A quote from our President of Purplegator, Bob Bentz, has been featured in an article by Blue Fountain Media, which focused on improving Instagram advertising campaigns. This article included ten different quotes by digital marketing gurus, one of which was from no other than our President, who gave insight on leveraging Instagram space:

“Instagram offers 2000 characters in the description, most of which are never used by most. For a business, however, it makes sense to take advantage of a lot of the copy that is available. By using more keywords and more hashtags in the description, it makes it far easier for the post to be found by new prospective customers.”-Bob Bentz.  

All businesses looking to grow their organization are now using Instagram advertising campaigns. As a visually oriented platform, Instagram captures the interest of customers, thereby helping photogenic businesses promote their products and services in an artistic way, not only to retain but also to engage customers more actively. There are millions of opportunities in Instagram advertising campaigns, as there are over 2 billion active users. In this article, we are going to discuss 10 suggestions for improving the Instagram marketing campaigns.

Why Instagram Advertising is a Game-Changer for Your Business

Instagram has achieved being a powerhouse of advertising due to its strong and large user base. The photo-sharing application has over 2 billion active users monthly, and because of lifestyle demographics, it attracts young people who are more likely to be active; therefore, Instagram advertising campaigns have a huge chance for businesses.

It is a platform that is driven by visual content; it is ideal for brands that wish to use images and videos to advertise their goods or services in a beautiful way. Instagram has interactive components like Stories, IGTV, Shopping, etc., which help to directly reach the users and make the brand more engaging and visible.

Other social platforms exist, like Facebook or Twitter; however, Instagram is more immersive in terms of creativity for advertisers, hence Instagram advertising campaigns are revolutionary for businesses to find new customers.

How to run an Instagram ad Campaign: Key Steps to Success

The successful Instagram advertising campaigns require organization and structure. For starters, educate yourself regarding the process of putting up an ad on Instagram by defining whichever goals you seek, in this case, achieving brand visibility, generating leads, or making conversions. This will help guide the ad campaign.

Then, go prepare your advertisement for Instagram marketing campaigns with the help of Instagram’s audience targeting option, which will help you narrow down the audience by age, gender, interests, and behaviors. Therefore, budgeting is important; set either a daily or an entire campaign budget and modify it depending on the performance metrics.

Knowing this, it is also very important to know the ad formats on Instagram: with carousel ads, it is possible to show several goods at once, with video ads, a story can be told, and with Stories ads, interaction would be instantaneous. Manage your Instagram advertising campaigns through the use of Facebook Ads Manager for effective monitoring and measurement of results.

10 Ideas to Improve Your Instagram Advertising Campaign

To achieve the best results from an Instagram advertising campaign, it is advisable to understand these 10 tips. More specifically, these ideas will range from improving the way creative strategies work to enhancing targeting mechanisms. These ideas will help you take your campaigns a notch higher, increasing the possibilities of achieving the desired outcomes. So here are 10  tips on how to run an Instagram ad more efficiently.

1. Use High-Quality, Eye-Catching Visuals

Pictures are the most vital ingredients in any Instagram advertising campaign. Well-designed photos and videos play an essential role in retaining the users’ interest and their willingness to further interact. Instagram is a platform that is focused on images, and therefore, it is expected that users are more likely to respond to content that is visually appealing.

To make sure that users are able to appreciate the message and the brand, try to have content with quality images. Such a rule applies to ads as well. Users are more likely to pay attention to the ad if it contains good images because one cannot exaggerate the role of visual aesthetics in Instagram ads.

2. Experiment with Different Ad Formats

To enhance the effectiveness of your strategies for Instagram advertising campaigns, try different ad formats such as carousel ads, video ads, and even stories. Carousel ads, for instance, are efficient for covering various products, which can either be used to tempt the customers, whereas video ads are for a more storytelling approach. 

The decision of when to employ carousel ads or video ads depends on the desired content to be promoted. For instance, carousel ads are a great fit for brands that want to showcase multiple aspects of a product, while video advertisements are good for storytelling and a deeper connection with the audience. You will understand your targeted audience by trying both formats and seeing how each format performs.

3. Leverage Instagram Stories for Instant Engagement

Instagram advertising campaigns could also include Stories, which enable instant user engagement and are particularly effective for making people feel urgency or exclusivity. Story ads are placed at the top of the user’s feed and are visible for a period of 24 hours, offering a short-lived impact but a deep reach opportunity for the brands.

