Instagram has over 1 billion active monthly users, but one of the most interesting statistics is that there are over 500 million people using Instagram stories every day.
The average Instagram user is spending just under an hour per day on the platform and an ever-increasing amount of time is being spent consuming Instagram Stories.
As a business owner running specific Instagram Story ads will give you a prime piece of advertising real estate.
We are going to explain our in-house team are generating huge ROI’s from this placement.
How Do Instagram Stories Work?
Instagram stories appear in the top of your feed and consist of all stories created by your friends and other accounts you follow.
To view an Instagram story, you just tap the profile photo and their story will load in full-screen showing all the content they have uploaded within a 24 hour period playing from oldest to newest.
What about running ads?
When a user begins to view an Instagram story, they can toggle between going backwards and forwards and skip to another user’s story by swiping on the screen.
Facebook (Instagram) have made it possible to advertise within this feed.
Roughly every third Instagram story is a sponsored post (AD) allowing you to seamlessly integrate into your target customers feed.
Telling your story?
You have 15 seconds to let your audience know exactly what you are promoting. What do you do ?
- Get to the point.
- Use strong visuals to capture attention.
- Clearly define your call to action.
A great example of this is displayed by Lacoste in a recent campaign. They gamified the colour options of their bed linen to get customers to engage further with their story. Instead of 15 seconds they managed to get customers spending 45 seconds viewing their product.
Constructing Instagram Story Ads
ATTENTION
Because users are unable to return to the ad, so it is crucial to get the message of your ad across in the first few seconds. Use Strong imagery that commands attention
BRANDING
Make sure that you place your brand name/logo in the story for brand recognition. This is important as it improves customer recall and helps them to find you if they didn’t click.
FORMATS
Typically you will want to shoot your content in 1080×1920 and a 9:16 aspect ratio for Instagram stories. This will allow your ad to blend in with the Instagram story feed.
The Format can be image or video.
The duration is 15 seconds per clip (read below for info on incorporating multiple clips in a story ad)
Instagram have also added full screen support to traditional ads that meet the Instagram feed aspect ratios. Here Instagram will automatically support this content on Instagram stories.
The pixel matching technology will select a background gradient to turn the Instagram feed ad into an Instagram story.
We think this is a great innovation from the platform , however the format sticks out like a sore thumb and screams ADVERT, which may not be the approach you want.
Using Carousel Ads For Stories
Instagram now offers two types of carousel ads. Allowing you to select which is best based off the content you have available at your disposal.
When implemented correctly, you can increase the time your audience engage with you from 15 seconds +
To read more on Instagram Carousel ads for stories click here
Why Instagram Story Ads?
If you have skipped to the bottom of the blog for the 15 second summary or whether you want to confirm your existing knowledge, here it is:
✅ 40% Lower Cost Per Thousand Impressions CPM (You can reach more people for less)
✅ Our cost per click was around 30% cheaper using Instagram stories. (More people will see your offer/product)
✅ On average a higher ROAS than traditional placements.
✅ 1080×1920 format Instagram story ads converted a lot better than full screen supported format.
✅ Many businesses lack the skills / interest to tailor content specifically for 1 placement. Those who leverage this will really benefit.
Using the accumulated knowledge from managing over 7 figures in client ad spend, our team are able to design custom advertising strategy that delivers a positive ROI. Turning your ad spend into sales.
