Instagram Shopping Ads: Top Strategies To Beat Competitors

Instagram Shopping Ads are an excellent way to sell products directly on the social media platform. It’s a set of features that includes product detail pages and checkout on Instagram. Therefore, your customers can buy products directly from Instagram instead of your website. 

This is helpful if your brand is new and lacks the credibility to sell on an external website. That’s because you may have an easier time persuading your followers to sell on IG than on other websites. 

Continue reading to learn how to start with Instagram shopping paid ads to dominate any niche.

How To Run Instagram Shopping Ads: 2 Easy Methods

Do you want to know how to run Instagram shopping ads? You can run shopping ads on Instagram by turning a regular post into an advertisement. Therefore, making the ads feels natural if you already know how to create posts. 

In this section, we’ll share two different methods for creating shopping ads. You can use the one that meets your requirements and feels natural for your methodology. 

1. Use the Ads Manager

The Ads Manager is a Meta product that you can use with a professional Instagram account. Here are the steps you must follow for using the Ads Manager to create posts as ads:

1. Navigate to the Meta Ads Manager. 
2. Choose Create. 
3. Select the objective for your posts. The options include Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads or Sales. 
4. Choose your audience. 
5. Select Manual placements, and choose from Instagram Feed, Instagram Explore, or Instagram Stories. 
6. Choose Use existing post from the ad level. 
7. Select the shoppable post for which you want to run the advertisement. 

2. Promote an Existing Post

You can promote your existing posts by turning them into advertisements. This is a fast way to get more traffic for your existing content. Here’s the step-by-step process to complete this process:

1. Go to your Instagram profile. 
2. Select the shoppable post that you want to promote. 
3. Click the Promote button under the post’s image. 
4. Select the details of your promotion and choose Next. 
5. Choose Preview promotion under Review. 
6. Select Create Promotion to complete the process.

Top 5 Tips for Leveraging Instagram Shopping Paid Ads

Are you struggling to generate sales with Instagram shopping paid ads? Then, you’ll love the guidance and helpful tips in this section. 

You can tilt the odds of success in your favor by adopting the right techniques. They are fairly simple once you get the hang of them, and here’s the list to get you started. 

1. Add Complete Product Information

Provide comprehensive product details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and available variations. Clear and concise product information helps users make informed purchasing decisions without needing to leave Instagram.

Furthermore, you may want to highlight your best-selling variation to increase sales. For example, if your blue yoga mats sell better than other colors, have these in your main images. This can increase the conversion rate for your Instagram shopping ads list.

2. Provide High-Quality Visuals

Use high-resolution images and videos that showcase your products in the best possible light. Also, ensure the visuals are engaging, attractive, and accurately represent the product’s features and benefits.

Furthermore, you should invest in professional product photos. These offer several advantages, such as:

• First impressions: High-quality images grab attention and make a positive first impression. They convey professionalism and attention to detail, which can influence a customer’s perception of the product and brand. Also, you may get more Instagram followers by delivering a good user experience. 
• Competitive advantage: In a crowded marketplace, professional product photos can set your offerings apart from competitors. They demonstrate a commitment to quality and can help your products stand out from the competition.
• Social media engagement: Eye-catching images are more likely to be shared on social media platforms, increasing brand visibility and engagement with potential customers.
• Versatility: You can use professional product photos across various marketing channels, including websites, social media, print materials, and advertising campaigns. Therefore, you’ll be maximizing the reach of your Instagram product photos. 
• Brand representation: Consistent, high-quality images help reinforce brand identity. They create a cohesive look across all marketing channels, strengthening brand recognition and recall.

3. Utilize Call-to-Action Buttons

Call-to-action buttons are instructions that the customer needs to take when buying products. Therefore, the CTA must be clear and have high visibility in locations. Include clear and compelling CTAs in your ads, such as “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” or “See Details”. This encourages users to take action and explore your products further.

4. Target Relevant Audiences

Use Instagram’s targeting options to reach audiences likely to be interested in your products. You can also segment your audience based on a variety of factors. The top ones include demographics, interests, behaviors, and past interactions. 

Therefore, you’ll maximize ad relevance and effectiveness.

