How Instagram Ads work at HeyTony
Instagram is very near and dear to our hearts. As a group of digital-marketing rockstar millennials, we grew up with this platform and have watched it evolve from the photo-sharing app we once knew, into the 2nd most-used social media platform giant in Canada. We have been running IG ads since you could run IG ads, and we are are ready to take your brand to the next level on Instagram. Keep reading to see how it works.
Account and Pixel Audit
Instgram ads lauched in November of 2013 (feel old? WE DO), so we’re not reinventing the wheel. What we are doing is optimizing your brands IG strategy so that it can work in the best way possible, ultimately driving profitability and/or growth for your business. This all starts with an account and pixel audit.
Everything we do is based on data, as-is every optimization we make; this is the key to making informed decisions on strategies. We run through your existing account and audit the campaign structure, audiences, creative, messaging, landing pages and more, to make sure we are in-tune with what is working and we know to avoid what isn’t. While this is happening, our tracking team is working simultaneously under the hood to make sure any events or data we want to capture is being captured correctly. Data is the most important and useful thing for us, but messy and inaccurate data is pretty much useless. #sadface
This is a crucial step in the process but don’t worry – our team has got your back and we will make sure we’re 100% set up prior to launching.
Strategy and Audience Builds
Now that we know the ins-and-outs of your brand and your account history, we get to work on the strategy and audience builds. We take many things into account here, including your budget, audience, historical campaign performance and overall Instagram KPIs. We will work our magic and then come back to you with a full plan outline to review. We love company and collaboration is key, so we bring you along for this ride and work to ensure we’re hitting each mark. Together, we can craft the ultimate Instagram Ads strategy for your brand (don’t worry, we’ll do all the heavy lifting!).
Copywriting and Creative
Now onto the fun part (and everyones favourite subject); CREATIVE!
A common misconception about Instagram ads is that you need to have tons of creative that is beautifully produced ($$$$), but we have good news for you: we are not building TV commercials, we are building IG ads. It is now easier than ever to fill your page with stellar visuals and videos; whether that be creating it yourself with one of the many available design apps, working with creators and boosting branded content, or hiring a sweet design team (*cough*, us), this process over time has been super simplified.
What is still crucial here is building ads that convert, as opposed to ads that just look visaully appealing. Most design firms are design-first, not social-strategy/profitability-first, and that is what makes us different. Instead of building creative and trying to force-fit that into the strategy, we do the opposite; strategy first as it informs the creative decisions. This also allows us to build tailored messaging for different audiences, based on their interests or what stage they are at in the marketing funnel.
Final Approvals
Now that we’ve filled your head with marketing jargon, it’s time to put a bow on top and wrap everything up in a neat little package for full review before going live. This is our chance to make any tweaks or answer any questions you may have about the plan-of-attack so far, or about the creative messaging. Our goal is this stage is to ensure that you and your team are 100% comfortable and confident with everything that has been put forth to-date so that there are no outstanding questions or concerns when we officially launch the campaigns!
Launch & Optimizations
Three …. two …. one … blastoff! We are now launched and it’s time to sit back and relax. All campaigns on Instagram will start out in a ‘learning phase’, so it is highly recommended that no tweaks or changes be made for a minimum of 2 weeks after launch. We need to give everything some time to learn and optimize on its own before we jump in and intervene.
The launch plan is exactly that; a launch plan. Since things change so quickly on Instagram and we have the ability to learn quickly (unlike traditional media), we are able to collect that data, analyze, and optimize in real-time. This is an ongoing process that stays in place throughout the entire campaign lifecycles and as optimizations are made, they are tracked in detail. This way, you have visibility into what is going on in the account (we hate secrets), and we are able to do larger data analysis’ to spot trends as we move ahead.
It seems like a lot – and it is – but you have the most knowledgable Instagram team to support you every step of the way.
Our Instagram Ads Results
FAQs
Learn more about Instagram Ads below!
Instagram is a powerhouse. If you’re looking to reach the masses, Instagram is a great way to achieve that.
As of June 2022, over half of the Canadian population uses Instagram with a big lift in the 24 -35 age demographic. On top of that, 55% of Instagram users in Canada identify as women.
Being under the Facebook (Meta) umbrella, we’re able to take advantage of Facebook’s extremely powerful ads manager to target the right users at the right time with our messaging.
If you’re looking to reach women 24-35, Instagram is your best bet.
Yes!
As a highly visual medium, Instagram allows you to not only reach your desired target audience, but it also allows you to showcase your amazing products/services.
By using Facebook’s amazing ad interface, we’re able to create custom audiences, retarget website visitors, and optimize campaigns quickly.
Instagram ads cost as much as you’re willing to spend.
Without knowing the details of your product margins, we can’t give you an accurate idea of how much Instagram ads will cost. We typically recommend starting with a budget of $1,000 / month and scaling up once the return on ad spend is in the desired range.
Unless you’re selling ads on your website, you shouldn’t concern yourself with cost per click. We work with our clients to ensure they have conversion tracking properly set up, so we can track useful information like “what is the cost to convert a visitor into a customer”
It really depends on your industry. For some businesses, using influencer created content is the best way to go, in others showcasing your product benefits exceeds expectations.
We work with our clients to identify which types of creative perform best for their business.
Yup!
Using the Meta Pixel, we’re able to track how many sales, leads, form completions, etc., come specifically from your Instagram ads.
The only caveat here is that you need to make sure your Meta Pixel is set up properly both on your site and within the Meta ads manager.
This depends on your business/industry.
We typically recommend using a mix of static, carousel, and video creative. With A/B testing we can determine the best type of creative for your business.
1:1 or 16:9 aspect ratios.
If you want to learn more about Instagram Ad Sizes, click that link!
What our clients are saying
Matt at HeyTony has been my main point of contact for the last year and a half and working with him has always been such a pleasure! He’s been working with our creative agency on product landing pages for large national campaigns and he’s incredibly efficient, responsive and attentive to the agency’s every request. I’d recommend HeyTony to anyone looking to grow their business online - you’ll be in good hands!
Anna Kondratyuk
