When it comes to online PPC advertising, Facebook and Google steal the show. This is where most marketers allocate the vast majority of their budgets (and for good reason). But it’s a mistake to totally ignore Instagram. In fact, Instagram advertising could become your secret weapon, if you know how to use it.
Instagram Advertising
Instagram turns 12 in 2022. Much has changed over the years, but mostly for the better. The latest data shows that Instagram is the seventh most visited website in the world, attracting 2.9 global visits per month. And although it is only the fourth most used social media platform (behind Facebook, Youtube and WhatsApp), it is among the most loyal.
From an advertising point of view, one of the most attractive aspects of Instagram is the audience. The highly sought-after 18-34 age bracket accounts for the largest share of Instagram’s audience (around 60%) and is considered the preferred social platform for Gen Z. In total, 59% of American adults use Instagram daily, while 38% of daily visitors log on multiple times a day.
Nine out of 10 Instagram users follow at least one business account, while one in two people have used Instagram to discover a new brand in the past. So it’s no surprise that Instagram’s ad reach has overtaken Facebook’s over the past year (up 20.5%).
If you want to win with PPC advertising, ignore Instagram at your peril. It has the potential to change everything for your business.
Tips for Better Instagram Ads ROI
Just because Instagram is a powerful advertising platform doesn’t mean you’ll be automatically successful. In order to generate a positive ROI, you will need to get the details right. Here are a few tips :
Warm up your account first
If you’re new to Instagram, there are steps you’ll need to take to prepare your account before jumping straight into advertising. (If you don’t, you risk attracting the wrong kind of attention from Instagram’s ad review team and crippling your efforts.) Here are some tips for warm up your account:
- Register a single Instagram account on your IP address. (Avoid creating multiple accounts, which the algorithm notices)
- Fill every square pixel of your profile, but avoid stuffing links for now
- Spend some time browsing the platform after creating your account. (In other words, don’t sign up and leave immediately)
- Start following 10-15 new accounts a day for the first week. Then go back to three to five counts a day for another two weeks.
- Post once or twice a day
- Like and comment on at least five posts a day
If you follow these instructions, your account will be hot within 30 days. At this point, you can start advertising.
Think like a scroller
The best advertisers don’t think like advertisers. Instead, they think like users. More precisely, they think like scrollers. Instagram users are conditioned to scroll. Their thumb slides up and down the screen until something catches their eye and forces them to stop. To earn with advertising, you must stop scrolling.
The most effective way to consistently stop scrolling is to do something that breaks up the monotony of everything a user sees in their News Feed. This is why integrating motion into the front-end of Instagram ads is so effective. It can be done with video, quick cuts, flashing colors, etc.
Partner with influencers
If you want to stand out, you need to cut out the noise. And one of the best ways to cut through the noise is to partner with people who already have an active following on Instagram.
“Instagram is a great platform for marketing and branding,” entrepreneur JP Brosseau writes. “However, with over 8 million registered business accounts, it is extremely competitive. If you want to achieve desirable results in such an environment, my advice is to team up with Instagram influencers.
The beauty of working with influencers is that you can tap into their existing audience. And if you do your research, you can find influencers whose audience falls squarely in the middle of your target demographic. This allows you to put your brand in front of qualified prospects who may not already know you.
put it all together
Instagram may not be the first advertising platform that comes to most businesses’ minds, but it’s certainly one of the most powerful. If you’re serious about maximizing your advertising dollars and getting a positive ROI from PPC ads, we highly recommend including Instagram in your advertising arsenal. It’s not a magic bullet, but it will definitely get you going!
