Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms of these days. In fact, in just a few years, it managed to expand very quickly.
While several years ago there were only a few millions of active users on Instagram, now the community brings together more than 800 million fans.
Big companies and small businesses alike, they all make their efforts to use this channel effectively. Considering that people are quite willing to follow branded accounts, it’s no wonder why marketers are including Instagram into their content marketing strategy. Moreover, since Facebook took over Instagram, there are also effective means for advertising that combine the power of visual content with the efficient targeting options Facebook has.
Why should you advertise on Instagram?
7 out of 10 Instagram hashtags are branded. This means that companies are already using this social media platform for marketing and advertising and of course, they don’t do it without benefits. Also, Instagram delivers an impressive engagement rate of 4.21%, which is several times higher than Facebook and Twitter combined.
I have already mentioned that there are 800 million people using this platform. Keep in mind that 80 percent of these users are following at least one brand. If these numbers are not going to convince you to invest in this social media platform, you should also know that 60 percent of the total Instagram users admit they have first heard of a service, product or brand from Instagram.
What do you need to succeed as an Instagram advertiser?
Technically, Instagram Ads are no different than other types of visual ads. Yes, they come with the unique feature which allows you to publish your ads on full screen but except this part, everything else is the same. You need a professional looking banner, some really good targeting strategies and of course, a good story to tell to your audience.
Let’s take a look at some of the best tools that will help you design, publish and convert your Instagram display ads.
01. Design: Bannersnack
When it comes to banner design, the best possible tools are those who allow you to do a professional job while being able to also save precious time. It’s obvious that you need quality. Instagram is a visual-based social media platform and this is the part where you can make no compromises on quality. However, there are also other important aspects related to the creation of a banner and “time” is one of them.
You will need to assign enough time to target your ads properly, to find the right visuals and the copy-texts more likely to convert. It’s obvious therefore how important is to also find the design tool that will allow you to concentrate on these things and design your banner ads more efficiently and in the lowest amount of time possible.
Bannersnack is such a tool. It’s accessible and easy to work with. You don’t need technical or designer skills; you just need a little inspiration and a clear vision of what you can achieve in order to create stunning visuals. There are countless of already prepared templates here, hundreds of stock images and banner presets for all major social media platforms, including Instagram.
02. Hashtag search: Display Purposes
“For Display Purposes Only”, is a simple online tool that will help you find the best hashtags for your Instagram posts and Instagram advertising banners.
Hashtags are important because they will help you target your audience based on interests, the most powerful targeting option when it comes to social media, and especially Instagram.
For Display Purposes Only is an easy to work with online tool. All you have to do is come up with a hashtag related to your business or brand and the software will give you a list of the most popular related hashtags to choose from.
You can either include all of them in your campaign or choose the most appropriate ones. In other words, you get to choose the hashtags that are most likely to convert. You can do it in just a few seconds, without needing to brainstorm for popular keywords or research Instagram in order to see what other peers or competitors are posting and what hashtags they are using.
03. Planner/Scheduler: Preppr
If you need a planner for your Instagram business works, here you are: Preppr is what you were looking for. Our tool can help you schedule your posts and give you the comfort you need in order to be the master of your Instagram marketing campaign from anywhere.
You can schedule your future posts, set the time when they are going to be published to manage multiple Instagram accounts and store your favorite set of hashtags and captions in order to use them repeatedly without the need to re-enter them every time.
We’ve already discussed the importance of hashtags. What about being able to manage multiple instagram accounts? Or, to schedule unlimited posts on the same platform? You can do all these things with Preppr and it’s a really great thing, don’t you think?
04. Desktop photo editor: Fotor
Instagram is a mobile-based app. However, when it comes to advertising and marketing, I am sure that you are looking for desktop based apps to help you deal with this social network as well.
Instagram is connected with Facebook and this is a great deal. You get to set up your banners from the same interface and use the demographics and targeting tools available on Facebook which is the most popular social media platform available today.
However, there are certain things that you cannot do on your mobile Instagram app or from the Facebook advertising manager. And, in this case, I am talking about photo editing. You need top-notch images in order to be relevant on Instagram and Fotor is the tool you need when it comes to photo editing.
What makes it better than other similar software is that it allows you to edit your photos quick and easy, due to its built-in database of presets. You can add effects, texts and edit your colors, exposure or levels quite easily, without the need to know technical details about photo editing or photo editing software.
05. Instagram analytics: Ink361
Ink361is a great web app designed to get your Instagram marketing campaign to the next level. With this tool, you can monitor comments, likes, and followers, analyze what they are saying and of course, manage messages.
Ink361 sorts out all the analytics you need and puts them all into a single dashboard from where you can read the stats and analyze your ongoing campaigns. Moreover, it also allows you to create custom circles to monitor content from specific accounts and monitor and compare competitors as well.
The product is free if you just want it to monitor your Instagram profile. However, there are some premium options as well, which include an ad free version of Ink361 and an Analytics Pro account that offers additional services.
Conclusion
Instagram ads provide a great and effective means to advertise on a social media platform. However, Instagram is a visual based channel and in order to be successful, you need top-notch visuals to share with your audience.
Fortunately, there are some great tools you can use in order to design your ads, schedule and audit your campaigns. This article presented you some of the most popular options and I hope they will help you get the most out of your Instagram marketing and advertising campaigns.
Should you know any other useful tool, please fill free to contribute to this list in the comments section available below.
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