Instagram has emerged as one of the largest and most lucrative platforms in the world, generating more than $51 billion in a single year. Because of this, you’ll gain some traction when you learn the ins and outs of Instagram advertising.
The social media outlet is a hotbed of potential leads and customers when you figure out how to target the right people and market effectively. We’re happy to get you started in the right direction.
Here’s what you should know about advertising on Instagram successfully.
The Benefits of Advertising on Instagram
There are plenty of benefits that you will enjoy when you choose to advertise on Instagram. Knowing these benefits can help you leverage the platform and make sure that you’re taking steps to improve your sales, profits, and overall brand recognition.
Knowing these advantages will help point you in the right direction so that you can start off on the right note. Here are some reasons Instagram advertising can pay off for you.
It’s a Highly Visual Medium
Each social media platform has its benefits, and the biggest strength of Instagram is that it is a visually intensive medium. People post their photos and short videos, complete with filters, effects, graphics, captions, and more.
It’s a platform that is easy to scroll, and people use their visuals to tell stories one post at a time. This works in your favor when you’re trying to figure out your social media advertising strategy.
There are roughly 5 billion people that use social media platforms today, so it pays to get to know the pros and cons of each, and then reverse engineer your marketing plan from there.
The Audience Is Huge
If you’re considering making a plan to advertise on Instagram, keep in mind that this is where much of the world congregate. Instagram is a platform owned by Facebook that attracts people from all demographics all over the world.
You won’t have to worry about finding your next customers, since this is one of the best platforms for raising your brand awareness. The platform also allows you to pinpoint specific subsets of customers with your ads.
Just like online reviews teach people all about your company, you can also use social media advertising to get the word out about your brand. It’s easier to do that when you advertise places that so many people frequent.
Companies Get More Engagement on Instagram
It’s not just about finding an audience – you need to also choose a platform with the most engaged audience. Instagram fits the bill since this outlet gives you plenty of opportunities for engagement.
People will have the chance to comment on your ads and share them with people in their network. This level of engagement will also let you communicate with people in real time and answer questions as they come along.
There’s an art to advertising on social media effectively, and you will be able to use some trial and error with Instagram while still getting results.
An engagement rate between 3% and 6% is great on Instagram, and you can quickly put up these kinds of numbers when your Instagram ad is well-designed and executed.
You Can Grab People’s Attention
Short attention spans are among the biggest matters that you have to deal with in this day and age. With this in mind, Instagram is one of the best platforms around for capturing people’s attention without being intrusive.
People go to Instagram for shorts, stills, and quick-hit content, so you will have a short period of time to make an impression. Keep this in mind when figuring out how to advertise on Instagram so that your ads make the most use of time and jump out at people effectively.
Because of this, you can leverage this attention in steering people toward your other forms of marketing. Mixing your Instagram ads with your blog, YouTube channel, and other outlets can help make you a more effective marketer as a whole.
It’s Cost-Effective
You will find that your money is well-spent when you choose to advertise on Instagram. Advertisements are more expensive on other outlets without necessarily giving you the return on investment (ROI) that you’re looking for.
The cost to advertise on Instagram is well worth it when you consider the results. This helps you create and spend your marketing budget more wisely.
Tips for Advertising on Instagram
Now that you know more about the benefits of advertising on Instagram, it’s time to understand how you can capitalize and get the most out of this platform. Posting quality content on Instagram is a winning strategy that plenty of companies and brands have been able to take advantage of.
Here are some of the main ways that you can win big using Instagram advertising:
Focus on Creativity First
Recognize that the internet and social media are filled with things grasping at people’s attention from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. Because of this, you can’t be just ordinary when trying to vie for a piece of that attention.
Always make creativity your main priority when you’re creating any sort of Instagram ad campaign, and recognize that the sky is the limit. Figure out what makes your brand unique and special, and make sure that your ads always reflect those values. Make sure that you’re expressing your points in a creative way and take advantage of different color psychology principles.
Use some test groups to get a feel for how people are responding to your ads, and allow this information to guide you as you tweak and fine-tune it.
