Instagram Stories have become unprecedentedly popular in a short period of time. Advertising in Instagram stories presents opportunities for businesses. But how do you capitalize on this if your business account has few followers? Or maybe you are not yet active on Instagram at all. Then advertising in Instagram Stories might offer a solution. Only why would you want to advertise between the Stories and how do you best approach this?
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are an additional way to share photos and videos with your followers. Normal updates show up in your followers' timeline and the update is added to your account. Usually the updates posted to the timeline are the best photos, as they remain visible on your account and you can "score likes" with them. For example, here you post your best vacation photos the photo you look so good in that it would be a shame not to share it. This creates an overview of your best moments on your profile.
The Stories, on the other hand, are mainly used to send fun, more ephemeral updates of what you experience in a day. The Stories disappear again after 24 hours, making the barrier to posting a lot lower. Many companies are already using Instagram Stories in creative ways to inspire or entertain their followers. See some examples here.
As indicated in the introduction, it is also possible to advertise between Stories. But what could be a relevant reason to do this as a business?
Why advertise in Instagram Stories?
Before we unleash HOW best to deploy your ads among Stories, we'll tell you more about the possible reasons for choosing this as a business.
Reaching out to young people
Young people are leaving Facebook in large numbers. Instagram and Snapchat benefit the most from this. Snapchat, Youtube and Instagram are the biggest platforms in the 15-19 age group. The advantage of Instagram is that with 2.1 million daily users, you can also achieve a large reach in the 20-34 age category. Whereas on Snapchat, with 1.3 million daily users, this is less successful.
Targeting
Because Instagram has been acquired by Facebook, you can use the targeting options that are also available for Facebook. This allows you to reach very targeted audiences, with relatively small budgets. This is not possible on Snapchat, for example, where you have fewer targeting options and have to spend a minimum of 50 euros per day.
Full screen experience
Instagram's Stories take up the entire mobile screen. There is attention to your brand only in the moment the ad is on screen. Viewability is therefore not an issue here.
Visual platform
Whereas Facebook has become more of a gathering platform of video, content and news, Instagram is preeminently a visual platform. Facebook works better for directing people to other sites, but if you want to be seen, Instagram is more appropriate. For example, add recall on Instagram has been shown to be 2.8x higher than on Facebook. Even though the CTR is generally lower, the people who do click through spend significantly more time on the website1.
Tips & Tricks
Now that it's clear why Instagram Stories should be used, let's zoom in on some practical tips to make your campaign a success.
Grab attention
The most important thing is to grab your attention immediately. Otherwise you will be clicked away (On snapchat, the average viewing time of similar ads is 1 second). So grab attention in the first second. Don't start right away with an image with a lot of text or whole sentences, but start briefly with a few words or a nice/funny image that triggers and especially makes you curious.
Use video
Use video instead of a static image. Videos can be used for up to 15 seconds, while an image stays on screen for 5 seconds. In addition, you can deliver a message better in a video and the target audience is watching more and more video. The advantage of Instagram Stories is that videos don't have to be slick at all.
Be a story
Make the ad look like a real story. For example, by adding smileys, filters, stickers, text or a boomerang. That way it fits in better with the environment you're in. In general, "real videos" work better than animated images. After all, you don't see this in friends' stories either, so it's quickly obvious that it's an ad.
Clear CTA
End with a clear call-to-action. Also, don't wait until the very last moment, but end, for example, with a 2-3 second still to give people a chance to swipe up.
Audio on/off
Make sure the expressions without sound can also be easily understood. Of course, this does not mean that the videos should be made without sound. Make sure that sound/music enhances the video, but not that the video depends on it.
Experiment
Last but not least, Experiment! Test with different expressions. That way you will find out what the target audience responds well to.
Carousel ads
Currently, you can only show a single expression to the target audience. However, Instagram has announced that it will soon be possible to advertise with carousel ads in Stories. This is being experimented with by several companies, so this option will soon become available to everyone. Initially, this will be up to three images/videos and perhaps more later.
This provides the space to come up with creative ideas to make the expressions flow nicely on top of each other, and you can be on screen longer in total. Users can go straight to the next slide of the carousel by clicking on the screen, but can also get rid of the entire carousel by swipe. So again, with the first expression, you have to grab the attention immediately and give the users a reason not to swipe you away.
