Dec 13, 2019
Suppose you are a social media marketer in a meeting when your boss asks you how to market to Generation Z. What will you answer? Do you know what the Generation Z likes, how they talk, what matters to them, at last? Do you generally have an image who this generation includes? The huge generation of 2.1 billion individuals born between 1995 and 2010 has a huge spending power (more than $143 billion in the States alone). And not to target them when scheming your Instagram marketing campaign will be a huge mistake. So, InstaBF, a remarkable Instagram and IGTV provider, will explain everything you need to know about Generation Z so that you can prepare your business for the future.
Generation Z and Individual Expression
The phrase “be yourself” has never been as widely and deeply acquired as with Generation Z. This youth doesn’t depend on trends. Instead, they are after more personalized products. They are ready to overpay just to get the product that best highlights their individuality (over 58% of the surveyed). And what’s more interesting is that they want brands to align with their values.
Generation Z Are Protective of Their Privacy
It’s a dilemma but Generation Z is both hyper-personal on Instagram and keen to protect their privacy at the same time. Those who use laptops are mostly inclined to covering the webcams. So, you, as an Instagram marketer, should try to connect with Gen Zers on their own conditions or they might be too invasive. According to the survey, 61% of them would feel convenient sharing personal information only with those brands they trust completely under the condition the data won’t be shared with the third parties.
Gen Zers Prefer Mobile
People falling under the category of Generation Z are reported to give their preference to mobile devices over laptops and PCs. They use smartphones not only for watching videos, chatting or strolling on Instagram but also for making purchases. Accordingly, it makes sense to orientate on the youth when making Instagram ads. Around 85% of Gen Zers learn about new products on social media with Instagram in particular. And they connect with brands more frequently than others. When the matter concerns Instagram influencers, female Zens are more inclined to following and imitating them.
Making Purchases Online
Older consumers still hesitate whether to buy the product they need online or go to a brick and mortar store for it. They don’t seem to be comfortable sharing a credit card or any financial information online. Generation Z people, in the meantime, prefer online shopping. According to the latest surveys (carried out by Global Web Index), roughly 72% of the youth have bought at least one product online during the past month. And the greatest part of them made it through a mobile gadget. Most purchases are made in fashion and technology products.
Gen Zers are mostly happy to see branded content on their Instagram feeds. The surveys show 4 in 10 Zers follow their beloved brands on Instagram while at least one of them buys goods online.
So, when planning out your Instagram marketing campaign, target those people who may find value in what you offer.
Dec 12, 2019
In one of our previous posts, we started such a useful topic for startups and small business owners as to how to start an Instagram ad campaign for the first time. We introduced the first step and everything concerning the preparation. And now it’s high time to see how a simple ad campaign can work efficiently by the example of Jenny McCoy. This is how she started.
McCoy’s simple strategy started with two campaign goals – site traffic & load generation, and conversions. She assigned a 60-40 split ratio of the budget between the two objectives. She started the campaign with qualified audiences including site visitors and subscribers while also using lookalike audiences in order to get to the site traffic. The expert tested only two options in terms of the creative. Such an ad campaign is a wonderful starting point for most startups and small businesses.
#3: Instagram Ads Make a Full-Funnel Impact
Social media ad specialist Jenny McCoy finalizes everything by the statement that Instagram ads (and social media ads in general, too) are capable of making a full-funnel impact. However, social media shouldn’t be acquired as an all-mighty platform. And if you can’t detect any impact on your sales after having run an Instagram ad campaign, look for other impacts. Social media ads can make it really valuable and at the same time easy to amplify impacts.
Nevertheless, it’s also recommended to look far beyond metrics related to Instagram such as likes, follows and post engagement, and reach to site visits, email leads, etc. so that to find the best way an Instagram ad can work for improving your business.
