5 Quick Tips to Get More Out Of Your Instagram Sponsored Ads

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Updated: October 8th, 2022

What Is Sponsored Ads?

Sponsored ads are essentially paid ads that are available to business accounts.

These ads show up on specific users' feeds, and the goal is typically to increase engagement and sales. Besides, businesses use sponsored ads to promote giveaways or announce new products.

In this post, we feature how sponsored ads on Instagram work.

Instagram Sponsored Ad Key Statistics

50% of Instagram users are more interested in a brand after seeing an ad for it on Instagram
Instagram advertisers can reach a youth audience of 83 million
Over 130 million users engage with shopping posts on a monthly basis.

How Instagram Sponsored Ads Work

Instagram sponsored ads are posts for which businesses pay to serve Instagram users.

Sponsored Instagram Ads serve different purposes including giving users options to download applications, directing users to online stores, promoting new products, etc.

Depending on the campaign objective, Instagram ads can have up to 10 calls to action button options.

Similar to Facebook Ads, Instagram ads appear throughout the application and look similar to normal posts.

Note that these Instagram posts contain the “sponsored ” label that indicates the business has paid to display the post.

In addition, sponsored Instagram posts have more features than non-sponsored content.

The additional features include links, CTA buttons, and even product catalogs.

Real World Examples: Create Sponsored Ads On Instagram

Here are cool examples of successful Instagram ad campaigns for your inspiration.

1. How Clean & Clear Saw 6.2 point Lift In Ad-Recall Through Instagram Sponsored Ad.

The skincare brand wanted to enhance brand experience and boost brand awareness.

Realizing that Instagram could help the brand achieve its objectives of brand visibility and ad recall effectively, they settled on Instagram Sponsored posts.

Therefore, they created content that targeted younger women in India and sponsored the content on Instagram.

By running mobile-first Ads on Instagram feed and Instagram stories, Clean & clear highlighted products efficacy successfully.

Here is an overview of the results they attained through the Instagram sponsored Ads:

6.2-point ad recall lift among 13- to 17-year-old girls in India
33% lower cost per incremental ad recall lift for 13- to 17-year-old girls in India with Instagram-focused campaign (compared to combined approach for Facebook and Instagram)
2-point lift in message association for “removes oil and 99.8% of pimple-causing germs, giving you clear skin”

2. How Growus Used Sponsored Instagram Videos To grow Online Sales

Growus, a Korean hair care brand built a large collection of videos and wanted to use the content to capture the attention of potential customers.

The brand created an Instagram-sponsored campaign aimed at encouraging viewers to view content, add products to shopping carts, and complete purchases on the website.

They run A/B testing of their video content and discovered that they could pique customers curiosity with the creative videos.

The sponsored Instagram ads ran for two weeks in February 2021 and targeted an audience between the ages of 18 and 65.

Through the campaign, the brand earned the following results:

3X more purchases per website visit from people who viewed video ads with product tags (compared to website visitors who did not view video ads with product tags)
3.7X increase in adds to cart from website visitors who shopped via video ads with product tags (compared to website visitors who did not view video ads with product tags)
1.7X more content views from website visitors who shopped via video ads with product tags (compared to website visitors who did not view video ads with product tags)

How To Set Up Instagram Sponsored Ads

Here is a video tutorial explaining how you can run sponsored ads on Instagram.

Tips To Help You Optimize Instagram Sponsored Ads

Are you ready to set up sponsored Ads on Instagram? Follow the tips shared here to increase the chances of success.

1. Promote Your Best Content

Look back through the existing content and identify the content that sparked the most engagement from the audience.

Repurpose the content and create ads that will attract a huge response from a wider audience.

2. Improve Your Targeting

Apart from the standard targeting mechanisms, additional features could help you narrow the focus.

For an instant, you can create ads that replicate the existing followers to help bring in new people.

Alternatively, you can track website visitors and create custom content to target them on Instagram.

3. Don’t Make Ads Appear Promoted

To boost engagement and score higher CTR with sponsored ads, use content that feels more natural as opposed to blatant product promotion.

Therefore, incorporate images of actual people, or micro-influencers.

4. Use Call-To-Action Button

When you create sponsored Instagram Ads, include a CTR near the image caption. Make sure the CTA is clear and visible.

Besides, the action should feel valuable to attract ad sharing from your target audience.

5. Include a Hashtag To your Campaign

You can create a branded Instagram hashtag or use trending hashtags to promote engagements. Hashtags help users find content easily.

Conclusion

We have looked at how sponsored Instagram ads will help your business. However, to benefit you need to do it right.

Follow the insights we have shared in this post to create compelling Ads on Instagram.

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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