The Digital Marketer’s Guide To Creating Ads for Instagram

Did you know that over two billion people use Instagram every month? With so many eyeballs on this social media platform, it has become opportunistic for businesses to create Instagram advertisements. 

However, this does not just have to be for the big players. You can do this as a small business entrepreneur or as an influencer looking to promote sponsored content. 

So, what are the biggest things that you need to know when it comes to creating ads for Instagram? These are some tips that you should follow. 

Know Your Audience 

The first thing that you need to do is know your audience. Who are you creating these Instagram ads for? What does your audience want to see and hear? 

Since you are the one that caters to these people, you are going to be the person that knows best here. If you are still not sure after thinking about it for a while, ask your audience to take a survey to see what things they like. 

Another thing that you should do is find out what the majority demographic is in your audience. 

Is there an age group that you cater to more than others? Are more of your audience members a certain race? What about gender and sexual orientation? 

These are the things that you need to learn about your audience. Once you have this information, you have a better chance of creating a good video that will cater to that audience. 

Create a Budget 

Next, you need to come up with a realistic advertisement budget for your ad. If you are keeping things simple, then you may not even need to spend any money at all. 

However, if you are trying to make this a bigger production, there are certain costs that you are going to have to account for. 

An example can be if you want to upgrade your camera and microphone equipment to make this ad. Upgrading all of your video production equipment could cost thousands of dollars alone. 

Then, there are the people in the video. Do you want to hire any actors or actresses? Do you want models or extras in this video? What about a voiceover actor/actress for narration? 

On top of that, you made need extra help behind the scenes if this is going to be a bigger production. This can be anything from needing an extra cameraman to a boom operator to a director. 

Go over what you can realistically afford to spend on an ad. Once you do that, research these costs if these are things you really want in this video and figure out where to go from there. 

Have a Hook 

When it comes to advertising, one very important thing to remember is that you have to have a hook that will lure your audience in. When you make an advertisement, you have to do so knowing that it is going to be something that people are going to be resistant to watching. 

That is because ads usually get in the way of someone's primary content, so they are looking to skip past it if possible. However, one way you can combat this is by having a hook. 

By this, we mean that there should be something in the first 10 seconds of the video that jumps out to your audience. 

Remember, the average attention span of a human is a little over eight seconds. That is shorter than a goldfish, to put that into perspective. 

What this means is that you have to win your audience over immediately; otherwise they are just going to go on to the next thing that they see. 

Take extra time to come up with a good hook for this reason. This can be anything from having a high-quality camera, using bright and unique colors in the background, having a funny line or notable stat right away, or having an actor with a lot of energy to wake an audience up. 

What exactly you do is up to you; just make sure that you are not wasting time at the beginning of the ad. 

Track Ad Performance 

Finally, once you create the ad and release it to the public, your job is to keep track of how the ad is performing on Instagram. This is important because you can get a better idea of what works for you and if you need to change your advertising strategy for the future. 

How many people watched your ad video? How many new followers have you gotten on your page since the ad was released? What is the average amount of time that people spend watching this ad? Has it directly led to an increase in sales or profit for you? 

These are the questions that you need to answer to figure out if your ad was a success or not. This should also give you a better idea of what specifically works and does not work for you. 

Get Help With Creating Ads for Instagram

These are some of the biggest things that you need to know when it comes to creating ads for Instagram. Make sure that you have an appropriate budget for this ad and that you know your audience well enough to make a good ad for them. 

On top of this, focus on the first 10 seconds of the video so that way you have a good hook. Finally, don't forget to keep track of the ad's performance to see if it was successful. 

Do you need help with ads for Instagram? Request a demo with us today.

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