If you are like most business owners who use paid advertising, you:
- Are part of the 71% that have a business account on Instagram
- Advertise on Instagram because you understand it’s power
- Want to use paid advertising on Instagram as a way to bridge the gap between potential leads and conversions
Top 3 Instagram Ad Mistakes Share on XIn a recent study, 87% of people surveyed said that they ‘took an action after seeing products or services on Instagram’, with 46% of these making a purchase.
Using paid ads on Instagram increases the opportunity for bridging the gap between potential leads (targeted audiences and followers on Instagram) and the chances for conversion, with sharpening potential to being within that promising 46%.
Today, we’ll be discussing how to take your Instagram ads to the next level, highlighting the top three Instagram mistakes and ways to fix them to allow returns on your paid advertising.
Mistake #1: Not advertising on Instagram Stories
Whilst you may not be a large fan of viewing Instagram Stories yourself, if you decide not to place your paid ads in Instagram Stories, you’re missing out big time.
500 million people view Instagram Stories every day, with over a third of those being businesses (keep that in mind, it may be business you want to work with!). That is a very large audience organically using an aspect of a platform that you may not be utilizing.
Solution: Super simple: when creating ad campaigns, add Instagram Stories to the list in the placements section! But also make sure your ad specifications fit within the specs required to advertise on Instagram Stories, otherwise you may think it’s going to work, but Instagram won’t accept it.
Mistake #2: Focusing all your Instagram ‘energy’ on paid Instagram Ads
We can all admit that content creation can be a little tedious, and when time is limited we tend to only stretch to what we think we really need to get done. In the case of marketing, paid advertising comes first and general social media content takes a back seat.
This is your friendly reminder that your normal businesses Instagram Feed is just as important of a marketing tool as the ads that you create and pay for.
Recommended read: Instagram Strategy: 5 Tips on Choosing the Right Time for Your Instagram Posts
You have an organic, specific audience interested in following just you and your business. When you regularly create content on Instagram and your followers engage with that content, you are offering yourself larger and more specific audiences to target in the future from a paid advertising perspective as well.
Which offers you a better opportunity for leads and conversions.
Which offers you a higher ROI.
They really do work hand in hand.
Instagram can generate significantly more follower engagement when compared to Facebook. When you are creating that content, chances are your engagement numbers will be boosted, which is crucial for your target audiences when running paid ads.
Solution: Make a conscious decision to carve out some time and create some organic content for your Instagram feed, and update your paid ads’ audiences regularly (we recommend every three months, specifically looking at Instagram video views and engagement).
Mistake #3: Sending potential leads from great Instagram ads to a lackluster landing page/website
Picture this:
You run an ecommerce store and have been using online advertising to market your products.
You have created fantastic ads that drive home directly to the right target market, and the statistics are showing proof to back this up.
But you are getting little to no conversions. Why?
There are multiple reasons and a myriad of variables that could be responsible for your low conversions. The most common is the quality of your landing page or site.
Recommended read: 7 Strategies to Use for Social Media Campaign In 2019
If your site makes a bad first impression and the landing page doesn’t appeal to the target market like your ad did, you’ll see a high bounce rate. Moreover, if the landing page takes too long to load or it’s difficult to find the product that was pictured on the ad, your potential customer will close the page before converting.
The ads for your Instagram marketing campaign may be absolutely perfect, and doing the job by driving traffic to where it needs to be, but it will be all for naught if the next part of the sales funnel does not accompany it.
With Instagram helping over 80% of users decide if they want to buy a product or use a service, it would be disappointing for both the business and the consumer to change their minds once they arrive on the website or landing page.
Solution: Make your website/landing page easy to navigate and cohesive with your brand and the ads that are directing the audience to it. Make sure your ads are pointing directly to what you are advertising. Keep your ads snappy and to the point of what you are advertising on your landing page, so neither feel deceiving. Paying mind to the UX (user experience) will help with this process.
Key Takeaways:
- Integrate Instagram Stories into your paid advertising strategy. If necessary, create ads specifically to fit within the regulations and test to see how they perform versus regular in-feed ads.
- Mix in organic content creation with paid advertising content. It will allow for fresh, updated audiences over time as you test new ads, and show a strong brand across the platform.
- When creating ads for Instagram, ensure they are clicking back to the right pages, and that they the pages are easy to navigate from a leads perspective. The ads and the webpage/landing page should be cohesive and matching, allowing for a seamless experience for the lead to convert.
With these three top tips, you’ll be converting from your Instagram ads in no time!
