October 8, 2021
The Ideal QA Process in Digital Advertising
For all ecommerce brands, the question of “where should I place my ads” never seems to stay answered.
While running Facebook ads is a no-brainer, many companies have been hesitant to launch the Instagram placement ever since it was made available in the Facebook platform.
We’re big fans of testing Instagram ads, even for companies that you might not expect. With Metric Theory’s testing of new betas, targeting, placements, and optimization strategies, many of our clients are now even seeing higher ROAS on Instagram in comparison to their other digital campaigns. In one recent case, we saw Instagram drive a 33% higher ROAS compared to Facebook.
In addition to the performance improvements we’ve seen, here are my top reasons why we advise all ecommerce clients to test ads on Instagram.
Believe it or not, there is still an opportunity to be an early adopter on the platform
On Instagram, users are highly engaged — in some verticals, even more so than on Facebook — but the space isn’t overflowing with competition. Metric Theory has built our reputation on finding ways to help our clients stay ahead of their competition, and enabling Instagram placements can do just that. It’s also important to know if your competitors are on the platform. Chances are, they are on Instagram and have found a strategy that works.
Instagram has the same targeting capabilities as Facebook
If you trust Facebook’s targeting opportunities, then you should trust Instagram’s as well. Instagram uses Facebook’s demographic data to serve ads to the appropriate parties. The two platforms share insights and information with each other to ensure users are seeing the most relevant ads and having a good experience on each social channel.
Users are more diverse than you think
Instagram isn’t just for the millennial and gen Z demographics. Users under 35 years old comprise more than 70 percent of Instagram’s more than 800 million active accounts worldwide. In the 50- to 64-year-old demographic, 21 percent say they’re using Instagram, according to Hootsuite.
If your target audiences don’t quite fit Instagram’s main audience, you should still keep an open mind! Similar to Facebook, Instagram is gradually being adopted by older age ranges. If you’re trying to reach someone outside of the normal age demographics for Instagram, we recommend remarketing on it for an additional opportunity to reach consumers in a less saturated market. If it doesn’t deliver you the performance you’re looking for, you should revisit it intermittently as the demographics and activities of their user base are evolving rapidly.
Instagram is a mobile-first placement
Remember when your old math teacher said you couldn’t carry a calculator with you everywhere…joke’s on them. That go-with-you-everywhere calculator lives in your smartphone, which nowadays, people’s lives revolve around. Each year we see exponential growth of consumer activity on mobile devices, which is why it’s important for you to create mobile-friendly sites and assets for advertising.
Instagram was originally a mobile-first site, making the platform especially friendly for mobile advertising. Including it in your marketing plans can allow you to reach people where they are most often — on their phones.
Instagram sees higher engagement than the other social channels
Beyond standard performance metrics, it’s important to call out just how much users are engaging with Instagram daily. In 2018, Vox reported that users spend 53 minutes a day scrolling through Instagram. This gives you a very large opportunity to reach the right audience and put your brand on a platform that millions of people are using for nearly an hour every day.
Enabling the placement is super easy.
To include Instagram placements in your social strategies, all you need to do is select it as a placement during the Facebook ad creation flow.
Looking for help crafting and launching your Instagram ads strategy? Contact our team.
