Instagram offers users a popular and diverse platform. Visitors can use it to socialize, gain information about products, review their own experiences, and read the opinions of other people.
Some of these opinions come in the form of advertisements, which many companies are leveraging to increase their profits. As a business owner yourself, you may be wondering if this strategy would help to move your operations forward.
The pros of Instagram advertising.
1. Increased traffic.
Let’s start with the most obvious advantage. Instagram advertising posts are different from standard organic submissions. When you pay for the privilege of promoting your products, you can add clickable links that can take your call-to-action to the next level.
As soon as visitors click on this, they will be instantly redirected to your own product pages and checkout center where they can complete a secure purchase on your payment gateway.
2. Increased visibility.
Paying for Instagram ads might put a strain on your budget, but the investment can be rewarding in tangible terms. That’s because when you buy ads, Instagram’s algorithms kick in to steer visitors toward your company’s page.
Of course, that does not mean that you should be lazy about making rich content. It is still vital that you work hard to create text and video submissions that will generate shares and likes in their own right. However, it never hurts to get a little boost from Insta, particularly when you are just getting started.
3. Unobtrusiveness can translate into influence.
Converting a standard Instagram post into a paid ad results in changes to the user’s experience. The person now sees your post as part of their newsfeed.
In the case of an Instagram story with an embedded ad, it will show up between other stories of users they already follow in a natural and organic way.
Paid Instagram ads enable you to configure the target audience who will be viewing your post. In other words, you can pre-set factors such as age range, location, gender, and interests.
As a result, you can rest assured that information about your company will be given to consumers with the highest likelihood of reacting positively and perhaps even making a purchase.
4. Ads can provide validation.
You have probably heard of the term “social proof.” This refers to the phenomenon in which consumers tend to feel good about something if someone they know or trust has expressed a positive opinion about it or has already purchased it.
Your Instagram post can direct visitors to a video where people like them try out and express upbeat views about what you are selling.
Combine this opportunity for social proof with the ability to engage in direct dialogue with you to answer questions about the item, and you can create a highly personalized, effective relationship that can transform a casual visitor into a brand ambassador.
Cons of Instagram advertising.
1. Reduced effectiveness.
Unlike the case with its big sister Facebook, Instagram viewers are not conditioned to double-click on posts. Instead, they are accustomed to scrolling through their feed, double-tapping on a post to express a “like,” and moving on.
Yes, paid Instagram ads do allow for clicking on posts, just as is the case with Facebook. However, if users fail to recognize that this opportunity is there, its impact is often muted.
2. Limited audience.
On the surface, advertising with Instagram appears to be a no-brainer. After all, the platform boasts over 1 billion active users each month. However, a deeper dive into the demographics reveals that the majority of Instagrammers are between 18 and 29.
This is great if you only want to sell to that target market, but a downer if you wish to cast a wider net.
3. More primitive features.
Undeniably, Facebook has a leg up on Instagram in terms of the features it offers in its ads. For instance, Instagram does not allow you to build your follower base with a Like ad campaign.
Therefore, whether you want to cash in on tried-and-true influencer marketing or the de-influencing trend, you might find that it makes more sense to invest in Facebook ads. You may find this to be the case even though it is true that you can use Facebook’s Ad Manager for Instagram.
In the end, the only way to determine which type of paid ads are best for your company is to engage in your own testing. These experiments will result in details such as which platform yields more positive responses to your calls to action in the form of clicks, as well as which leads to a greater number of long-term customers.
In the end, the choice is up to you, and nothing is written in stone. If and when your needs change, simply pivot your marketing strategy, matching the right social media platform with the audience that you want to attract and delight.
