8 Tips for a Successful Instagram Story Ad

8 Tips for a Successful Instagram Story Ad

Today, more than 400 million people use the Instagram platform daily, many potential consumers. But how do you convert a simple user into a future buyer?

Instagram’s users are more likely to look at stories than their Instagram feed. This is why we must review these strategies and not minimize this channel when it comes to advertisements.

Before designing an ad for Instagram Stories, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions:

Who watches stories on Instagram ?

Instagram’s users are between 13 and 49 years old, but the ads target more users between the ages of 18 and 49, a target with purchasing power.

What is the purpose of my story ?

The announcer has only 15 seconds to convince his audience to follow up on this announcement, so he has to be convincing from the first few seconds. The message must be immediately clear and visually impactful.

Where do we want to take this user ?

The goal is, without any secrets, to get the user to visit the Instagram site / profile to convince them that they need this product or service and thus encourage them to order.

So here are 8 Tips to help you create the most impactful Stories ads:

1) Give movement by adding a small animation

Sometimes advertisers just put a simple photo with a bit of text to showcase a product. It’s not enough. We remind you here, the goal is to appeal to the person who sees your ad by making him want to click on your ad. We must therefore add a little dynamism to this announcement. Sometimes a simple gif can do the trick. Indeed, the eye will be attracted by this short moving animation: a CTA, an arrow, a blink, …

All of these animations can be done using software such as Photoshop but also on free sites dedicated to content creation such as Canva.

2) Favor video over photo

You will see it for yourself, but the eye will be more captivated by a continuous image, that is, a video that will hold its attention for several seconds in a row rather than a simple static photo.

And keep in mind that the eye has a very good memory and can retain a lot of information in seconds.

So promote video production! Additionally, on Instagram, a video ad is allowed 15 seconds while a static ad is only 5 seconds long.

 (ADC B2B – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1omuYUISmWXN-PoleIvs4lJXJodSQV23C)

3) Motion Design

It is sometimes difficult to present its content in the form of a video filmed beforehand.

Don’t panic, motion design is here to save you. With the help of Motion Design, it is absolutely possible to express everything. But what is motion design? For those who do not yet know, Motion Design is the animation of graphics like illustrations.

Indeed, this visual art offers a certain freedom in terms of content since everything is created from scratch. It has many advantages, starting with its format which appeals to everyone (young and old) and which does not necessarily require text to accompany the visuals.

To achieve this you can use After Effect from the Adobe suite

(SABON: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15lm63OVFIDr8Mj1161d_S0XToIVfmmUp)

4) Image animation

Some will say, “But we have some great photos and it would be a waste not to use them!” ”

Rather than posting them one by one and thus taking the risk of losing all the potential they would offer, why not resort to a video story with static images?

But what is it ? This consists of succeeding images (or photos) one by one and thus creating a video. You can make a video that is only illustrated with beautiful photos, or also mix photos / videos. It is imperative to give your ad a dynamic that arouses the viewer’s curiosity and makes them want to stay until the end of the video.

5) Music in the story

When you come across an Insta story ad, the sound, if any, is automatically activated. Sound, preferably without words (unless the goal is to promote an artist, a festival, an album release or the like) is also a form of “customer grabbing”. The person viewing your ad will not only appeal to their sight, but also to another sense, their hearing. This represents twice the chance for you to achieve your goals.

(LECISEAU: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d_GLeH2IrmUqHOVRjIq7FS7iCTEVkwE8)

6) Interactivity

How do you target a customer if it isn’t asking for their opinion? For some time now, Instagram has offered many features that make it possible to make a story interactive with your target: surveys, the possibility of asking questions, multiple choice questions …

So, use all of these tools to keep them with you for as long as possible. Getting them to participate is a good alternative to convert them.

(exemple d’une pub de Dunkin Donuts)

7) Format!

Pay attention to the formats! Many advertisers are happy to share the same ad across all of their platforms, but the formats are not the same. On some advertisements there is a simple square image with a small text below… AVOID!

The most suitable format for insta stories is the 9:16 format which corresponds to a 1080x1920px format. Take the time to adapt your ads in any format. Each platform is different.

(SABON: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LhErAG3ZPm4x5mbCL8-C7egFQHPvXb3T)

8) Text type

It is important to add text but be careful not to overdo it. Only a 20% share of text is allowed, this means that the text should not take more than 20% of space on the ad.

That’s why, we often prefer to use CTAs (Call To Action), those little phrases or words that keep you going like “Continue”, “Buy Now”, “Discover” and so many more.

Remember, you only have 15 seconds so no need to bring out the Shakespeare inside you, a single sentence will do. We are talking about a sentence here, but numbers can sometimes be more meaningful.

Plus, a story has a limited duration so why not make your offer exclusive, too. The user will feel more privileged if the offer is limited or exclusive and will realize that they only have ad time to click on the link. “-20%”, “Limited edition”, “exclusive”, “promo code” or “only today” are phrases that appeal to the user.

Do I have to order? Do i really need it? It will only find the answers once on your site or insta page so that will be a point for you!

(LECISEAU: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d_GLeH2IrmUqHOVRjIq7FS7iCTEVkwE8)

No more excuses, you now have the tools to attract a user and convert them into a customer. Keeping one thing in mind, the most important thing is to CAPTURE the person viewing your ad and get them interested, creating a need that might not have been one at first. Maybe they won’t click on the first ad, but subsequent times will be booster shots and push them to swipe-up.

L'Auteur
Maëva Delécluse