Instagram Paid Ads

Every day, more than 500 million people log into
Instagram to connect with friends, family, and
passion points.

How To Succeed With Paid On Instagram

For advertisers, half the battle is already won because users are prepared to actively engage with and discover new content.

Consequently, the key to winning on Instagram is tapping into that “leaned-in mindset” by reaching out to users with the right creative at the right time.

Teams need to ensure throughout the creative process that their messages will be delivered effectively in the sound-off feed format.

Creative is the key to success

Platform-tailored creative is critical to driving business results on Instagram. Brands need to be cognizant of the environment in which their ads are serving, taking into account the difference in user behavior on Instagram from the rest of the digital ecosystem.

The vast majority of content is consumed without sound, thus advertisers cannot rely on audible cues to drive resonance. Teams need to ensure throughout the creative process that their messages will be delivered effectively in the sound-off feed format.

Instagram is perhaps social media’s greatest treasure trove of visual content, with each user’s feed curated to their specific interests. There’s even a slime account, with over 675 thousand followers eagerly awaiting the next video release.

Given the degree of competition, advertisers need to earn each user’s attention. Video creative consistently drives strong results through its ability to grab users through story-telling, convey value propositions, and create brand equity.

Thumb-stopping visuals are essential to arrest scrolling and drive message retention through video consumption. It is critical to remember that with the rise of mobile and the aging up of digital-savvy consumers (especially millennials and Gen Z, Instagram’s most active demographic), average dwell times per individual piece of content are lower than ever — and they’re trending down further.

Compared to the desktop environment, mobile scrolling rates are over 40% higher. And the scroll speed variation across generations (for example between Baby Boomers and Gen Z) is massive. Brands need to focus precisely on how to best capture user attention in the small window of time available and it starts and ends with creative.

Start a Conversation

Context Trumps Content

100% of Instagram ad inventory is on mobile, so advertisers need to adjust content aspect ratios to maximize their real estate on a handheld device. Vertical formatting is a small tweak that can have a significant impact on advertiser success. The more screen time and space a creative gets, the more likely it is to grab the user’s attention.

Vertical creative also opens up additional inventory via Instagram Stories. Brands routinely see more efficient results when supplementing their campaigns with placements in Stories (which boasts over 300MM monthly active users).

Instagram recently rolled out the Story Carousel ad unit which takes advantage of the twitchy behavior of users as they quickly thumb through stories. Advertisers can use these carousels to stitch together three consecutive videos, giving every impression slot three opportunities to grab the user’s attention, all in a single cohesive story-telling ad unit.

Ideally, brands should be creating content tailored in theme and in format specifically for the Stories placement. That said, Instagram recently launched tools to allow advertisers to automatically adjust existing creative to fit the full-screen story format. Depending on the size of the asset, Instagram can blur the edges of photos or videos to fit seamlessly between user-stories. This simple modification to campaigns can lead to significant boosts in efficiency with no incremental creative costs.

For additional guidance on creating content for Instagram Stories, Facebook IQ’s write-up is helpful. As Instagram continues to refine its offering, these fast-paced and mobile-optimized storytelling assets will continue to be tremendously efficient drivers of business results when placed in front of the right users.

Tapping Into Culture

There are countless interest niches on Instagram, ranging from the everyday to the bizarre, and all present unique opportunities for brands to insert themselves into social trends. Perhaps the most significant phenomenon on the platform has been the explosion of meme culture.

Memes use humor to convey cultural idiosyncrasies in a digestible format -- they are the digital manifestations of ideas or feelings that everyone is familiar with but oftentimes unable to describe.

Many influencers have capitalized on meme culture, with accounts such as @betches and @beigecardigan racking up millions of followers by creating and aggregating memes from across the internet. In 2018, memes are as indigenous to Instagram as carefully curated travel photos, which creates a fascinating white-space for advertisers to explore.

Our Portfolio

Project Title

Nec nam aliquam sem et tortor consequat id. Eget felis eget nunc lobortis. Facilisis gravida neque convallis a cras semper auctor neque vitae. Turpis tincidunt id aliquet risus feugiat in ante metus. Viverra mauris in aliquam sem. Urna et pharetra pharetra massa massa ultricies mi. Dignissim suspendisse in est ante. Pellentesque adipiscing commodo elit at imperdiet. Commodo sed egestas egestas fringilla.