Instagram offers marketers a great opportunity to reach their target audiences. No matter how big or small your business is Instagram is a great place to advertise and here’s why? Instagram has grown into a social media community of more than 800 million active users. With that kind of size and activity, it has become one of the leading social media networks to spend your advertising budget.
However as more brands and companies join the Instagram platform and make use of its huge access to users and consumers, the feed becomes more competitive and it can be harder to stand out. There are no guarantees in business, but there are things that you can do that’ll increase your chances of success. Here are 4 Instagram advertising tips to help you get better results and increase your success from this platform.
1: Be Familiar With & Use Different Ad Types
There is a wide range of ad formats available when advertising on Instagram. The four most popular ad formats are:
i) Photo Ads – which are single images, have a small “Sponsored” icon in the top-right corner of the post. These are the most common types of ads on the Instagram news feed.
ii) Carousel Ads – allow you to include a number of different images in the same ad in a horizontal scrolling format. They let you show multiple product offerings or allow you tell sequenced stories through the use of different images.
iii) Video Ads – are a great way to reach Instagram’s audience and provide the most engagement. People love watching videos, they act as a great source of engagement for brands.
iv) Story Ads – are ads that are shown in the story section of users profiles. As a person is checking their stories section your ad can appear depending on the targeting options you select. These can be videos or images.
Each ad type has its own benefits. Using different ad types will allow you to see which types of ads work best for your business and which give you the most positive results.
2: Target Your Main Audience
Getting your ads in front of the right people is key to maximising results. Due to Instagram’s integration with Facebook, it uses their detailed targeting capabilities. By having this available through Instagram you have the opportunity to use their advanced targeting features such as custom & lookalike audiences, gender, age, location, engaged shoppers, language, interests and lots more. These detailed features will help to improve your results whether that is click-through rate or purchases. Your audience can be made precise and your ads can be shown to people who are likely interested in your products/services. Carefully determine and think who is your target audience and then create ad campaigns specifically for them.
3: Use #hashtags
Using hashtags helps you get additional exposure organically on Instagram. By using popular hashtags and ones that are relevant to your business, you will give your posts a good chance of being seen by people who are searching that hashtag. It is an effective marketing tactic as long as the hashtag fits your brand. There are a number of online resources for finding popular hashtags that you can use for your business.
You can also create your own hashtags to inspire your audience to use the same hashtag when they are interacting with your brand or using your products. Branding your own hashtags will make your hashtags unique and recognisable. They will only be attached to content centred around your business and they are a great way to increase your reach and build a loyal community. If you don’t have a large following, it may take awhile before your branded hashtags are widely popular. However, if you create a successful hashtag it will result in an amazing user-generated collage of your brand and its products/services.
4: Use A Good Call To Action
Calls to action guide people to take a certain action. For example, do you want to generate more sales? Then you should go with the “Shop Now” button. If you are using organic Instagram posts or brand awareness advertising then adding a call to action (CTA) isn’t ideal. Even though brand awareness is important, you’re probably more interested in seeing results from your ads. CTA’s encourage your audience to engage with your business in a specified way or take a particular action desired by your ad. Instagram offers a lot of different CTA’s, some of these include: shop now, learn more, download, install, sign up and lots of more options. It is important to remember to choose the right CTA that aligns with the goals of your advertisement and campaign.
Instagram has one of the most engaged audiences out of all the social media platforms available today. If you haven’t given Instagram advertising a try then you’re missing out on a great marketing opportunity. Not only do your ads get seen by millions and specific audiences, they also get remembered. With these tips, you bring growth and huge success to your brand. If you would like to learn more about using Instagram advertising to help your business then call us today on 021-234-8038 or visit us online today and book a consultation.