Instagram Ads: 5 Tips for eSellers

Editor’s note: This is a guest post written by Val Razo, a freelance SMM consultant and guest blogger.

eSellers utilizing social media platforms is on the rise: 3 billion social media users are currently active online and they use social media channels to discover and buy new products in-app. For many eSellers, it’s nearly impossible to use all platforms, so you want to find one channel that can boost your business.

The solution? Instagram! Instagram has become a must-have marketing tool as it has a solid user base of one billion active users, 90% of whom follow at least one business on the platform and 80% of them who buy products.

Not only does Instagram offer various objectives for awareness, consideration, and conversion, but it also has precise targeting options, so eSellers can find what fits their needs and wants best with the following four types of Instagram ads:

• Photo ads
• Video ads
• Carousel ads
• Instagram Stories ads

In short, if you want to promote your eStore on Instagram and achieve great results, it’s important to jump on the bandwagon now and create Instagram ads that help reach your target audience and achieve business goals faster.

Why Should eSellers Run Instagram Ads?

Instagram ads can be beneficial for the following reasons:

• Beat Instagram algorithm: It’s no secret that Instagram prioritizes content from friends and family, so it can be difficult for businesses to cut through the noise unless they run Instagram ads. When you create paid ads, you can be sure that your content is discovered by your audience and therefore you can get more likes, views, and comments which means you beat the algorithm.
• Raise brand awareness: Instagram is a visual platform, so users upload 95 million photos and videos daily. For brands, it can be daunting to promote their products unless they run Instagram ads. With the right targeting, you can spread the word about your product and therefore raise brand awareness.
• Reach potential customers: Instagram community has grown to one billion active users, so your potential customers use this platform without a doubt. When using Instagram ads, not only can you grow an Instagram following, but you can also turn these followers into customers with ease as you target the right audience who is interested in your products.
• Get more website traffic: Instagram has great traffic potential, but it doesn’t allow companies to add many links within their profiles. When you run Instagram ads, you can include your target website pages and encourage interested viewers to visit your site.
• Boost eCommerce sales: As shopping via Instagram is rapidly emerging, many eSellers are aiming to drive eCommerce sales. With product tags and clickable links, not only can you attract your potential customers, but you can also improve customer experience which means they are more likely to buy your products within the app.

Let’s check out the best examples from eCommerce companies that can help inspire your next Instagram ad campaign.

1. Show a Variety of Products

The more products you have, the better. Why? Modern customers have high demands and their preferences vary, so offering the variety of products is a great way to satisfy your customers’ needs and wants.

With Instagram carousel ads, there’s no need to create various ad campaigns to target different customer segments as you can add up to 10 photos or videos and therefore show off your products from different angles. It works well if you want to build brand awareness and find new potential customers who are interested in your products. For example, fashion brand Shein created an Instagram carousel ad featuring its top products to attract new customers:

Showing off various products within one ad helps to attract different customers with different preferences. As a result, you hook the attention of your target audience and encourage them to learn more about your business and products.

Pro tip: If you want to create eye-catching carousel ads that grab the attention of your audience, you need to make these photos/videos look cohesive, so using graphic design tools like Crello can help.

2. Collaborate with an Instagram Influencer 

Today, modern customers seek out peer recommendations before buying products. Although it can be difficult to secure common customers to promote your products on social media, influencer marketing can help your business gain trust and loyalty. In fact, 91% of millennial buyers trust online reviews as much as friends and family. Working with a niche Instagram influencer, you can make your brand more trustworthy.

If you use Instagram Stories for eCommerce, you can learn from Tatti Lashes and run stories ads to create a sense of urgency and convert interested users into customers. The company invited a well-known make-up artist to tell users about its big sale:

The mix of influencer marketing and discounts helped to get wonderful results: an 64% increase in click-through rate with ads in Stories and 25% of web traffic came from ads in Stories.

Pro tip: If you don’t have the budget to work with famous niche celebrities, you can invite influencers with a smaller but loyal following to feature your products. Plus, you can set up a referral program to turn your customers into brand advocates.

3. Promote a Sale or Exclusive Offer

When searching for new products, customers often pay attention to sales and offers before making the purchase decision. Since they know nothing about the quality of products they want to test, helping them to save money is the easiest way to convert interested viewers into paying customers.

Believe it or not, 56% of social media users follow businesses to get exclusive offers. This means customers are looking for the updates from your business on social media. When creating your ad, consider promoting a sale or exclusive offer.

Let’s take for example fine Jewelry brand, Chupi. To raise brand awareness and increase eCommerce sales, the company ran the Black Friday campaign in 2018. Just in one week, this ad campaign reached 250,000 customers and resulted in a 25% increase in conversions and 10X return on ad spend, compared to the previous year:

If you don’t plan on running a sale, you can still offer something valuable to your potential customers that can encourage impulse buying. Here are several options you should consider:

• Free shipping
• Gift cards and e-cards
• BOGO promotion
• Gift wrapping

Pro tip: If you use email marketing, you can link back to your lead generation landing page to collect emails from users who want to get exclusive offers via email. However, make sure to use an email checker before sending newsletters and product catalogues as customers often make mistakes when typing their contact information on social media.

4. Provide Social Proof 

Before making a purchase decision, most customers seek out social proof to make sure that the chosen products can satisfy their needs and wants. When we see other people who use products we’re considering buying, it increases trust and eases the worried minds. Thus, providing social proof is a must for eSellers who create Instagram ads.

Previously, we’ve talked about influencer marketing and featuring opinion leaders can be one of the ways to provide social proof. However, there are some other ways to do it without securing collaboration opportunities with niche opinion leaders. For example, you can use fan-made photos in your ad. Not only do fan-made photos look more authentic than professional visuals, but they also provide social proof that stimulates customers to make the purchase decision.

Check out this example from FizzyGoblet:

What is more, fan-made images help potential customers understand how your products can look in reality, so it also encourages them to make impulse purchase decisions. However, you need to ask customers for permission before using their photos or videos.

Pro tip: To get more fan-made photos from your existing customers, organize an Instagram contest with valuable prizes and put creating UGC photos as one of the entrance requirements. Reach out to customers whose photos you plan to use and ask for permission.

5. Direct Visitors to Your Website

Although social media platforms have gained in popularity, most eCommerce businesses still prefer using websites. If you want to convert followers into website visitors and then your visitors into customers, you need to add your website when creating your Instagram ad.

For example, fashion brand Furla, ran Instagram Stories ads to reach a new audience on the platform and the company included a homepage link that allowed interested users to discover website content, including products, contact options, and much more:

Whether you want to promote a new product collection or email newsletter, having one clickable link can be enough to achieve your business goals. Moreover, clickable links allow users to discover content without leaving the app, so they are more likely to visit your website when finding it on Instagram.

Pro tip: If you haven’t reached a milestone of 10,000 followers on Instagram, you don’t have access to the clickable Story link, but you can still run Instagram photo/video ads and include your target website URL.

The Bottom Line

Instagram is a social media powerhouse with great sales potential, so it’s no wonder that eCommerce businesses of all sizes use it to promote their eStore. The competition is high on Instagram, so eSellers should be ready to run ads that help promote products and boost sales. When done right, Instagram ads can help your business succeed and increase sales.

Val Razo is a freelance SMM consultant who helps small businesses promote their products and services on social media. Val also writes for top-notch marketing blogs to share her tips with other people and find like-minded marketers to get in touch.