AdvertiseMint

Grow your business with Facebook, Instagram & TikTok advertising. Let's talk 844-236-4686.

  • Home
  • Services
    • Facebook Advertising Agency
    • Advertising Agency for Amazon
    • TikTok Advertising Agency
    • Google Ads Advertising Agency
    • Instagram Advertising Agency
    • Snapchat Advertising Agency
    • LinkedIn Advertising Agency
    • Spotify Advertising Agency
    • Pinterest Advertising Agency
    • YouTube Advertising Agency
  • Pricing
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • 844-236-4686
  • Get Started
You are here: Home / Instagram / 6 Best Practices for Instagram Stories Ads

March 21, 2018

6 Best Practices for Instagram Stories Ads

The best kind of ad is one that tells a compelling story. It captivates its intended audience in a short span of time while also establishing brand or product information that will leave a lasting impression. It’s stunning, informative, and clever.

That’s why Instagram Stories is such a crucial and practical format for advertising. It allows you to accomplish all of these qualities in a way that makes your ad more than just a selling tactic; it makes it an experience.

For those of you who are not familiar with the format, Instagram Stories are full-screen visuals, either static or video, that you can view and share within a lifespan of 24 hours (unless you choose to save the Story). They’re great for brief, mobile experiences that capture spontaneous moments.

Instagram Stories is certainly a very popular form of social networking and consumerism that continues to grow. For one, the format has over 300 million daily active users, and according to recent studies commissioned by Facebook IQ, one in three self-reported daily Instagram users in BR, ID, UK, and the US indicated that ads seen on Instagram Stories positively influenced their interest in a product or brand. Instagram Stories may be one of the most influential forms of advertising in this day and age.

That being said, using Instagram Stories effectively still requires strategy and thoughtful creativity on your part. The aforementioned Facebook studies uncovered valuable insights as to what constitutes an effective Instagram Stories ad, and the findings bear similarities to the findings about mobile feed ads.

Photo Courtesy of TechCrunch

Best Creative Practices for Instagram Stories Ads

To help you make the most effective Instagram Stories ads to benefit your campaign, here are six best practices, compiled using insights Facebook gathered from its studies.

1. Make It Relevant

Facebook found that Instagram Stories ads that perform well, on average, contained content that was relevant. When developing your creative for Stories ads, make sure it’s relevant to your product or brand. If you’re selling shoes, for example, using pretty visuals of sunsets or tasty meals are not helping the relevance of your ad. You want to include visuals of shoes, of course!

2. Keep It Short

Users don’t want to spend a lot of time viewing a Story that’s trying to sell them something. Their attention spans are going to be shorter when viewing your ad, meaning you have to make that time frame count. That means establishing branding and showing products early on in the Story. Facebook’s studies found that Stories ads that incorporated these two time-sensitive elements performed better than those that didn’t.

3. Use Fast Paced Videos

For ads containing more than one scene or clip, edits to make the video faced paced make better ads. Facebook found that top-performing Stories ads, on average, included brief clips with quick scenes.

4. Include Product Demos

You can make users feel confident in your product by showing it in action. Although only half of the ads Facebook analyzed included product demos, Stories that did had better performance results. If you’re trying to decide whether or not a product demo will benefit your campaign, the answer is a resounding yes.

5. Optimize for Mobile

In addition to formatting ads specifically for Instagram Stories, you want to keep a mobile-sensitive perspective when putting together the creative. For instance, Facebook found that ads taking too long to communicate key messages performed poorly. Since Instagram Stories is a mobile format, users expect to get to the point quicker. Optimizing for mobile means taking the lifestyle of mobile users into consideration.

6. Experiment

You never know what small tweak could make the difference between a mediocre ad and a successful campaign. Facebook recommends experimenting with different elements, such as filters, emojis, and stickers, as well as video lengths. You may also want to play with different colors, text sizes, and phrasing. Just keep testing different design elements, and when you find something that generates great results, stick to it.

“Stories open a new world to marketers because they come with a new set of creative tools,” Kay Hsu, Global Instagram Lead, Creative Shop, says in a Facebook IQ post. “My advice? Design for how people consume and don’t be afraid to experiment.”

Now that you know how to tackle the Instagram Stories advertising game, you can get to what you do best: telling your story. You do the work, and your audience will listen.

Comments

comments

Article by Anna Hubbel / Instagram

About Anna Hubbel

Anna Hubbel is a contributing writer for AdvertiseMint. Anna writes about trending digital advertising topics, including news stories, how-to guides, and detailed marketing strategies. She works as a freelance writer, having written columns for OnStage Blog, a theater-themed website, as well as other blogs. She also has experience as a videographer, photographer, and web designer. Anna earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication from Saint Vincent College in 2014. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Communication, with a focus on organizational communication, from the College at Brockport in 2019.

Complete Guide to Facebook Targeting

Download our FREE Facebook guide with over 850 ad targeting options.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Speak with an Advertising Specialist

Want to learn more about what advertising platforms are best for growing your business.

Schedule a FREE call with our experts. 

Ad Targeting Infographics

  • Amazon DSP Ad Targeting
  • Facebook Ad Targeting 
  • Hidden Facebook Ad Targeting
  • LinkedIn Ad Targeting
  • Snapchat Ad Targeting
  • Digital Ad Platform Policies
Hear the Audiobook FREE on Audible

Browse by Platform

  • Facebook
  • TikTok
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Snapchat
  • Pinterest
  • Amazon
  • Google

Popular Articles

(Updated 2021) How to View What Your Facebook Profile Looks Like to Others

How to Make Money on TikTok

New Instagram Sorting Feature Shows Who Appears on Your Feed the Most

12 Ways to Become TikTok Famous

Here’s Where Instagram Keeps All the Posts You Liked

How to Hide Your Facebook Post from a Specific Person

Instagram’s Warning Notification Gives At-Risk Accounts a Second Chance

6 Important Marketing Theories and How to Apply Them on Social Media Campaigns

35 Banned and Restricted Products You Can’t Advertise on Facebook

The Best Time to Post on TikTok, According to Data

AdvertiseMint

  • Home
  • About
  • Careers
  • Blog
  • Definitions
  • Programs
  • FAQ
  • Press
  • Phishing Scam
  • Sitemap

NEWSLETTER

Get expert insights and latest news in digital advertising every week

NEWSLETTER

Certifications



advertisemint google partner     

7080 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028       |       844-236-4686

Facebook Advertising | Instagram Advertising | Google Advertising | Amazon Advertising | Pinterest Advertising | Tiktok Advertising
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy
© 2021 AdvertiseMint All Rights Reserved.