Instagram is no longer about posting selfies, breakfast shots, and adorable pet images. This globally loved platform has a powerful advertising program in place that can help businesses grow extensively- both big and small.

For eCommerce business growth specifically, Instagram allows you to reach a newer and more relevant audience, create customized content, and boost revenues up to as much as 5x!

In fact, Instagram has crossed Facebook in the global advertising index in 2022. Today, it stands at the 7th most searched website in the world and the 4th most used platform. Clearly extending a golden opportunity to eCommerce brands to acquire new leads for all their digital marketing needs and help expand at the rate of 1.69% month on month.

However, although Instagram marketing is the way to go for eCommerce brands in 2022, the key to “scaling up your business on Instagram” is to know how to leverage the platform strategically. While many people think of followers as a marketing success metric, more followers do not always equate to more profit - and what counts most - how much money a firm can generate. So, moving beyond followers and tapping into conversions, creatives, content, and trends is really important. 

Here are the top 7 Instagram Ad hacks that you can use to transform your Instagram account into a lucrative marketing asset for your eCommerce business. 

Let's get started.

• Growth Hacking
  
  

  You need to figure out what potentially works best for you as an eCommerce store. There are two excellent techniques for increasing your Instagram following and brand visibility. First and foremost, cross-collaboration with key influencers. Second, with the following kinds of postings, running contests and offering free products.
  
  Promotional Posts- Product postings, as well as everything else related to your eCommerce store, are examples of promotional posts.
  
  Conversational Postings - These are posts that encourage your followers to participate in discussions. You may use this space to ask your audience a question, give away prizes, or hold contests.
  
  Sharing Posts - Use your audience, bloggers, and influencers to promote your brand.
  
  If you are confused about what your Ad text should sound like, check out this.
  
  

• Instagram Shopping
  
  

  Instagrammers find numerous “new” things in-app every day, so if you “assist” them to buy online, they're more likely to make a purchase. eCommerce brands can launch an Instagram store, allowing interested followers to learn more about items, and purchase them directly from the app. Brands can also use eCommerce marketing features like product tags, branded stickers, and in-app checkout on their Instagram shop.
  
  To win the new eCommerce game, it's advisable to set Instagram shopping up and running as soon as possible. You can manually upload your product catalog prior to inserting product tags. However, if you're currently utilizing a fine eCommerce system such as Shopify or BigCommerce, connecting a product catalog to your business profile would be simple. At Adyogi, we automate this process for you!
  
  After you've linked your catalog to Instagram, you can start using it.
  
  

• Market to "abandoned cart" customers again 
  
  

  69.5% of consumers are cart abandoners across all industries. Launching advertisements that remarket to consumers who left your business without purchasing the things they desired is another approach to get attention and generate sales on Instagram.
  
  Digital advertising enables you to re-present product photos to potential customers in an attempt to persuade them to return to your website and complete the purchase they left in their cart. Follow a few precise steps to run an Instagram remarketing campaign, including uploading a Facebook ad to your website.

• Instagram Ads and Stories
  
  

  Once you've created your Instagram business profile and determined how much money you would like to invest in Marketing strategy, Instagram provides a choice of targeting options from which you may select the ones that best fit your company's goals - for example, Instagram Ads and Stories.
  
  It turns out that using Instagram for marketing and operating your own Instagram ad campaign isn't all that tough. Furthermore, boosting your best-performing posts with the "promote" option is the simplest approach to run advertisements. Instagram will automatically create a "similar audience" with whom you may share the post, but you can also build your own consumer base by selecting the required demographics on the app.
  
  Take, for example, @sublimelifeofficial. In their bio, they ploy the CTA "Shop now," followed by a link. They also utilize "Shop Now" as a call to action to entice consumers to buy. 

• Instagram Marketing Tools
  
  

  If new businesses were to do everything manually, creating and scaling a highly-targeted audience would be impossible. The smarter way to approach things is to employ a handy Instagram-marketing tool. There are numerous Instagram Ad tools available like Hubspot, social pilot, Gleam, etc to help you better analyze your audience, develop a content pipeline, and ensure that your Instagram posts got out as intended at times.
  
  Several Instagram marketers and eCommerce entrepreneurs utilize third-party apps to free up their time so they can focus on other things as their account grows.

• Sales Campaigns
  
  

  Different types of sales campaigns, like giveaways, promotions, and discount coupons, may all be utilized as Instagram growth hacks since they can all assist you in growing your account.
  
  Contests: To be eligible to win a contest, your users must often make an action such as liking one of your images, tagging friends, or following your account. Some businesses also hold contests in which followers must submit a photo in order to participate. Contests are an excellent approach to increase UGC.   Instagram accounts that run competitions develop 70% quicker.
  
  Giveaways: Your followers should be expected to do something to help you push your brand in front of more eyes in order to enter giveaways. As a result, avoid giving out gifts at random.
  
  Discount Codes: Using discount codes on your Instagram page may increase engagement and drive additional visitors through word-of-mouth. Consider holding a Super Cheap SALE for a certain product for one day only, or provide festive or birthday discount coupons, and urge your followers to share the news with their friends.
  
