Ultimate Instagram advertising tips from 10 Experts

Many start-ups and small businesses end up with bad Instagram advertising results after the first few trials. This discouraged a lot of them to continue advertising on Instagram.

However, some experts are of the opinion that, these failures are all due to a lack of strategy and consistency. We decided to ask some experts that have good results advertising on Instagram to share some Instagram advertising tips to help the community.

We got a lot of tips but decided to pick a few relevant ones and here are the tips.

Instagram advertising Tips

Here is what each of the experts says…

Brett Friedman from Marpipe

There’s one strategy that can give you repeatable, ‘high high’ ROI if you have the creative team capable of pulling it off: Multivariate Testing.

Here’s a quick and easy step-by-step process you can use right now to try it:

#1. Come up with a few ‘Big Ideas’ for copy
#2. Look at your best competitors’ ads in their FB Ad Library
#3. Recreate their design themes as templates
#4. Add your own design templates to the mix
#5. Take all your most recent creative assets: photoshoots, graphics, logos, etc., and tag them with specific names of what they are e.g. flat lay shirt shot
#6. Make every possible combination of assets, design themes, and copy
#7. Name all your ads according to the design themes, assets, and copy they contain
#8. Run them all with a dollar a day in ad spend (or as much as your budget permits) for at least 7 days
#9. When you get around 10,000 impressions per asset or 30 conversions per asset, stop all your ads
#10. Take the top performers and scale them
#11. Download the performance data into a spreadsheet
#12. Analyze conversions for each asset
#13. Use your top-performing assets in future creative
#14. Test new components for further improvements!

That’s the process of multivariate testing. It’s a foolproof way of making your creative get extraordinarily high results.

Renato Gioia from Marketers Engage

The biggest mistake companies make when doing Instagram ads for their businesses is thinking that conversion-oriented ads are the key driver to high ROI results.

After hundreds of thousands of euros spent on the advertising platform, I can say it’s a huge mistake. The key driver to high ROI is 1) CONTENT 2) ENGAGEMENT ADS We’ve been hitting the best results with Instagram adv when following these rules:

#1. Focus on creating great content for the specific niche in order to achieve super low costs for interaction when promoting.

#2. Split your advertising budget into 2 parts: one dedicated to engagement campaigns and the second one to conversion campaigns.

#3. Push your content with engagement ads as much as you can and keep scaling your best pieces of content over time.

#4. Run conversion ads targeting the custom audiences of the best quality that will have been created with the engagement ads (people that interacted with specific posts, people that saved your posts, people that sent a dm message) and lookalikes of those custom audiences.

The more you will be able to nurture the best quality custom audience with the engagement ads, the more you will see results on the conversion ads.

The key to driving successful ads on Instagram is: CREATE great content and ALWAYS split the advertising budget. We consistently see 5x ROAS and more with all our clients.

Brian Robben from Robben Media

Instagram advertising can be incredibly profitable for your brand if you
follow a few rules. One, the ad should be focused on first drawing
attention. The consumer leads with emotion and then moves to information
after they’re hooked. Use the ad to build interest and then deliver the
information on the website page.

Then end with a call to action in the video or caption. Don’t fall for the trap of running an ad for branding in hopes of attracting customers. Make a strong, punchy call to action, ideally something like free shipping, a bonus gift, or an exclusive offer if they purchase now.

Lastly, an advertisement can drive all the traffic in the world, but if the page doesn’t convert then it’s all for nothing.

Invest in minimal and solid web design that clearly shows off the product or service and makes it obvious where to click to purchase. Do these things, and you can make 30% to 300% on your Instagram ad campaigns.

Sean Carroll from Vixen Digital

Use Ads Manager
If you’re serious about running some advertising on Instagram then avoid
using in-app promotion tools. It has limited functionality and targeting options which means that you’re less likely to be reaching your ideal customer.

Instead, spend some time getting used to the Facebook Ads Manager. Link up your Instagram account and create your campaigns through this instead. You will unlock so many more targeting options and utilize Facebook’s campaign advertising objectives which will help you achieve your goals.

Instagram for remarketing
In the Instagram campaigns that we run for our clients, we always find that we get much better results when we use Instagram specifically for remarketing.

Instagram is great for re-engaging with people that have previously expressed interest in your brand or business. Run specific Instagram campaigns targeting people who have been on your website in the last 30 – 45 days, let them know of a new promotion you’re running or a new product you have in stock. Instagram is a great platform to use for keeping your customers in the sales funnel.

Use the correct ad sizes for your ad placements
A mistake we see quite often when working with clients is that they’ve been using incorrect or unsuitable ad sizes for their Instagram marketing. The most common one is using one ad creative, in one size, to try and fit into several different placements.

This means you get a situation where you end up running a landscape image in an Instagram stories ad. It looks awful, and unprofessional and results in poor performance.

Avoid this mistake at all costs. Spend time considering your creatives. Craft the correct tone of voice and most importantly, make sure you get your ads designed for the placement that you intend to use it on.

Stories Ads: Make it shorter
6 seconds! Yes, 6 seconds! That’s what to aim for! This relates mostly to
video content but the premise can relate to your other ad content.

You should be able to communicate everything you need to about your brand’s message at that time and if you can’t, then your message needs to be simplified.

We usually aim for 6 seconds because we have always found that the shorter we go in length, the better our client’s results have been. The specifications allow video content of up to 15 seconds in length on
Instagram stories

Jason Parks from The Media Captain

We knew our demo was 40+ females as they are more likely going to have
bags under their eyes and have the discretionary income to spend $90 on a
product.

We filmed a video with our mom’s friends, who look and come off as
authentic. We targeted this on Instagram to 40-65+ females Instagram. We generated a 4:1 ROAS.