The beauty of Instagram Stories lies in their ability to offer real-time interaction to users. This helps in marketing time-limited offers, flash sales, or even backstage pictures. Use story ads to engage users more closely, for example, by adding content that is time-based or feels like it is exclusive, in order to foster the users’ devotion to the brand.

4. Utilize Instagram’s Targeting Features for Precision

One of the notable benefits of an Instagram advertising campaign is the advanced targeting feature of the platform. There are multiple aspects along which the users can be targeted, including but not limited to demographic structures, interests, behaviors, and even geolocation. This enables you to make sure that the ads are being served to the right audience, thus optimizing the overall spend on advertising.

In order to best utilize these targeting features, it is advisable to adjust your settings in accordance with the objectives of your campaign. Consider using demographic and interest filters to narrow down the search to a specific age and gender at a particular location or to specific groups of people with particular interests.

5. Integrate User-Generated Content in Ads

One of the ways Instagram advertising campaigns could benefit is by having consumers produce content, which is the most efficient way to gain trust and act genuinely in your Instagram ads. UGC provides social proof and shows that there are individuals who have used and enjoyed what you are offering. Therefore, the inclusion of UGC in your ads can help in making the brand less robotic and more approachable to your target audience.

In this regard, it is important to request your customers to share their content by tagging your brand. This may help increase the level of engagement achieved as well as help cement your brand’s authority for the purpose of inspiring more customers to take part in the following interactions.

6. Use Influencer Partnerships to Boost Credibility

Integrating influencers into your Instagram marketing campaigns can greatly increase the chances of success for your advertisements on Instagram and earn trust towards the brand. Since their followers trust influencers, it will not only aid in engagement but also in driving conversions.

It’s important to spot the right influencers who possess the values of your brand along with the followers who fit in with your target audience. Develop materials with them, and incorporate these materials within your Instagram advertising campaigns. Using an influencer helps in expanding the boundaries of advertising, bringing in more customers and sales.

7. Optimize Your Call-to-Action (CTA)

All your Instagram advertising campaigns’ viewers should be tempted into taking some action, and one effective way would be to include a good and impactful call to action (CTA). This could be them wanting them to go shopping straight away, sign up for the newsletter, or learn about the product; the call to action has to be interesting and well outlined.

Examples of appropriate CTA in Instagram ads would be: “Do Not Wait To Shop,” “Find Out More,” or “Become A Member Today.” These are statements that are action-oriented, motivating the users to take action in order to accomplish a conversion immediately.

8. Test and Optimize Your Ad Campaign on Instagram Regularly

To enhance the performance of your Instagram advertising campaign, you need to carry out testing and optimization on a regular basis. One of the ways that would help in the above is A/B testing. It is important to note the different versions of the ads and identify which particular components of the ad, be it visuals, copy, or CTAs, work best.

Some of the key metrics monitored in the course of the A/B testing include click-through rate (CTR), which can also be referred to as conversion rate, and cost accrued per click (CPC). In this case, the significance of these data is important since they help in determining what is relevant and what is not. By using the principle of testing and improving upon failure, you gather data, which also helps with Digital & Data Driven Marketing. For further information about data-driven marketing, check out the article. 

9. Run Retargeting Campaigns to Convert Interested Users

. Retargeting specific users is often more effective, as they already have an interest in the brand but have not completed the actual goal of the campaign. Retargeting strategies serve to recall products and services to potential users, increasing conversion figures.

This includes, but is not limited to, displaying ads to web visitors who have been on certain pages, liked certain posts on Instagram, or added items into a basket without making the purchase, and such increases the conversion rates. Returning these users helps the business change them into paying customers.

10. Analyze Data and Adjust for Continuous Improvement

Promoting any product or service on the internet through social networks, in particular, is time-consuming and needs detailed tracking of the results of the performance of the Instagram advertising campaigns. Assess the performance of Instagram marketing campaigns with tools like Facebook Ads Manager, which has important metrics such as the number of users reached, their engagement, and conversion rates.

In the event that the performance analysis of the ads indicates certain flaws, one can correct the problem and get satisfactory results. However, there should be ongoing evaluation and adjustment of performance if Instagram advertising campaigns are to be enhanced further.