The more we hear about Instagram the more of us marketers are thinking seriously about whether it’s time to jump on the insta-bandwagon. After all, the platform boasts an impressive 1 billion active monthly users. In comparison, Facebook currently has 2.38 billion monthly active users. The numbers sure do sound impressive.
But first – a few things to consider.
Is Your Target Audience Under the Age of 35?
Despite the high volume of active participants, 71% of Instagram users around the globe are under the age of 35. Of course this is ideal if your brand is focused on reaching young people. However, if your targeted audience is older than 35, then you should reconsider spending your ad budget on Instagram and instead invest more time and resources in advertising on other platforms. Older audiences are more active on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Keep in mind that these numbers will most-likely shift over the years.
“Facebook has grown older – the once spring chicken of the internet celebrated its 14th birthday earlier this month – so too has its user base, along with its popularity among older people. The largest growth will be among older users, with 500,000 new over-55s expected to join Facebook this year. There will be 6.4 million 55- to 65-year-old-plus regular Facebook users this year, the biggest demographic save for 16- to 34-year-olds.” –The Guardian, Is Facebook For Old People?
Are You Focused on Sharing Visual Content?
Is it Compelling?
“Even more than on Facebook, brands are competing for attention with puppies, motorcycles, jewelry, the Kardashians, concerts, Hollywood and more.” -MarketingLand
If you plan to use stock photography, generic content, or tons of text – prepare to see limited results. People love Instagram because they want to see more visual content, which means sharing compelling photos and videos. If your ads don’t stand out against a sea of images, it will be too easy for users to scroll right past. And unlike Facebook, where you have numerous options on ad formats, everything on Instagram is made to be simple. There are only 4 types of ads for you to choose from:
- Photo Ads: allow you to showcase your products through images.
- Video Ads: can be up to 60 seconds.
- Carousel Ads: users can swipe through up to 10 images or videos, each with a CTA button that connects them to your website.
- Stories Ads: full-screen ads in which you can share photos and videos with your audience.
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Before you dive into setting up an Instagram ad campaign, you may have an easy way to test it out first. For those who are already advertising on Facebook, you may have noticed the option to add Instagram to your campaign. This can be done through the Ads Manager and Power Editor by simply checking the “Instagram” box under the ad set's Placement section. Facebook and Instagram campaigns can use the same photos or video across both platforms or unique creative for each. This is an easy opportunity to experiment with Instagram ads and see if you get the best results reaching your target audience by comparing to similar ads placed on Facebook or other platforms.
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Hopefully this post either saved you a lot of time or steered you in the right direction. And If launching an Instagram ad campaign is in your future, we have a team of experts who can get you on the Fastrak.
