Ah, Instagram Stories — the one-stop-store to find short, engaging content from loftier schoolhouse friends, celebrities, and major brands akin.

With over 500 meg daily active users, Instagram Stories is an undeniably powerful opportunity to connect with new audiences.

And, if you're not using Instagram Stories as a marketing tool, you lot should be. In fact, Instagram reports that of the 500 one thousand thousand accounts using Instagram Stories, one-3rd of the most viewed stories come from businesses.

I can personally attest to the power of Instagram Stories to incentivize purchasing decisions. For instance, the other day I was mindlessly scrolling through Stories when I came across an ad for Crest 3D whitestrips — with a $50 off coupon fastened. I swiped up to purchase without ever leaving the app itself.

Here, permit'due south dive into what Instagram Story ads are, and how y'all can run Instagram Story ads for your own business concern. Plus, nosotros'll explore examples of Instagram Story ads and best practices to ensure your ads are as powerful as they can exist.

→ Download Now: How to Advertise on Instagram [Free Guide]

What are Instagram Story ads?

Instagram Story ads are vertical ads y'all can run on Instagram's Stories feature. (To recap, Instagram Stories are photos and videos visible to an Instagram account's audience for 24-hours, and is published separately from the content found on your Instagram profile.)

Instagram allows yous to target your ads by achieve, video views, traffic, conversions, app installs, and brand awareness. Additionally, different an organic Instagram Story, an Instagram Story advertisement doesn't disappear after 24-hours — instead, yous can choose the length of the campaign and frequency of ads on Facebook'south ad platform, similar any other ad created for Instagram or Facebook.

An Instagram Story ad is immersed seamlessly into a user's Stories viewing experience. Additionally, a user doesn't take to follow your business relationship to see an ad from your make. For example, I don't follow Crest on Instagram, but I was nonetheless shown a Crest advertizing.

Yous have a few unlike options for ad formatting, including video, photo, or carousel. A video ad plays for up to 15 seconds, an epitome ad will play for five seconds, and a carousel advertising lets brands play three separate pieces of content (video, photos, or both) within one advertisement.

If y'all aren't sold on running ads on Instagram Stories even so, consider these facts:

  • Instagram users take high disposable income. In fact, 42% of U.Southward. Instagram users brand more than 75k per year.
  • Instagram is the social channel with the second-highest ROI amid marketers.
  • Videos on Instagram get 21.2% more interactions compared to images and xviii.6% more than interactions compared to carousels.
  • 71% of U.Southward. businesses use Instagram. It surpassed Twitter in business users in 2017.
  • 500 1000000 Instagram users employ the app daily.

If you're convinced Instagram ads could be a good platform for you, let's dive into how you can run your own Instagram Story ads, next.

For the full rundown on all things Instagram advertisement, make sure to check out our guide below:

How to Run Instagram Story Ads

1. Go to your Ads Manager, and click "Create", which volition bring you to "Quick Cosmos". If you'd prefer, you can switch to "Guided Creation", instead.

In your Ads Manager, click "Quick Creation" to run an Instagram Story ad.

two. Next, select a marketing objective — your options for Instagram Stories include "Brand Awareness", "Achieve", "Video views", "Conversions", "App installs", "Lead Generation", or "Traffic".

Select a marketing objective in your Ad Manager tool to run an Instagram Story ad.

3. In the Placements section, y'all'll want to select "Automatic Placements", where Instagram Stories is selected by default. However, if you choose "Transmission Placements", check the box for "Stories" under Instagram.

Choose whether you want to manually place your Instagram Story ads in front of audiences, or automatic placement.

4. Adjacent, gear up your ad's budget and schedule.

Set a budget and schedule for your Instagram ad.

five. Next, you'll want to choose "Unmarried Paradigm or Video" or "Carousel" as your advertising'due south format.

Choose Single Image or Video, or Carousel, for your Instagram Story ad.

6. Add videos or images to your ad, and finish including any other details, including headline and description. If you'd prefer, you can use Stories Templates, which volition transform your image into an ad automatically, and add motility to catch a viewer'southward attention.

Add videos or images to your Instagram Story ad in your Media section.

7. Once you're happy with your ad, select "Ostend" to finish the process.

When you're ready to run your Instagram Story ad, click "Confirm".

Instagram Story Ads: Cost, Specs, & Length

At that place are three separate areas you can place an ad on Instagram: Stories, Feed, and Explore.

For the purposes of this post, nosotros'll focus on the toll, specs, and length of an Instagram Stories ad.