How Much an Instagram Ad Costs
Now, when you have a clear image of how to start an Instagram ad campaign for your new small business, most probably you’d like to find out how that will cost you. Generally, different ads have different prices. Yet, there are average costs set you can orientate on. For instance, the cost-per-click price for an ad on Gram is about $0.70 – $0.80 on average based on the analyses of around $300 million of ad spend. This price can appear higher or lower depending on a number of aspects including the ad placement, the age of the target audience, and the time of the year. Ads are always the cheapest at the beginning of the year and the most expensive in the last quarter.
Types of Ads
Instagram has become a fertile platform for all businesses whether small or mega-popular giant ones. Here you can choose various types of ads to promote your business including Stories ads, photo, video, carousel, and collection ads. No matter which ad format you choose as a creative to include in your ad campaign, it will be woven into your users’ Stories and Feeds so a non-disruptive user experience can be expected. Don’t forget to include an appropriate call-to-action to collect more leads. Here are a few examples of CTAs to use:
- Apply Now;
- Book Now;
- Get Directions;
- Get Showtimes;
- Contact Us;
- Learn More, etc.
Dec 11, 2019
Are you a beginner in the sphere of Instagram advertising and can’t make out how to start? We agree that Instagram advertising is an intimidating thing especially if your budget is limited and you have no experience. But, on the other hand, a well-schemed ad campaign can drive impressive results. So, you see that it’s important to learn how to draw an efficient ad strategy for an Instagram account. And InstaBF, a popular Instagram and IGTV provider will share with you three crucial takeaways that promise to be effective irrespective of your budget and business size.
Take Small Tests
Those who are going to run a social campaign for the first time are recommended to implement a small upfront test campaign. Working out around $500 on it you will get a ton of learning to use on bigger campaigns with larger budgets. Besides, you will see if your current assets work or you need to think of others. Let’s see what specialists imply by saying a small test.
- Determine the goals you pursue. Are they to drive purchases or to generate new leads? In the beginning, take up only one goal – the one that’s likely to have the biggest impact on your business.
- After this, pass on figuring out the necessary budget. The bigger your ambitions are, the more money you will to invest, remember this. For instance, such upper-to-mind objectives as video views, impressions, or link clicks, a minimal budget (around $100) and a couple of days will be totally enough. A purchase-focused campaign, meanwhile, will require at least 3x the cost of the product it’s designed for.
- Placements come next. Instagram should be your priority, yet other platforms can bring you the expected results, too. Feel free to test across all available platforms and see which works best for you around the current campaign.
- One of the most significant components of social advertisement campaigns is the audience. Actually, you can test only three types of audiences including custom audiences (site visitors, email list, your followers), lookalike audiences (those who look similar to your existing audience and are built automatically with the first-party data of your account), and interest-based audiences (created from your user data and activity on Instagram).
- And finally, there comes your creative. Specialists recommend testing at least two creative options (a carousel post against a video or image, etc.). You can always start with various copies of CTAs if you feel uncertain.
Simple but Profitable
As numerous tests show simple ad campaigns can be quite profitable if planned and implemented correctly. Surely, there are cases when a complicated media plan is required, but most of all, simple things can work well, too. Just focus on one most valuable goal at first.
If you own a small business or a startup and want to promote it through a social media ad campaign while your primary goal is the purchase, there is a bright example by the founder of social ad agency Good Help Jenny McCoy to follow. What does it include? We shall find out it in our next post. Just stay tuned to InstaBF, your true guide in the giant world called Instagram.
Nov 25, 2019
Going Live on Instagram for brands is not an easy thing to do, but once planned carefully and accurately implemented, super results are guaranteed! If you, under the pressure of real time, haven’t yet gone Live, it’s high time you do. Here, on InstaBF’s blog, we are going to share tips and ideas for carrying out amazing Live sessions and boosting your brand awareness immediately. But first of all, if you wonder why you should spend time on this Instagram feature, here are some from a plethora of benefits:
Increased engagement
The Instagram algorithm is always “alert” watching brands’ and their followers’ activities. And going Live you tell it you are present and working while getting views, likes and comments show people care about what you do and are eager to see more from your brand. Appearing near the top of your followers’ newsfeed and Stories (live videos boost that greatly) makes your brand more important in the eyes of the Instagram algorithm.
