Instagram Ads in Stories: “Full-screen. Vertical. Immersive.”

Instagram stories is not a new feature. The site’s 400 million users quickly took advantage of this feature back in 2016 to keep their followers and viewers up-to-date on their everyday activities, similar to Snapchat’s main focus, and the popularity is ever growing. When Instagram launched the ability to create paid advertisements in the Story feature, advertisers took notice.

The ads in Instagram stories have been successful for advertisers for a few different reasons. In case you are unfamiliar with how the feature works, it goes something like this. When the app opens, the stories from people they follow appear at the top of the feed. Once a “story” is clicked and the user begins watching, the videos automatically play one after another until there is no more to watch or the user decides to swipe out. The ads in Instagram stories are snuck in between these other stories and follows the same format, keeping the user experience consistent and flow uninterrupted.

Instagram Stories Ads allows for advertisers and businesses to create content that appears more organic and is more interactive than just a normal post that appears in a user’s feed. This feature is highly valuable to any social media marketing plan since the reach for advertisements within organic posts and news feed posts has seen a decline in the past year. With that said, Here are are a few reasons why you need to implement them into your marketing strategy, and a few ways to do it effectively.

The Perks

A big plus for Instagram ads in stories is the ability to use the “Swipe-Up” feature because, before Instagram Story Ads, this was only available to verified users or to accounts with 10,000 followers or more. This feature encourages users to visit the desired landing page, blog, or product within the link. However, if eCommerce is not your social media plan’s first objective, do not fear. There are many other features that drive brand awareness, reach and more.

The carousel feature for Instagram Story Ads is a way for creative copy and content to grow and appeal to viewers. The feature allows for 3 consecutive panels, each panel with 15 seconds worth of video time. An important aspect to note is each section, or panel allows for a different landing page on each section.

The Way to Use it

A lot of times when an ad pops up to a user who is not interested in your brand, they will do what Instagram calls a “Swipe-Through.” The user simply sees that it’s an ad and immediately clicks away or exits out of the feature. The best advice we can give to avoid swipe-throughs is to target lookalike audiences. The different kinds of lookalike audiences are as following:

• Customer File: Email addresses, phone numbers, or any other information you’ve acquired in lead generation.
• Website Traffic: People who have visited your website, blog, or a specific landing page.
• App Activity: People who have interacted with your app.
• Offline Activity: People who have interacted with your business, either in-store or by phone.
• Engagement: People who have engaged with your content on Facebook or Instagram.

Instagram Stories Ads give marketers an opportunity to engage with their audience in a unique and creative way. The feature is here to stay as it has been highly successful within Facebook Stories as well, so implementing them into a separate social media marketing strategy is a must. If you need help with Instagram Stories Ads or creating a social media strategy, make sure to contact us. Also check out our Instagram and Twitter pages as well, to stay up to date with Dapper Goat.