Advertisers: Stop Making These Instagram Ads Mistakes.

Try This Instead!

Everybody knows it's quick and easy to make ads on Instagram, but that doesn't guarantee they'll perform as well as others.

Don't make ads that'll land in the Instagram graveyard. Keep reading to see how these helpful tips can get your ads noticed and your business flourishing.

1. Have a Specific Goal

When your ads make vague claims like "earn more today" or "get your business on track", they blend in with the thousands of other ads making the exact same claims.

By saying something specific, your ad jumps out from the rest because you're speaking to a specific problem your leads have. Take a look at these examples:

• Improve your brand's awareness
• Get the engagement your posts deserve
• Increase traffic to your website

2. Segment Your Audience

How can you make ads with specific goals if you don't know your audience? If you make an ad that's supposed to speak to everyone, it ends up falling flat because it speaks to no one.

Don't know who your audience is? Dive deep with the help of Instagram's social media analytics tools!

Segmenting your audience into specific groups allows you to reach a lot more people in a deeper, more meaningful way. Here are a few ways you can segment your audience:

• Age
• Lifestyle
• Location

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has a great tool that helps business owners to segment their audience. There are also several automated audience segmentation options that streamline the process.

3. Create Relevant Content

Remember who your ad is for. Hopefully, you've segmented your audience now and have an idea about what they engage with.

If you're having trouble pinning down your audience's interests, take a look at these factors:

• What influencers they're following
• What trends and hashtags they engage with
• What content they post

Now that you know your audience more intimately, take advantage of this information and create content that you know your audience will engage with.

Another useful tip is to collaborate with influencers. This gives your brand a specific authenticity your audience will appreciate. Take the time to find the right influencer, and they'll work wonders.

4. Create Instagram Ads with a Clear Message

If your ad is confusing, people aren't going to waste their time trying to decipher what it means. Don't let people skip over your ads. Write a compelling message your audience wants to hear.

There's two ways to do this: with an irresistible value proposition or with an inspiring CTA (call to action).

When you use a clear value proposition, your audience hears about all the benefits they'll receive from the get-go. List some of your product or service's key benefits in your ad to catch your audience's interest. This is a surefire way to secure higher click through rates and engagement.

Similarly, an inspiring CTA demystifies your audience's role. By telling them the next step, they're more inclined to participate.

5. Take Advantage of Instagram's Many Ad Offerings

As we all know, Instagram is more than just a photo-sharing app. Each type of ad has its perks, so it may be hard to choose. Don't freak out!

Let's break down all the different Instagram ads and how they're useful:

• Image Ads: These are pictures that show up in your followers' feed. Using an image ad is useful if you have a single product or service. If you feel like you're cramming too much into one post, it might be a better idea to break it into smaller posts or try a different ad type.
• Video Ads: Like the image ads, these posts also show up in your followers' feed. Using a standard video post is useful when you have a little bit more to say about your product or service. You can also organically incorporate different products or services in the same video.
• Carousel Ads: This fantastic storytelling tool is quite the nifty hybrid between video and image ads. With ten images or videos in a single post, the viewer just has to swipe from one to the next. Carousel Ads help elaborate on a product or service. They do especially well for campaigns or CTAs.
• Collection Ads: A type of Carousel ad, the collection ad presents users with an image, then in the following images, the products used. This is a great option for ecommerce because it shows price tags on the image and allows users to make purchases inside the app.
• Shopping Ads: These are very similar to the Collection ads. The only difference is that instead of purchasing directly in the app, these ads lead to your website.
• Explore Ads: These are particularly useful because of their strategic placement on Instagram's Explore page, where users go to find new content. Explore ads give lots of exposure and are a great way to get your foot in the door with new leads.
• Story Ads: While the previous ads are posts for the main feed with different placements, Stories only last 24 hours. Take advantage of that excitement by interacting with your audience. Ask questions, opinions, give updates with Stories so your followers keep up.
• Reels Ads: These Tik Tok style ads are a fun and interactive way to showcase your products or services. A special feature about reels is that they guarantee sound on, so users will always have an ear out.

6. Think Long Term

We all know how the get-rich-quick scheme ends— someone falls flat on their face. Take the time to get to know your audience and plan strategic material based on their interests.

By making consistent content, your business will have a unique brand voice and authenticity. This will make your brand much more trustworthy that your followers will respect.

An important step in creating engaging content is making sure your text and image harmonize well. Once you've come up with a memorable content, use visual styling, textual placement, and brand claims to punch up your brand authority.

7. Split Test Your Content

Why guess in the dark about your performance online when there's a tool that shows you when, how, and where to reach your audience best?

By split testing, or A/B testing, your ads, you can compare and track ad performance so your business has no choice but to excel.

Here are some of our favorite split testing tools.

8. Location, Location, Location!

Being conscious of your audience's various geographical locations is crucial for a number of reasons.

For one, if you have an audience that's across the globe, you should probably post while they're awake, not when they're sleeping. Hopefully after running some split testing, you have an idea of when is the best time to post for you.

Another fact to consider is how you can market to your local audiences. Depending on where you are in the world, you may have certain ad functions available to you. Check here to see what Instagram ads and data you can use.

9. Make Your Landing Page a Showstopper

You can create as many stunning ads as you want, but if your landing page is just the slightest bit off, it's game over. The more clicks a user has to make the less likely they are to stay on track.

Clear landing page CTAs and messages are a given. A neat trick that makes your work coherent and easy for users to engage with is making your ad content and landing page match. Use the same color palette, visual language, and slogans to create a seamless experience for your users so they know they're in the right place.

Another key trick is to make multiple landing pages for your various campaigns. Now, that might seem difficult, but if you use a template of the main landing page, you're guaranteed to turn those clicks into revenue while keeping a consistent branding voice.