Story priority
You must have noticed that once you open Instagram those Stories that are lives come at the front. And that’s unchangeable. Another reason for going Live more frequently. After going Live, post the video as a Story and your followers will click on it the moment they open the application.
Answering questions in real time
Fans having questions about your brand will gladly join your Live to get answers to them in real time. Surely, this will demand a couple of extra steps for preparation (such as having to email or DM for answers), but the result is worth the effort. An open dialog with potential customers always enhances the possibility they will become repeat customers.
Now let’s get down to the useful tips you should use to have resultful Lives.
Scheme a plan and have a purpose
First of all, you should take time and plan out your Instagram Live. Detect at what time your target audience is most active. Surely, you can just pop on Live any moment you feel inspired, yet carefully planned Lives at peculiar hours will bring a better outcome. In all cases, your Live must have a distinct purpose, share interesting or useful information and inspire followers to take part.
Practice
If it’s the first time you are going Live or you feel nervous about the performance, you can practice beforehand. Record yourself to see what sounds good and what not. And remember that Instagram Live isn’t a speech. It’s rather a conversation. So making notes to hint what you should speak about will be OK.
Find a company
Having someone with you during your Live makes everything a lot easier. This way you actually have a conversation and it looks more natural – you can play off of each other and back each other when necessary. Having the option to add other users during a Live only facilitates everything.
Keep it personal
Instagram has never been about perfection. On the contrary, it’s all about authenticity. Hence, talk the way you would with your friends and about what interests you or what you are good at. And what’s more important – enjoy your Lives, have fun and your mood will pass to your viewers.
Nov 12, 2019
Have you noticed a decrease in Instagram Story views recently? Well, perhaps the vast majority of Instagrammers experience the same thing and it’s not for no reason. Actually, you may even benefit from that. How? Let’s find out this together here, on InstaBF’s blog. Besides finding out the reasons for such a “behavior” of Instagram, we shall also share with you several most working ways of increasing your Instagram Story views organically.
What’s Behind the Decrease in Instagram Story Views
The influx of fake views on Stories was detected earlier this year. People, eager to increase their exposure on the social network and the growth of following apply to bot services. In order to crack down on such bots, Instagram is careful about every story view. At first sight, you may think this ruins your plans for developing your Instagram account, yet, in fact, it helps you detect who your genuine story viewers are. Fake bot views do not contribute to an account’s value. Moreover, fake engagement affects negatively on Instagram algorithm ranking.
So, instead of using quick and easy means of boosting your Instagram stories, you’d better not get disheartened but tap into a genuine audience. Here are several useful tips to adhere to:
Adding Relevant Hashtags
One of the most working ways of increasing reach organically on Instagram is adding hashtags to stories. It’s possible to add up to ten hashtags on every Instagram Story one of which can be clickable. Just make certain they are relevant to your target audience. Before you add a hashtag to your Instagram story, think about the subject matter of the story, what your followers expect to see. It’s better not to use super-popular hashtags (those that have over 1million posts) as with so many posts under one hashtag, yours is likely to get buried. Accordingly, pay attention to those hashtags that get from 10k and 50k posts.
Not to spoil the aesthetics of your Stories, you can make the font of the tags smaller (not too much or it will become illegible) or hide under a sticker or a GIF.
Using Engagement-Driving Stickers
Most probably you know that the more engagement your post attracts – the sooner Instagram algorithm notices them. A working way of encouraging audience engagement is using Instagram Stories stickers with question stickers, emoji sliders and the poll in particular. The latter is very easy and fun to use while the feedback you get on your products or content through polls is genuine and reliable.
Running an Influencer Takeover
If you are ready to get a step higher, invite an influencer for a takeover on your Gram Stories. This will be an effective way of boosting story views. The whole trick here lies in asking a partner (influencer, in this case) to share your story thus driving a new audience to it. Besides, this way you can bring a reliable external voice to your Instagram brand channel. It will be especially effective if you post a how-to guide or a product review.
