Who would have guessed that a photo sharing mobile app would become one of the world’s largest advertising platforms? Facebook, of course!
Since being acquired by Facebook in April 2012, Instagram has grown its audience from 30 million to more than 1 billion. Now you’re looking for the most appropriate types of Instagram ads to grow your business.
What Types of Instagram Ads Are There?
There are three ways a business or brand can advertise products and services on Instagram.
The first way is with organic advertising — creating and showing Instagram posts without spending money.
The second way is with influencer marketing — paying Instagram influencers to collaborate with you and mention your business or brand in Instagram posts.
The third way is with sponsored advertising — boosting your Instagram posts for money or running targeted ad campaigns on Instagram with multiple ads at the same time.
Let’s take a closer look at all the types of Instagram ads for 2021 so you can understand which way your business can move on Instagram.
Type 1. Organic Advertising
Every business or brand starts marketing on Instagram with the goal of growing their audience. The only way to get more followers for your Instagram profile as well as to learn the habits and preferences of your target audience is by regularly creating captivating posts.
In 2019, the seven most active industries in terms of publishing branded Instagram posts were:
- Sport teams — 1.76 daily posts on average
- Fashion — 0.96 daily posts on average
- Health & beauty — 0.94 daily posts on average
- Media — 0.87 daily posts on average
- Retail — 0.82 daily posts on average
- Home decor — 0.72 daily posts on average
- Hotels & resorts — 0.63 daily posts on average
To convert a viewer into a buyer, an Instagram branded post should be relevant and visually appealing, have simple and short copy, and inspire action.
To get an idea of what organic advertising looks like on Instagram, check out more than 40 examples of Instagram posts created by brands, companies, and influencers.
Type 2. Influencer Advertising
Advertising on Instagram can be really lucrative for influencers.
Did you know that Cristiano Ronaldo earns more from advertising brands on Instagram than from playing soccer? According to Goal.com and Buzz Lingo, Ronaldo earned $47.8 million on Instagram in 2019, while his annual salary with Juventus was around $34 million.
Research by Buzz Bingo shows that the top ten Instagram influencers — Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kendall Jenner, David Beckham, Selena Gomez, Neymar Jr, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Kylie Jenner, Ronaldinho, and Khloé Kardashian — bring in a combined total of more than $124 million from Instagram activities.
But how effective is influencer marketing on Instagram for brands and businesses?
According to a survey by MediaKix of professional marketers who use influencer marketing, three types of ads on Instagram are among the top four most effective ad formats:
- Instagram post — 78%
- Instagram Story — 73%
- YouTube video — 56%
- Instagram video — 54%
eMarketer reports there are more than 500,000 influencers on Instagram. At a time when anyone can be an influencer, you can find and afford one or a few influencers whose audiences would like to know more about your business or brand.
Type 3. Sponsored Advertising
The simplest way to create a sponsored ad is using the Instagram mobile app.
The more effective way to create a sponsored ad is running an ad campaign in Facebook Ads Manager, where you can manage campaign objectives, set targeting, and measure ad performance.
When it comes to sponsored advertising, there are six different types of Instagram ads. They’re also called ad formats.
Instagram Photo Ads
Almost 30% of marketing professionals consider photo ads more effective for attracting customers than other types of ads on Instagram.
Instagram Stories Ads
According to Visual Capitalist, people post more than 347,000 Instagram Stories every minute. Taking into account their tremendous popularity and infinite creative possibilities, Stories are one of the best ad types on Instagram for promoting your brand or business.
Instagram Carousel Ads
A Carousel ad is so named because it contains up to ten image or video cards with links in a merry-go-round format. With Carousel ads, you can highlight the features of one product or service in a sequential story, or you can demonstrate a few products or services in a single ad.
Instagram Collection Ads
Just like Carousel ads, Collection ads can feature a few products or services at once. This multipurpose ad type for e-commerce offers a few ready-made templates that will transform a standard Instagram ad into an online catalog, storefront, brochure, or landing page.
Instagram Ads in Explore
Ads in Explore are sponsored ads displayed on the Explore page of Instagram mobile apps, where users can discover new and relevant content based on their personal preferences.
Among the different types of ads on Instagram, ads in Explore have great potential for businesses and brands looking for high-quality leads. According to Instagram, over 200 million people visit Instagram Explore every day.
Instagram Video Ads
Video ads are a must-use Instagram ad type in 2021 and beyond. Around 88% of professional marketers consider Instagram video ads to be a successful part of their strategies.
Create Video Content for Any Instagram Ad Type with AI
With the Softcube video ad platform powered by artificial intelligence, you can produce wide, vertical, and square video content for any type of Instagram ad.
Let the Softcube AI find videos for your needs from a rich collection of existing clips. Or upload your own footage and cut it in a few clicks. Add your text, logo, branding, effects, transitions, and sound on the go. With Softcube, you can enjoy high-quality professional video ads at scale and at the cost of image ads.
Good luck choosing the best Instagram ad types!