  
• Marketing Growth Hacking growth using hashtags will be a fantastic approach for you if you want to utilize Instagram to market your online brand. You'll be able to reach all of the relevant people and generate traction for your company on Instagram if you master the art of using hashtags.
  
  Hashtags are an excellent approach to getting your company's name in front of millions of people. However, you should avoid using too many hashtags in your postings, since this might make them appear repetitive.
  
  The most important thing to know about hashtags is that it's best to concentrate on a small number of highly targeted and popular hashtags. This enhances the likelihood of your items being seen by the appropriate users. You can guarantee that the individuals who find your postings are in your ideal niche by carefully selecting your hashtags.
  
  One way of doing so is by doing a little research and looking for hashtags the influencers are using, the ones that do not have millions of posts under them but at the same time are being used repetitively.

Here are a few marketing hacks for your Instagram marketing strategy!

#1 Increase your product visibility 

People are generally hesitant to purchase things or services through the internet. To gain their trust, you must demonstrate that your product or service is worthwhile. You'll need to record professional videos or gifs of the product in action to show it off. This will also clear up any confusion regarding the product that may have arisen! For example - Koskii, an Indian wear brand advertises on Instagram through high-quality videos that are appealing and grab the consumer’s attention. 

#2 Make Your Instagram Bio More Effective

When people come to your Instagram profile to learn more about your company, the first thing they'll see is your bio. Instagram biographies must be brief because they have a character restriction of only 150 characters. However, if you're creative, there's a lot of room for lead generation.

For instance, you could begin by writing a quick introduction about your brand. Explain the services or goods you sell, as well as the unique points your company offers. Use keywords that potential buyers might type into the search engine to find your brand or similar businesses. Now once you are done with writing a crisp and attractive bio, do you still have a few more characters before you hit the limit? Write a concise call to action (CTA) that directs them to your bio link and helps you generate more leads.

You may, for example, lead prospects to your bio link to access materials or sign up for your mailing list.

#3 Turn your Ad into a story

Everyone enjoys a good story. It's why major media-published pieces are highly particular, customized, personal, and a tale is interwoven with a wider issue, data, and quotes. People will remember the narrative, especially if there is an emotional connection.

There should be a beginning, middle, and end to any story, but you don't have to come up with something outrageous. One good example of us having a look at the way Dot and Key represents itself on Instagram.

 The brand decided to go for a story Ad on the occasion of women’s day. 

Another example can be videos of customers telling how they went from spending too much money and getting no results to gorgeous skin and, most importantly, heaps of confidence. 

This gives a beginning, a problem, and a resolution at the end. This is a tactic that every business can implement to increase Instagram Ads conversions.

#4 Work on your CTA

Another important aspect of high-performing Instagram advertisements is to have a clear call to action. CTA buttons such as Apply Now, Book Now, Call Now, Contact Us, Get Directions, Learn More, Get Showtimes, Download, and others are supported in Instagram advertising.

CTAs are buttons on adverts that ask your audience to do something that will take them to your sales funnel. It's critical to pick and set up powerful CTAs when creating Instagram ads that convert since they direct consumers on what to do and how to do it following your ad presentation.

Create CTAs that are aligned with your ad's aims; clear CTAs offer context to your ad; they push your prospects to take action while also displaying your brand's personality.

Carousels on Instagram, according to a poll, generate a lot of views. Carousel posts have the highest engagement rates per impression (8.01% for carousel posts) for accounts under 5000 followers.

Carousels on Instagram generate 1.92 percent more interaction than any other Instagram style, according to a poll. Create carousel advertising on Instagram with an effective call-to-action to increase the number of leads in your sales funnel.

Also, use the term "swipe" or the phrase "swipe left" to attract visitors to connect with the rest of the carousel.

#5 Make it look Organic 

Nobody wants an advertisement to appear like an advertisement. And that’s the truth!! People still despise being promoted to, so making sure your ad seems and feels like natural content in the stream is crucial.

Ads that don't appear to be ordinary content might interrupt the user experience, leading to ad blindness, in which consumers scroll past your ad without interacting or hiding the ad or any other material you deliver. Yikes!

Ads that are promoted correctly will blend in with the rest of the information in a user's feed and won't stand out like a giant banner. 

So, how can you create an Ad that appears to be nonpromotional? Be honest. Be true to yourself. Begin by studying what kind of material your target audience enjoys and will interact with, and then develop something that reflects that. One of the most critical stages in ensuring that your material is appropriate for your target audience is to understand who they are. Have a look at the following social media post by Sublime life official. The post is informative and interactive, something that a person would relate to and would want to indulge with!

Conclusion

Running Instagram ads is all about targeting the right people at the right time and with the right products. Cross these 7 Instagram Ad best practices to make the most of your Instagram marketing efforts at an individual level. And if you need help in automating the entire process for your business - which is ideal - get in touch with us at Adyogi. At Adyogi, we have exclusive eCommerce marketing features that are customized to help brands scale as much as 5x on their Facebook and Instagram channels. You could be the next!