Know the Intent and Goals of Your Ads
Your next step is to make sure that you are setting and reaching goals, rather than just arbitrarily creating ads. Knowing what you hope to accomplish upfront will dictate how you go about designing and executing your ad strategies.
Some goals that you might want to see with your Instagram ad strategies include:
- Generating more traffic
- Growing your follower base
- Gaining more brand awareness and recognition
- Directing people to a new sale, discount, product, or promotion
- Building an e-mail list or other important marketing tool
- Getting people to download and install your app
- Improving your video viewership
Each aspect of your Instagram ad strategy requires some attention, and this starts by setting the big goals first. By having these broader goals in mind, you can then reverse engineer and small chunk the goals until you have accomplished them one by one.
You will also have access to analytics that you can use to stay on track with your goals and make sure that you’re achieving them.
Create Motion Whenever Possible
While Instagram is filled with still shots, you’ll stand a better chance of breaking through the noise when you decide to incorporate motion. This will pique people’s interest and stop the in their tracks, gaining you more reach than you could get from a still photo alone.
Motion is such a powerful tool because it creates stories and makes it easier for you to create an emotional response. Instagram also has a story portion of the platform that gets incredible engagement and allows you more latitude to create and leverage emotion. The use of motion is also novel and eye-catching, which will help you keep attention spans and hit your target market.
Converting videos to Gifs is a powerful tool, and they are highly shareable. This gives you more of a chance to go viral and to gain traction with different subsets of customers.
Leverage Your Current Audience First
Many branders make the mistake of trying to spread their net too widely when they’re first starting out. Instead of doing this, use your established audience as a trusted test group. These are followers and customers who are already buying what you’re selling, so you can test your hypothesis on people you already understand.
It’s best to get your trial and error out of the way in this low-risk environment. From there, you can expand your campaign and scale it by branching out to new and different groups of customers and followers. Make your initial campaigns as organic as possible so that you’re able to express your brand personality authentically.
Gather some impressions on what organic aspects of your market work and what doesn’t work. From there, you can extract these points and use them when you formally begin creating your ad campaigns on a broader scale.
Include a Link in Your Bio
Having a link that you can include in your bio is one of the most important steps that you can take. This is the link that will drive significant traffic to whatever you consider your major hub. You will get high click-through rates (CTR) since you are only allowed to post a single link in your bio.
This lets you leverage the attention that you generate with your Instagram advertising, in addition to creating a clear avenue for getting conversions.
Timing Is Everything
Instagram, arguably more than any other social media platform, requires you to place a huge priority on time. Marketers get completely different results sometimes depending on the time of day that they post. Knowing this, you should play around with some timeframes until you determine which works for you.
This will also teach you a lot about your audience and the time zones of the people who engage with your content the most. Consider getting your hands on some analytics tools that will let you know the time slots that get you the best performance historically. From there, you can also use data to figure out the reasons that certain times perform better than others.
Leverage Your Relationships
Make sure that you are also using Instagram to build and leverage relationships. Team up with influencers in your field and learn about advertising and cross-promotional opportunities.
These professionals can often help you cut the line and gain more traffic and attention out of your ads than you’d get on your own. Always keep in mind that all business is about relationships, and carry this thought process out with your advertising strategies.
Hire Some Advertising Professionals
The biggest way that you will gain success with any of your Instagram advertising campaigns is by hiring pros. Working with a marketing agency is one of the best steps that you can take when you’re trying to a campaign, because these professionals know how to study your audience, set your goals, and design ads that will help you achieve what you’re looking for.
Look into the help of some pros that are proven to get results with their campaigns, and schedule a consultation to learn more about how they can help you. From there, they can walk you through your first ad campaigns and use them as you grow your reach through this platform.
Guidelines for Advertising on Instagram
These guidelines for advertising on Instagram will help you get your brand across to the public on your terms. There are plenty of companies that have gotten great ROI whenever they choose Instagram as an outlet to advertise on. Beginning with the tips in this article will make sure that you’re making the most out of your resources and getting the results that you need through Instagram.
Latitude Park has everything that you need to execute your digital marketing strategy. Book a call with us on our website, or call us at (813)498-0053.
