Consumers have grown to hate most advertisements and are quick to ignore Instagram ads that pop up on their newsfeed.
The downside to this is that Instagram ads cost your company some much-needed cash. So it is necessary to have a social media marketing strategy that captures and keeps the attention of your audience.
The good news is that you can craft your ads in a way that makes people want to click instead of scrolling by.
Read on for our awesome tips on how to create an Instagram ad that significantly increases your revenue.
Have a Goal for Your Instagram Ad
The first step to creating a successful Instagram ad campaign is to have a clear outcome for your campaign.
Instagram gives you several options for ads, including raising awareness of your brand, getting information from potential customers, or increasing your sales through calls to action. Your goal will influence the type of ad you create.
An ad that is meant to increase revenue should have offers and discount codes as well as a link to direct users to your sales page. Ads meant to get information about your customers should have a call to action asking them to sign up for a newsletter or other attractive offer.
Be clear on which type of ad you’re choosing so you can keep the goal on task.
Create a Persona of Your Target Audience
If your market segment is 60-year-old retired men then an ad campaign with the latest pop music and glittery pink images won’t appeal to them. Yet such an ad might be interesting to 12-year-old girls.
Knowing who your target market is and their likes and dislikes will help you create an ad that they will watch and engage with.
Take your time to come up with a complete profile of your target audience. Instagram allows you to zero in on the type of person you are advertising to so be specific when selecting. Be aware that the more specific you get the smaller your target audience will be and this could reduce your ad’s reach.
Use Messaging That’s Consistent With Your Brand
Your brand has a certain positioning in the mind of your consumers.
For example, people see Wendy’s as a fun and informal brand hence their ads can use informal slang. But a brand like Rolls Royce will confuse its consumers if it tries using slang in its messaging.
The same applies to your brand. Use your Ad to enforce your brand identity through messaging that is consistent with the image you want to project.
Add a Branded Hashtag
Hashtags are a great way to increase the awareness and engagement levels of your ad campaign. Each of your Instagram ads should have your hashtag included You can differentiate your hashtag from other trending hashtags by including your brand name.
Popular hashtags also tend to be short and memorable. An example of an effective and popular hashtag is #shareacoke which encourages users to share images of themselves enjoying a coke with a loved one.
Make sure to like and respond to any social media posts that use your hashtag. This will encourage more of your audience to use your hashtag hence increase awareness about your brand.
Select Your Instagram Ad Placement
Once you create your ad, you’ll have to choose a placement option on Instagram. The app allows for 15 different placement options in its Ad manager.
The best places to post your ad will be on your audience’s newsfeed and stories. These have been the most effective places to run Instagram ad campaigns.
Select the Best Budget Option
Instagram has several budget options for running your ad. You can choose to pay a daily amount or a lifetime amount which covers the duration of your ad. In this case, you will have to choose the start date of your ad and its end date.
The platform will also give you options on different types of reach. For instance, you can use impressions that give you the largest number of ad impressions for your budget.
You can also go for daily unique reach which will show your ad to as many people as possible within your budget. There’s another option in which you can choose link clicks. This is where Instagram tries to get as many clicks to your webpage as possible within your budget constraints.
You will also need to choose manual or automatic bidding for your pricing. With manual bidding, you choose the greatest amount you are willing to pay for clicks on your link. With automatic bidding, the Instagram algorithm will decide what you pay based on competition and interest in your subject area.
Choose a Suitable Ad Format
Your next step for how to create an Instagram ad would be to choose a suitable ad format. Instagram has four options: single image, video, Instagram stories, and carousel.
The single image is the simplest option but it requires you to have an impactful photo, a brief message, and a clear call to action to be effective. Video is highly effective if you have a good editor that can create an engaging story around your brand.
Instagram stories is a popular feature that disappears within 24 hours so you can create a sense of urgency and compel users to watch them. But boring ads will get skipped by consumers so your message must be engaging to capture your target market’s attention.
Lastly, there is the carousel type of ad. This type of ad usually has 2-10 images that users have to click through. They work best with offers on different types of products or when describing a new product’s features.
Make Your Instagram Ad Work
When posting your advert don’t forget online marketing basics. Remember to add your website URL as a clickable link so that people can visit your online home. To assess the effectiveness of your ad, include an algorithm on your website to track the number of visitors from your ad campaigns.
Following the above steps can help you learn how to create an Instagram ad that increases your revenue and brand awareness.
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