Commencement, all feed photo and video dimensions are supported in Stories (anywhere from 1:91 to iv:5). Yet, ix:16 ratio is encouraged to fit the full-screen, vertical format of Stories.

Additionally, .mp4 or .mov is recommended for video ads, and .jpg or .png file blazon is recommended for photograph ads.

If y'all're creating a video ad, 4GB file size is encouraged — and, for a photo, 30MG file size is suggested.

If you're creating a video advert, the length can't surpass 120 seconds. For a photo ad, five seconds is the default for how long the prototype will be shown.

Finally, the recommended resolution is 1080 x 1920, with a minimum dimension of 600 x 1067.

Design requirements for instagram story ads. Instagram ads, including Instagram Story ads, cost between $0.70 to $1.00 per-click on average — although cost varies depending on industry, days of the week, time of twelvemonth, targeted ages and sexes, ad placement, and plenty of other factors. In some cases, Instagram ads can exceed $v.00 per-click.

Fortunately, you have plenty of control over how much your ads price by setting a pre-adamant budget. You lot can choose your budget based on how much your visitor is willing to spend daily, or the full cost y'all're willing to spend over a campaign's lifecycle.

What Consumers Want to See in Instagram Story Ads [New Data]

It's important to note — if you're planning your ain Instagram advertising campaign, y'all'll want to consider the type(due south) of ads that perform all-time on the platform.

For instance, in a recent survey HubSpot conducted, we found 50% of Instagram users prefer image-based ads that show product shots and light text — which is followed by 31% who adopt video-based ads that showcase real customers.

instagram ad preferences

Perhaps most intriguing, the majority of people (fourscore%) don't necessarily care if an advertising includes a disbelieve or coupon. This suggests that Instagram users are more interested in appealing, engaging content that highlight a product's benefits.

User preferences will vary depending on your audience, industry, and message, but consider keeping this data in-mind when preparing your own Story ad. When in doubt, try A/B testing to figure out which types of ads your ain audience prefers.

Permit's swoop into some other best practices, now.

Instagram Story Ads All-time Practices

With four million active advertisers on Stories as of January 2020, information technology'southward going to take a lot to ensure you're able to stand out and drive results.

Here, let's swoop into a few all-time practices to follow when designing your own Instagram Story ad.

ane. Pay attention to speed.

Facebook reports that Instagram Stories are consumed faster "than any other mobile format". People's attention is severely limited when perusing Stories, peculiarly since the content has a 24-hour time limit before disappearing forever.

For that reason, y'all'll want to ensure you get direct to the point and capture a viewer'southward attending from the offset frame. Unlike other forms of content, suspense isn't unremarkably effective hither, specially since images can't surpass five seconds, and videos have a 120-second limit. You'll desire to jump the viewer right into the message you lot're hoping to deliver.

2. Include motility in your ad.

Facebook reports that "ads that use motion perform better." Motion captivates the viewers' attention and can help y'all tell a story faster than you could with a static paradigm. Even if you're using blitheness, consider how you might add together motion to create more than engaging content.

3. Ensure you lot're using sound in your ad.

threescore% of Stories are viewed with the sound on, so you'll want to ensure you utilise audio in your advertizing to provide optimal value to your audience. Consider how you might use music, sound effects, or vocalisation-over to capture viewers' attention in a new way. If you're unsure which types of sound piece of work best in your advertisement, try A/B testing to conclude what your audience prefers.

4. Create your ad for Stories start — rather than attempting to repurpose an existing advertizement made for some other vertical.

It can be tempting to simply copy-and-paste the ad you've already created for Facebook or Instagram news feed, but that could event in a less-than-ideal experience for those viewing your ad in Instagram Stories. For ane, your advertizement might not follow Instagram Story sizing all-time practices, resulting in key parts of your advertising being cropped out. Additionally, you'll want to play around with features exclusive to Stories to ensure your ad is as effective equally possible.

five. Use your phone call-to-action wisely.

Ultimately, your Instagram Stories advert won't be effective if you don't include a clear call-to-action you want viewers to follow. Y'all might employ language similar "Learn More", "Store Now", or "Swipe Upwardly" to encourage viewers to take action, depending on your goal — for instance, if your goal is make sensation, "Learn More" tells viewers you only desire to brainwash them virtually your brand's offerings, which is a very dissimilar CTA from "Shop Now".

Take a wait at the examples, mentioned in a higher place, for more CTA inspiration.

six. Include text to emphasize primal message.

