Influencers, perfect pictures, and interesting short videos. If we want to describe Instagram in a few words, maybe these would be them. According to statistics, the number of Instagram users will exceed the number of Facebook users by 2023, and today the social interface may have a user camp of more than 1 billion. And the huge number of people promises great opportunities when it comes to an advertising campaign. Let us see how you can take advantage of the opportunities provided by Instagram.

Why Instagram?

As already mentioned, the platform has huge potential. It has basically all the features like Facebook, we should not be surprised at this either, since we are talking about the page in Facebook’s hands. 

What is important to know is that the site is still primarily used by younger and middle-aged people. Of course, it is becoming more widespread among elderly people as well, but we recommend that you consider the two ages mentioned above if you want to advertise on Instagram.

In terms of features, the choice is quite wide, as you can perform data analysis on-site, get up-to-date data on the performance of each of your posts, and even manage interactions in an up-to-date way. Sounds good right? But that is still nothing, let us get to the point.

Instagram, if you viewed it from a marketing angle, can also be a kind of gathering place. A collection point where you can find your target audience perfectly, for an affordable price. We always prefer to use the best VPN services such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN to build any business reputation in other countries also. Recently we have bought NordVPN using with NordVPN discount which made our purchases so cheap for us.

The average cost per click (CPC) on Instagram is between $ 0.20 and $ 2. This means that in the best situation, reaching 1,000 people who are actually showing activity will cost $ 200 on this platform and in the worst case, your costs will be $ 2,000.

Of course, the price will depend on your goal and the specialization of your target audience. Reaching a specific target group has been always a bigger job and as a result, your costs will be higher. But where else could you reach so many people for this money?

Preliminary analyzes

Let us say you want to promote a product on your website using Instagram. In this case, be sure to look at which parts of your website that perform best and attract the most attention. This is necessary because if a particular CTA (call-to-action), figure, or any other element had an eye-catching power in your online store, it will also catch your target audience in the form of an Instagram ad.

You have two options for this:

1. Heatmaps: 

Heatmaps are used to assess how website visitors or actual customers use the site, or to assess how successful each element of the site has been. The use of heatmaps is in its heyday today, as we are talking about a very useful data visualization tool that provides very valuable data.

We encourage you to look at which CTA, color, figure, or shape is most frequented on your page and be sure to use it in your Instagram ad.

2. User reviews: 

Nothing is more valuable than getting the information first-hand. Dare to ask your online store’s users. Ask them about their positive experiences, but do not forget to ask about feedback on negative things.

With this information in mind, you can learn about the needs and attitudes of your customers or visitors, which will allow you to run a fully customized advertising campaign on Instagram. By the way, this information can be useful later in the optimization processes on your website or in the development too.

Be creative

Perhaps in the case of Instagram, the most important thing is to be creative. This is because the stimulus threshold for people on this platform is quite high. Every day, they come across perfect pictures and videos that make them sensitive to mistakes. Here are some tips to help you break through the barrier of attention:

Do not be average

If we look at Instagram, we can usually see simple edited images. They are not built around a particular design, just an image that shows a product, a human figure, or a brand with perfect quality.

Be more unique than that. Unfortunately, as mentioned, you have to break through this barrier, otherwise, your campaign will be half as successful as it could be. To do this, you have to create something unique, eye-catching, but also non-intrusive.

Nowadays, to stand out on these platforms, you also need to use some external software. Here we now think primarily of Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator as perhaps the two most popular image editor programs.

Although the two programs are different in their function, we recommend that you use the two applications in combination to edit your content before publishing. For example, if you got a result during the preliminary heatmap test that the blue buttons perform better across your target audience, you might have to place that color or even the specific button to your content with the help of Illustrator because this software works with vector graphics which have a high quality.

If you want to edit the image itself because it has a poorer quality or you want to improve something on it, we recommend using Photoshop. There are plenty of articles and videos on the internet on how you can use this software, so do not be scared, you will have an easy job and even your Instagram ad will be perfect.

Creative content

Now that we have discussed how to make good advertising material for Instagram, you are sure to wonder if it is okay, but what should I do? What is good content?

We recommend that you post to Instagram at regular intervals before your ad campaign so that a portion of your target audience can already find you which will increase your organic reach later.

As for the content, in this “preparatory” stage, try not to just post a picture of a topic smoothly. Make your popular image elements revealed by heatmaps or polls appear here already. You will also need to strive for this during your advertising campaign.

If you are already there to run Instagram ads, pay attention to the following:

• Choose what your goal is. This is necessary because Instagram will use your settings to determine which people will see your ad. 

• If your goal is to have as many reactions, comments, or even saves on your post as possible, we recommend the engagement option for you.

• If you aim to get more people to your website, you may want to choose the traffic option, as this will get your ad to people who are more willing to click on the link to your page.
• In our opinion, the most important setting is to increase conversions. If you want to see more purchases or any user action on your site, we recommend the conversion option, as it can reach people who are willing to buy.

Create content that is different from previously shared content. If you have only shared 1-1 specific images so far, try to produce paged posts. A well-structured paging post performs 30% better than average content.

Never deviate from the image of your business. Your visitors and customers alike will recognize you about these elements, and those who do not yet know about your business are the perfect start to facing your business’s values.

The importance of CTA

Call-to-action is one of the most prominent parts of Instagram ads, as in all social media ads. You also need to tailor the CTA to your goal because this will be the part of your ad that conveys the message.

The CTA should always be clear and understandable. Here, too, you can use your creativity and break away from the usual words. For example, if you want to increase the number of purchases on your website, break with the text of “Buy it now” or “Add to cart”. Instead, use the words “Try it today” or “I’m trying now.”

If you are creative, that ad will also be appreciated by viewers, so it does not matter how you put it. If you are brave enough, you can bring a little humor in it, but you have to be careful with this because the situation can easily turn back and there is a chance someone will sideline you or just not take humor in good name.

When talking about CTAs, it is important to note that you have to place them in a conspicuous place. If you have an opportunity, highlight them from the background, helping to make them visible. However, be careful that your highlight color is not too flashy and does not strike the background color too much as this can have an alarming effect that can create uncertainty in people.

Summary

Advertising on Instagram as you can see is a very complex process. It is much more difficult to assert yourself on this platform and achieve the desired goal than such as on Facebook, as we can only rely on visual and video materials here, as only 50% of users read the written material.

Using heat maps will go a long way in helping you select the right items for your Instagram ad, giving you even a sense of your company’s image. In addition, collecting user reviews is recommended.

Remember your goal, build your ad campaign on that this will avoid unnecessary costs and failure. 

We hope we could help you!

This article is contributed by Adam Kiss– the Content Marketing Manager of Capturly.com