This a guest post written by Mads Bukholt, the Nordic Managing Director of the savings platform CupoNation. Photo: Jordan McQueen / Unsplash.com
After the recent launch of Instagram ads, we’ve gathered some early learnings at Cuponation on the best way of utilizing this new powerful marketing platform which will be available in the Nordics towards to the end of September.
In many ways, the launch of Instagram’s ad product resembles that of the mother company Facebook. From a user perspective, it’s somewhat annoying to start seeing ads where you’re not used to it, and from a company point of view, few will win the game of being able to deliver timely, relevant and cheap ads that convert.
While testing the product, we’ve seen a clear tendency that although many say that do not want to be bothered by ads in their feed, the consequence is little to none. As the ad product was being tested in the US and UK for 18 months before rolling out in other countries, it’s rather clear that Instagram wanted to test and make sure that they would not lose users because of this.
At the right you see the first Instagram “sponsored post” – And at the left you see a CupoNation sponsored post.
As a general rule, no matter if your marketing platform is Google, Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram, the key learning is to understand the platform and the people you’re trying to reach.
One of the key aspects of Instagram is the focus people have when going through their feed. It’s a focus that only Snapchat at the moment can compare with, as their product is all about those seconds of attention. Platforms like Facebook is suffering from having many tabs open at the same time, although the mobile version can be compared with that of Instagram in terms of attention although people are used to more “noise” on Facebook than they currently are on Instagram.
It will be a key aspect for Instagram and their success with ads that they will not overdo it in a way that users will start to not pay attention at the same level. It will be the major threat for them now, and I expect we’ll see a somewhat slow rollout as they will be continuing to test this feature.
Here’s four key learnings we’ve observed so far:
1) Deliver relevant content
As mentioned, people pay 100% attention to what they see on Instagram. It is key that your material is of excellent quality, hits the right target group and does so in a seemingly natural way.
2) Start early
As with the early days of Facebook ads and Google AdWords, prices are extremely cheap at the moment. That allows you to test in a more aggressive way than you can on other platforms, as your CPC is extremely low.
This can be what separates you from your competition.
3) Utilize the nature of Instagram and Facebook
You have the best targeting possibilities in the world using these two platforms. With most users, you can target incredible specifically down to geography, interests, education and so on.
You need to know who you want to reach, and you will be able to reach them.
4) Make sure your landing page is optimized for mobile
It sounds simple enough, but it’s a points that I’ve seen several companies miss so far.
As the very nature of Instagram is mobile, it is important to understand that all your traffic from the ads will be mobile and hence be ready to convert that traffic in the best possible way.
Instagram ads are relevant to us as we offer big discounts and great deals on a variety of brands. Therefore, our target group is constantly changing. With the nature of Instagram, doing beautiful, simple ads that can reach the exact target audience is perfect for a company like ours.
I do not believe it’s the right platform for everyone – but I challenge you to test it and find out yourself if it will help your business to grow.
This post is written by Mads Bukholt from CupoNation. In the Nordics, CupoNation is live in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