Including text is a best practise for accessibility in general, every bit it helps viewers' who are hard-of-hearing decipher your advert's message. Additionally, text can help emphasize your key points — for instance, Aveeno's "Become Good for you Looking Skin Every Day" text illustrated their main point, and convinced me to purchase.

vii. Test out mobile shots.

Facebook reports, "Mobile shots outperform studio shots for ad recall and intent, while studio shots tend to drive higher brand awareness." For this reason, consider forgoing fancy studio equipment for video shot and edited straight from a mobile phone.

The majority of users consume Instagram's content from their own smartphones, so you might besides try creating content on the aforementioned device. And, when in doubt, don't be afraid to A/B test this theory for your own make, besides.

For more than best practices related to advertising in general, take a expect at The Ultimate Guide to Mastering the Basics of Effective Social Media Advert.

Examples of Instagram Story Ads

Below, I've collected a few impressive examples I found on my own Instagram Story feed. While most of these examples are bigger brand names, at that place are plenty of small-to-medium sized businesses using Instagram

one. Aveeno

Aveeno's Instagram ads are make clean and elementary, with neutral colors — autonomously from the make'due south signature light-green — cartoon attending to the brand's daily moisturizer. The advertisement features a short clip of a hand pointing to a shopping cart, with a "Shop At present" swipe-up link. The ad focuses on the brand's product and doesn't distract with people, making it effective for anyone scrolling who'south in the mood to refill their moisturizer.

Aveeno Instagram Story ad example

2. Miller Low-cal

This is an example of an ad that felt tailored towards me, a 27-twelvemonth-old female in the Boston area. First, the ad features a call-out to the Boston Celtics, immediately capturing my attention. Once I'm intrigued, the ad segues into a picture of their Lite potable, with the text, "Great gustation, only 96 calories, 3.2G carbs". In this example, the ad does a good job cartoon my attending to the things I care almost most: namely, low-calorie alternatives to beer (and Celtics).

Miller Lite Instagram Story ad example

3. Torso Club

This engaging, fast-moving ad shows a few dissimilar outfit options on the screen with the text, "Keep what you lot dear, send the rest back". The advertizing shows a few different outfits, ranging from dresses and cardigans to dress pants and heels, to capture the attention of a wider range of people than it could if it featured but ane style. With the plain white background and like shooting fish in a barrel-to-read black text, it's simple, clean, and hard to miss.

Trunk Club Instagram Story ad example

iv. Febreze

I mean, come on … who doesn't love a puppy? This fun, clever Febreze advertisement shows an adorable puppy on a burrow with the text, "Refresh wherever they roam", with their Febreze production at the lesser of the screen. While most of the other ads in this list featured subdued, plain colors, Febreze goes all out with light blues, greens, and purples, inviting a sense of playfulness and fun into the user's feed.

Febreze Instagram Story ad example

v. Tractor Beverage Co.

What I honey nearly virtually Tractor Drinkable Co.'s Instagram video is the stop, which features a different call-to-activity from most of the others in this list. Rather than "Shop At present," this ad reads, "Now Available at Chipotle" with a "Learn More than" swipe-upwardly function. As a lesser-known brand, Tractor Beverage Co. wisely aims to utilize their advertisement space to increase brand awareness, so that next fourth dimension you're at your favorite nearby Chipotle, you lot might give their drink a endeavour.

Drink Tractor and Chipotle Instagram Story ad example

half-dozen. Crest

If you lot take the means, information technology makes a lot of sense to include a coupon or discount in your Instagram Story ad, like Crest does in its 3D Whitestrips advert. The $50 off encourages viewers to purchase immediately and then they don't miss out on the deal, and the fun, bright colors effectively capture viewers attention. With the limited time allotted in an Instagram Story, it makes sense for these brands to go direct to the betoken.

Crest Instagram Story ad example

vii. Kayak

Kayak, a travel search engine, created this impressive, engaging Instagram Story video advertisement to demonstrate how easy it is for Kayak users to filter flights depending on airline, price, cabin seating, and destination. Kayak served the ads to lookalike audiences based on the characteristics of its electric current website customers, and saw 5X increase in sales conversions, as well every bit a fifty% increment in overall ROI, with combined ad placements on Instagram Stories, Instagram'south news feed, and Facebook's news feed.

Kayak Instagram Story ad example

And there you have it! Y'all're all fix to begin creating an inspiring Instagram Story ad of your own. Just call back — you know your make, and your audience, better than anyone. Employ these all-time practices and examples every bit inspiration, but feel free to A/B test to effigy out what works best for your unique business goals and social media objectives. Adept luck!

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Originally published Jun 18, 2021 7:00:00 AM, updated June 18 2021