Compared to other platforms, Instagram stands out because of its massive user base and high volume of user-generated content (over 400 million users and 80 million posts every day). Instagram claims its advertising contributes to the platform’s already substantial brand exposure. Photo advertising, carousel ads, Instagram video ads, and ads in Instagram Stories are just some of the formats available on the site. The latter provides additional opportunities to engage consumers via sight, sound, and motion. We can all agree that video is now trending.

Veterans United Home Loans’s social media strategist Connor Voss advised that any company considering Instagram Stories should explore the platform to learn about its features, current trends, and user expectations for content. Instagram video ads can help boost your profile as a business owner and bring in more customers.

1. Don’t waste the first few seconds: –

Users of Instagram often scan through their feeds rapidly, so businesses need to create advertising for both the Instagram feed and Instagram stories that will make viewers pause.

The CEO of Bolt Digital, Natasha Courtenay-Smith, says the key is to include motion within the first three seconds.

She warned you couldn’t afford to waste time trying to grab people’s attention. Refrain from impressing them with arty, ponderous openers. Instead, go for something flashy, dynamic, and attention-grabbing.

Voss said that customers should be able to recognise right away that your ad is a video.

Make sure that the first second of your video has enough action so people can tell it’s not a static picture, even if the sound is off, as she said. 

If the opening seconds are so understated that they might be mistaken for a picture, viewers will likely skip over them without recognising what they’re missing.

2. Use the right size when you shoot: –

Voss advised advertisers to assume that users will watch a video ad within an Instagram post because, unlike Facebook, in-feed videos on Instagram cannot be expanded to fill the entire phone screen.

Although the video will be displayed horizontally in Stories, it should be shot and edited in a vertical orientation to make the most of the screen real estate.

According to Olumide Gbenro, CEO of Globo Media Marketing, “the best ads are ones that fill the entire space.” 

Get rid of the vertical movies and ensure your editor can handle 600600. This looks nothing like the others, so it should attract even more attention.

For Stories, though, Basis suggests sticking to a 1:1 aspect ratio of 1080p or 1920p.

3. Make sure your landing page is mobile-friendly: –

According to Surdakowski, if the call-to-action button on a video advertisement navigates viewers to a landing page, the business responsible for the advertisement must ensure that its website is suitable for usage on mobile devices. The service is accessed on mobile devices by most of Instagram’s users.

He claimed that there is “nothing worse” than clicking on the “Learn More” button, only to be sent to a website that is not optimised for your device.

Reuben Field, the company’s creative director that specialises in video production and goes by the name Lights Camera Business, thinks this perspective is correct. “The minute you make things difficult for them, you lose your user,” he added. “You lose your user.”

4. Add text: –

The sound on Instagram is often muted. According to Jonathan Jacobs, partner of digital firm Digital Natives Group, businesses need to use graphics and language as their “primary call to action.”

According to Chuck Cotterman, social media marketing consultant at business software and services review company G2 Crowd, “you can attract their attention—or simply get your point over” by offering more than just captions. To ensure your audience doesn’t miss any of your most important information, “create dynamic text effects utilising applications like Apple Clips.”

Outbrain’s senior online acquisition manager Ehud Basis agreed that this kind of content might assist in reinforcing a brand’s key ideas. However, digital marketing business LoSoMo president Veronica Romney advised against using too much text.

She advised including a few brief subtitles in the video to capture the viewer’s attention, encourage them to keep watching, and maybe even turn on the sound.

5. Pay attention to one thing: –

Natalie Athanasiadis, the director of a digital marketing company, recommended that each advertisement have a single, overarching theme, problem, and goal to be effective.

She said the alternatives “could be brand awareness, product education, or offers that say “buy now”.” Make sure to pack everything into a single advertisement since this will cause viewers to feel overwhelmed and click away.

John Surdakowski, the founder of the digital company Avex Designs, has decided to focus on completing one work at a time.

He cautioned against putting excessive services or perks in a video commercial since doing so would give the impression that the advertisement was trying to make a sale. “Pay attention to the people who watch your videos, and create content specifically for their enjoyment.”

6. Attempt to avoid looking like an advertisement: –

Athanasiadis emphasised the need to have Instagram videos look as if they have a natural position inside user feeds rather than seeking to bring attention to the advertiser as a means of attracting users’ attention to the brand.

Surdakowski agreed with the idea that marketers should ensure that video adverts flow in organically with feeds. He said that this is an important consideration.

He continued by saying that to get people’s attention as they scroll through their feeds, you have to figure out a strategy to grab their attention. It is more likely that a user will engage with a video that has been uploaded if the user finds the content of the video to be beneficial to them.

7. Early on, think about thumbnails: –

Another distinction between Facebook and other platforms is that marketers on other sites may use their thumbnails. As pointed out by Elizabeth Venanzi, online marketing manager at advertising firm Sparq Designs. Ads on Instagram need the usage of video teasers.

The thumbnail is the most crucial component of any Instagram video ad, so keep that in mind when you record and edit your video, she said. 

When someone sees your thumbnail, they’ll either crank up the volume to watch your ad, click on your post in the search area, and be sent to your profile, or they won’t bother. Save time and use the thumbnail you want in your video.

8. Maintain a unified appearance: –

According to Jacobs, the best way for companies to keep customers interested is to provide supplementary content that aligns with their advertisements. Romney said this was accurate regarding the whole of the advertising.

She said that the hues, the cinematic style, and the soundtrack of the video ad are all components of this whole. Even the most minute details greatly impact the overall impression of the video. 

If the video’s message does not match your brand’s tone, then viewers will perceive the video as fake and will most likely not bother to watch it.

9. Put in a clear request for action: –

Users want easily consumable content, and clicking on a link in a bio is time-consuming and inconvenient, so Venanzi advised against using Instagram video ads as teasers.

She advised that “your call to action should be as straightforward as possible at all times.” You can avoid making them click through to your profile and then a landing page by including a “learn more” button on your video ad. 

This will allow you to convey your entire message without leaving the video. Then, interested visitors won’t have to hunt for your “call to action” and will be more likely to stick around your site.

10. Wait until people are hooked up to WiFi: –

To prevent users from having a negative experience due to videos needing to buffer, Lesya Lui, a social media consultant for the news outlet The Social Media Current, suggested limiting ad exposure to only those users connected to WiFi. 

This would prevent users from having to wait for videos to buffer.

She claims that people who use social media are “extremely impatient” and “have so many distractions” that they won’t wait for your video ad to buffer and start playing because they don’t want to bother doing so.

11. Test:-

Field suggests that companies conduct A/B testing on their various iterations of Instagram video advertising to determine which versions are most successful in customer engagement.

Nate Masterson, who is in charge of marketing for the cosmetics company Maple Holistics, agrees that marketers should use the features that Instagram offers to improve the performance of their campaigns.

Marcus Harjani, the founder of the data-centric online site FameMoose, stated that his business could track a user’s journey from an advertisement to a transaction even when the user was not using Instagram.

Conclusion

Instagram differentiates itself from other platforms due to its large user base and great user-generated content. Instagram asserts that its advertising helps the platform’s already significant brand exposure. Photo advertisements, carousel advertisements, video advertisements, and adverts inside Instagram Stories are among the possible formats on the website. This gives new options to engage customers via sight, sound, and movement. We can all agree that video is now popular.

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