Reach a Mobile Audience for More Sales with Instagram Advertising
Social media is constantly changing especially with growing platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and more. With more users searching and purchasing from their mobile devices businesses need to expand their advertising efforts in order to generate more leads and sales.
Instagram, which has over 400 million active users and growing, has recently announced a wide release of their advertising program, which can be combined with Facebook ads. This allows for a more creative way to reach your community with the use of targeted images and videos.
According to a 2014 – 2015 study by Forrester Research, the mobile-based social network is increasing in user influence and interactions:
What makes advertising on Instagram so unique is the viral appeal by users to the visual content being shared each second. This provides consumers a personal insight into who your business is and reaches them on their level. The result is similar to YouTube in that there is an opportunity to tap into the emotions of your potential customers.
According to a case study by Instagram, one Chinese mobile gaming company called, Snail Games, experienced a 339% increase in installations with a 1.5X higher purchase rate.
Advertising on Instagram in addition to your other business marketing methods can help attract new website subscribers and increase your followers online. Here are several ways to focus your strategy for the best results:
● Choose the best format option – While Photo Ads are the most common way to post an ad on Instragram your business should also explore the Carousel Ads, Video Ads, and Marquee Ads options as well. For example, with Carousel you can include multiple images, which can convey a story. Video on the other hand can attract a visual audience with a more entertaining angle that includes audio and a call-to-action feature. The latest addition, Marquee, allows businesses to showcase their ads up to three times a day.
● Add branding elements – The addition of your business logo and/or colors will help your visual content stand out on Instagram. Also include any important links or hashtags that you want users to share.
● Keep it simple, focused – After your target market research create an ad campaign that conveys a specific message without too many words or cluttered images. The format should be professional and clean. Users should know right away what the message is about even before reading it like this example from Starbucks:
● Create an organic look – While users may just scroll past a post that looks like an advertisement they will be more apt to stop and take a look at images that appear more natural. These types of ads fit right in with the rest of the Instagram feed, and tend to generate more ‘likes’ and comments. Here’s a good example from a recent #TravelTots campaign for American Airlines:
As Instagram continues to expand its advertising program it’s important for your business to start building a presence there in order to drive more leads and sales. Not only will this provide a way to expand your community who are willing to share your brand’s story, but also establishes a stronger image as your business includes other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Susan Gilbert
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