Make sure you film the right video. The storyboarding and concept behind
the video is extremely important.

James Marques from Iconic Genius says…

Instagram stories are the secret to Instagram advertising. When done the
right way, stories are a powerful way to get customers to engage with your ads.

It also drives a ton of traffic to a product or landing page. Here are 3
valuable tips for making the most of Instagram ads:

1. Aim for the avant-garde. Experiment with different filters
   and drawing tools as well as video editing tools such as Boomerang (now
   with Slomo, Echo, and Duo effects) and Hyperlapse.
2. Make a deal or invite so desirable, customers will be afraid to miss
   out on it.
3. Don’t disregard sound. Treat viewers to a multisensory experience.

Ayushi Sharma from iFour Technolab Pvt Ltd

Instagram account plays a crucial role in building an audience for start-up
brands. Start-up marketing strategies are progressively focused on Instagram to sell products or services to a large and interested audience
base without spending a big budget.

A unique feature of Instagram is its Stories feature. Instagram marketing for business start-ups is further advancing on account of hashtags.

According to the US Pew Research Center, Instagram is also arising as a
favorite social media platform for everyone.

Instagram marketing strategies for small enterprises-

• Use of relevant hashtags

Creating hashtags is essential to expand your brand’s reach and use relevant hashtags to target audiences. According to research, using a minimum of 11 hashtags in a post increases reach and engagement.

There are tools available for generating proper hashtags such as Hashtagify to connect to your potential customers. It is advised to create your own start-up brand’s hashtag and watch your business grow.

• Create a buzz in 24 hours with amazing Instagram stories

Attain business goals with Instagram marketing using Instagram stories’
compelling features. Businesses can even experiment with various types of
content such as regular photos, live, short videos, boomerang images, or
even rewind videos. It also allows adding face filters, text, and stickers
to modify images on the move.

• Instagram Ads

There are various Instagram advertising options available such as video
ads, carousel ads, Photo ads, etc. I suggest Native ads. It is found that around 60 percent of Instagram users look for new products while 75 percent perform positive actions after reviewing posts. Perhaps the best Instagram ads are those showcased at the top of the Instagram feed or the
Stories ads.

• Leveraging Instagram marketing with popular Influencers

Instagram influencers are trending on social media. Leveraging Instagram
marketing through popular influencers assists to create a positive identity for the business and increasing potential customers. Follower count and engagement are two essential metrics one should evaluate influencers on before diving in.

• Follow a unique theme for your business account on Instagram

For increasing your followers on Instagram, design a specific theme
according to your brand. Businesses also tell stories and display compelling messages through an Instagram account. Businesses should showcase their creativity through Instagram highlights, ads, stories, and posts.

Wrapping up:

According to online research, photos and videos have higher engagement rates on comparing with text posts.

To stay ahead and gain online visibility, Instagram is the best platform
offering exceptional features and offer a chance to interact with the
customer. Thus, it provides a human touch to relationships.

More essentially, the audience prefers authenticity, so start-ups should focus on real-time and useful updates on Instagram. The secret is to focus on resonating with Instagram users through, authentic promotional posts,
creative videos, posts, stories, and ads.

Stacy Caprio from Growth Marketing

The highest ROI I’ve seen from running Instagram ads is when the audience
is part of a remarketing list of visitors who have not yet purchased from
your site.

This means you have a remarketing pixel on your site, and you are showing the Instagram ads to people who have already shown interest by visiting your site but have not yet bought something. These tend to have super high conversion rates and ROI when compared to any other type of Instagram ad I’ve ever run.

Brandi Mowles from Brandi And Company LLC

3 Big Tips For Running Instagram Ads Successfully With High High ROI: 3 Big Tips For Running Instagram Ads Successfully With High High ROI

#1. Know your main objection before starting a campaign. So many people want to just start running ads but they don’t take a step back and figure out what their main goals are before setting up the ads.

Is it brand awareness, engagement, growing your following, traffic to your website, or purchases? Once you figure out your main goal it will be easier to determine what type of campaign to run

#2. Story Ads are HOT HOT HOT right now. Facebook and Instagram have come out and said they don’t have enough people running Instagram Story Ads. This is where we are seeing the cheapest leads. Make story ads your focus for the highest ROI.

#3. Make ads look native to the platform. So many people want to create high-quality videos or graphics and use them as ads but what is working now are the ads that look like someone pulled open the app, recorded a video, and hit publish. The more native your ads look to the platform the higher the return

#4. Use video! Social channels right now want video and they reward advertisers for using video. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, remember you want it to look native. But it always includes GIFS and Boomerangs are CRUSHING it right now for ads.

These are four tips for running Instagram ads successfully with a high ROI.

Brett Downes from SEO, Link Building Geek

I used to run Instagram ads for a variety of influencers and companies in my previous agency role.

We focused on micro-influencers to promote the products/services of our
clients, or just the brands themselves.

Micro-influencers connect with their audience more by interacting and being more relatable than mega stars of D list reality tv stars. People are now wise that they are promoting products they don’t use or even like.

By building up a rapport with their followers, the trust is there, and so
when they promote on their Instagram, the uptake and click-through
percentages are a lot higher.

In this context, a Z list celeb may have 100,000 followers but only a 0.5%
engagement rate, whereas a micro-influencer may have 10,000 followers and a 5% engagement rate. Both accounts will generate 500 purchases, but guess which influencer is ten times cheaper?!

Conclusion

This expert advice draws advertisers that have run Instagram and have seen good results and significant growth in their various businesses. We asked them to share their experience to help small businesses improve their Instagram advertising results.

We hope this helps you write better Instagram Ad copies that will bring you a lot of conversions to grow your businesses.

You are always welcome to share your experience in the comment section to help others learn from your advertising experience.