Douglas FloresIn March, Instagram stated that they will begin testing full-screen, vertical story advertising. Story advertising were an alternative to the more traditional News Feed ads, which were still successful but had lost some of their lustre.
As a novel kind of advertising, story commercials also had the added bonus of piqueing the audience’s interest. Suddenly, advertisers have access to a more immersive format, one that they may expect to see in the future on Instagram TV if that platform is commercialised.
Full-screen. Vertical. Immersive. Almost 400 million Instagram accounts use Stories to update their fans and customers on their daily activities. Advertisers may reach this very desirable demographic with narrative commercials. We’ll discuss the positive findings later on. As an added bonus, they’re encouraging news for the soon-to-be-released Facebook Story advertising.
Here, we’ll fill you in on the ins and outs of Instagram Stories, explaining how they function, how to set them up, and how to use them in tandem with your current News Feed advertisements to maximise your return on investment.
So, what exactly are Instagram Stories Ads?
Instagram Stories, which sit atop your News Feed, is where you’ll find Instagram Story Advertising. Instagram Stories, being Instagram Stories, are full-screen and vertical, meaning the only thing you’ll see on your mobile device is the story. As one Story concludes, either automatically or because you swiped to a new one, the next one begins. This makes it quite simple to gain access to an unbroken feed of full-screen material after you’ve entered the format.
While Story advertising do serve as separators between individual Stories, they are nearly indistinguishable from the format’s genuine content, much like News Feed ads.
Apart from the “Sponsored” label and, presumably, a higher production value, they appear to be completely indistinguishable from organic postings. You may also insert a link within a Story ad, as shown above; this is a feature often reserved for verified accounts or those with over 10,000 followers in the realm of organic postings.
Users may access your post link by swiping up on the CTA arrow in your post, which will then send them to your landing page. Previously, only four of the six marketing objectives for which Story advertising were accessible supported sending users to a product page, blog, or lead form if this is a feature you’re interested in. Instagram Story advertisements may now be created with one of seven goals (Brand Awareness was just added) and have calls to action:
Promotion of the Brand: Locating Potential Customers Who Are Most Interested in Your Product.
Expose your advertisement to the widest possible audience.
Boost the number of times people see your videos by promoting them online.
Get people to do what you want them to do on your website or app.
Aim for more app downloads by promoting its availability to a wider audience.
Get contact info (emails, phone numbers, etc.) to use in a sales pitch.
You need more visitors to your website, so please share it with others.
Tips for Creating an Instagram Story Ad
Choose your marketing goal for either a brand new or ongoing campaign. Give your ad group a name, and then tweak your demographics, interests, and spending limit exactly as you would with a Facebook ad. Once you’ve done that, click Modify Placements, then Instagram Stories, and turn off Automatic Placements.
Keep in mind that you may run Instagram Story advertisements alongside other placements; but, due to the specialised nature of Story ad creative, you’ll need to make some fine-tuned tweaks when actually making your ad. For instance, you may need to supply different photos for Facebook News Feed and Instagram Stories if you’re running a single image ad. Happily, Facebook will let you know if this is the case.
Yet, you shouldn’t settle for finding many near-identical versions of the same ad to run on different platforms. Narrative advertising have the ability to stand out from the crowd, therefore it’s worth your effort to separate them out as their own ad group.
Stopping the “Swipe-Through”
How do I make an ad that isn’t invasive, but yet stops the proverbial thumb? is a dilemma that advertisers new to Story advertisements will inevitably face. As was previously noted, while browsing through Stories or News Feed, there is nothing to differentiate between an organic post and a sponsored article.
After that, here are some suggestions for making an Instagram Story advertisement that people will really watch.
Have Fun on a Carousel
Facebook carousel advertisements perform well, and they also do well on Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories Carousel advertisements must be developed in isolation from any other placements. Not that you should let that stop you; Carousels offer a significant competitive edge in a format where broadcast time is highly prized. There can be up to three panels in a Carousel, and each one can show a video for up to 15 seconds.
Instagram stories are designed to be short and sweet. You may utilise a carousel to provide potential customers a more in-depth and compelling look at your brand, or you can give them three different and compelling looks at your brand. That airtime is priceless.
Get the attention of your audience in the very beginning
Users are accustomed to making snap decisions (thanks, Tinder), therefore the opening few seconds of your video are critical. As such, the following boxes must be checked:
Leave your mark on it. If a person swipes through your ad without pausing to read it, they won’t see your brand, which displays as your account name or emblem at the top left. Put your brand’s name and logo up and centre in the initial few seconds of your Story’s content.
Expose potential buyers to your product. Do not hold off promoting your product till the very end of your Carousel ad, even if telling your brand’s narrative will take up all 45 seconds of the ad’s duration.