to stand out. Photo and video ads aren’t text content, they’re photos! Make sure that you have engaging and striking photos that grab the eye and make the viewer want to know more. The ad has to be visually effective and inspire the viewer to engage with it and click to know more. Images that are attention-grabbing and videos that are entertaining may draw more clicks than one that is relevant to your brand but easy to go past. Advertising execs know this to be true, so take a page out of their book and go for images that will stand out in an Instagram feed. Whether it’s a logo, concept-driven imagery, or great composition, a good visual ad will go a long way.
3. Employ Social Listening
Social listening is the process of looking to see what people are saying. Whether it’s looking at how many views and clicks an ad garners or reviewing the effectiveness of certain ads. Looking at this information can help you understand what people like, what they don’t, and what is piquing their interest.
Social chatting can also inform companies by seeing what or who is popular with an audience and amplifying those aspects in their advertising. Let’s say that users like a character from a certain commercial a company runs. That’s valuable advertising information that companies can implement, for instance running a series of ads that feature this character. It helps brands make informed decisions about what thrives and what needs to be tossed aside. It can also help them decide what types of ads to run and what they would like to feature. Social listening can help users figure out what works and what doesn’t and ultimately create more effective advertising.