Here are a few more tips for targeting Instagram audiences:

• Use targeted hashtags: Incorporate relevant and popular hashtags into your posts to make them more discoverable to users interested in those topics. Research trending hashtags in your niche and use them strategically to draw in customers. However, don’t spam too many hashtags on a single post since that degrades the overall content quality. 
• Identify audience interests and behaviors: Look for common interests, behaviors, and hashtags among your target audience. This will help you create content that resonates with them and attracts their attention.
• Research your audience: Use Instagram Insights or other analytics tools to gather data about your existing followers. This will help you understand who is already engaging with your content. The more depth and level of detail you extract during this process, the better your data will be for targeting the right Instagram audiences. 
• Monitor and adjust: Regularly monitor your Instagram Insights and other analytics to track the performance of your content and campaigns. You can then use this data to adjust your targeting strategy and optimize your efforts for better results. This should be an ongoing process that consistently improves the conversion rate of your advertisements. 
• Collaborate with Influencers: Partner with influencers who have a following that aligns with your target audience. Instagram influencer marketing can help you reach a wider audience and build credibility with potential customers.

5. Optimize for Mobile

Since mobile phones primarily access Instagram, ensure your Shopping Ads are optimized for mobile viewing. Use mobile-friendly layouts, concise copy, and easy navigation to provide a seamless shopping experience.

Are Instagram Shopping Ads Legit?

Yes, Instagram shopping ads are a legitimate way to market and sell your products or services. Massive brands use them with the trust of the public audience. 

Also, Instagram has strict rules for how brands can use the features to sell products. Therefore, they remove many scams and problematic products. 

However, doing background research on the brands you encounter before buying is a good idea. This ensures that you can trust the products and avoid questionable brands. 

Furthermore, Instagram shopping ads are legitimate from the point of view of the advertiser. Using the correct strategies, you can trust the features to generate many sales. Some brands make the majority of their revenue from Instagram ads. 

It’s the job of the advertisers to ensure their ads come across as legit. This means you need to understand the anatomy of professional product pictures. You may want to do competitor research to see how their advertisements capture the right audiences. 

How To Create a Shop Now Ad on Instagram

Do you want to learn how to create a Shop Now ad on Instagram? The Instagram Shop is a feature that provides a comprehensive experience for shoppers and advertisers. You can create an advertisement by creating a business Instagram account. 

Then, you’ll need to use the Meta Ads feature to create a new advertisement. Alternatively, you can promote existing posts by upgrading them to an advertisement. You can follow the steps at the start of the article for how to complete these steps. 

5 Different Types of Instagram Ads

Are you not sure what type of Instagram advertisement to run? Then, you need to better understand the different options available to you. In this section, we’ll share the five different types of Instagram ads you can run. 

1. Photo Ads

Photo ads appear as regular Instagram posts but with a “Sponsored” tag. They allow businesses to showcase their products or services with high-quality images and captions. Users can like, comment, and share photo ads just like any other post. 

Increasing user engagement with these ads is important for improving the trust factor. It can also help increase a post’s reach to get in front of more eyeballs. Therefore, you can make the most of your social media marketing budget. 

2. Video Ads

Video ads allow businesses to share short videos to engage with their audience. These ads can include product demonstrations, behind-the-scenes footage, customer testimonials, and more. Video ads can be an effective way to capture user attention and convey your message. 

However, video ads are typically more expensive than photo ads. You can also convert your videos into photo ads to save money. This is an excellent strategy for improving the continuation of your social media marketing.

3. Stories Ads

Stories ads appear between user stories on Instagram and can include a single image or video up to 15 seconds long. They are full-screen and immersive, allowing businesses to capture the audience’s attention in a more interactive and engaging format.

However, only your followers can see your Instagram Stories. Therefore, it’s not one of the better options for growing your Instagram following. Instead, you can use Instagram Reels as an alternative to get more IG followers. 

4. Carousel Ads

Carousel ads allow businesses to include multiple images or videos in a single ad, which users can swipe through horizontally. Each card in the carousel can have its own image or video, headline, and link. 

Therefore, this gives businesses more creative flexibility and storytelling opportunities. 

However, because of their added complexity, carousel ads require more effort than photo ads. Ensure you understand the details of setting up this ad type for the best results. 

5. Explore Ads

Explore ads appear in the Explore tab on Instagram, where users discover new content based on their interests. These ads can include photos or videos and are targeted based on user interests and behaviors. This allows businesses to reach users who are actively exploring new content.

Are Instagram Shopping Ads Worth Using?

IG Shopping Ads is a good idea if you want to sell or advertise products on social media. You can reach a massive audience for many industries. That’s because Instagram is a popular social media platform that you can leverage to your advantage. 

Now that you understand how to use Instagram shopping ads, try them yourself. You’ll see the features are robust and offer a lot of functionality. 

Furthermore, you can also connect your ads to massive product catalogs to increase the number of sales on your website. 

Are you struggling to sell products on Instagram? Then, you can take advantage of the services available here at Plixi. 

We specialize in generating new followers in any niche using our Instagram influencer network and in-house algorithm. So what are you waiting for? Start growing and gaining Instagram followers today.