You ladies have seen them… and you’re probably wondering, “How do I do them?” Well grab a cup of coffee and a pen, because today we’re breaking down #allthethings when it comes to Instagram and Instastory ads!
Last January, the powerhouses at Facebook launched the Instastory ads Beta to 30 big-name brands and it took off like WILDFIRE!!
So what is an Instastory ad and how can you create one?
An Instastory ad is an image or 15-second video that looks just like all of the other stories you’re used to seeing in your feed. The only difference: Someone paid for you to see it (you’ll see the word “Sponsored” above it.)
Grab your phone (ok, let’s be honest – 80% of you are on your phone reading this right now, aren’t you?) and head to Instagram. Now click on stories. Swipe right 3-5 times and I can almost guarantee you’ll see a sponsored post.
So how do you create one? It’s super simple!
Step 1: Get Clear On Your Goal
Are you running an ad to collect email addresses to your opt-in? Are you trying to get registrations to an opt-in? Do you want users to purchase your new amazing product?
Step 2: Get Clear On The Audience
Who is your ideal client? Get super clear on who you want this ad to be presented to. Is it men or women? How old are they? Where do they live? What are they interested in? For example, if you’re a health coach, you may want to get in front of women ages 30-45 who live in predominantly English-speaking countries (US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia) and who watch Jillian Michaels and shop at Target. Or you might retarget current followers to a specific promotion or sale.
Step 3: Make your Ad visually appealing.
Your ad literally needs to cause users to STOP the scroll and take action…so how do you do that? Be sure to make your image eye-catching. You have a half-of-a-second to get your users to stop scrolling and start clicking! You can create an eye-catching image in Canva or record your Instastory video vertically in the app then add text or images to it! (You’ll want your images or videos to be 1080px x 1920px (9:16 aspect ratio).
Step 4: Set Up Your Ad
You’ll set up your ad in Facebook’s Ads Manager (I know what you’re thinking… “I want to create an Instagram ad” – because Facebook owns Instagram, all the setup will happen in Facebook!)
Step 5: Analyze Your Ad
Once your ad has been running for 24-48 hours, you’ll want to see how it’s performing. Are your users taking the desired action? What is the cost per action? If it’s not quite where you want it to be, go back to steps 2-3 and tweak, rinse, and repeat!
There’s never been a better time to run Instastory ads. With over 300 million daily active users, Instastory ads are a powerful way to get in front of your audience!
