In this video, I’ll show you how to create Instagram story ads that convert.
According to Instagram, 400 million people use Instagram every day.
To capture the attention of this massive audience, I’ll share my bootstrapping process for
creating an eye-catching Instagram story ads without filming anything at all.
I’ll go through this process step-by-step so that you can make your own ad the exact
same way.
I’ll also show you some important settings you’ll need to adjust in Facebook Ads Manager
when it comes time to launch your campaign.
Ready to create your first Instagram story ad?
Let’s begin.
Hey everyone, it’s Jessica from Oberlo.
Before I get started today, I want to make a little caveat.
You’re going to learn a lot about Instagram marketing today, but you won’t learn everything
you need to know about ecommerce success.
That takes continuous learning.
So subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay on top of the latest tips and trends of ecommerce
entrepreneurs.
Alright, let’s dive into Instagram story ads.
When it comes to story ads, Instagram allows three ad formats.
All of these appear in your audience’s Instagram feed for 24 hours.
The first format is a photo.
A still image will show up as a single story and will stay on-screen for up to 5 seconds.
Here’s an example of a photo ad from SkillShare.
The second format is video.
Video ads will show up as a single story and will play for up to 15 seconds.
Here’s a relaxing example of a video ad from the meditation app Calm.
The third format is a carousel ad.
Carousel ads contain up to three pieces of content that display as three stories.
The content can be photos or videos.
This ad format is best for story-driven content, like this ad from Gap.
You can see that this ad actually contains three story videos that are stitched together
as one ad.
If you’re dropshipping with Oberlo, you’ve already heard us talk about how video ads
can help you sell your product.
Because they convert so well, that’s what we’ll focus on today.
By the way, if you’re not dropshipping with Oberlo, definitely check out this intro video
here.
With dropshipping, you can set up an online store and start selling products without carrying
any inventory.
That means a lot of your focus will shift to marketing tactics… like Instagram story
tactics!
So let’s get into the details of creating your first video ad.
In the end, your ad will look something like this.
To create this video, first I made sure I had a copy of my business logo saved to my
phone.
Then I went to my dropshipping store to look for product photos.
As you can see, I sell leggings.
I like these Leah leggings here, and I want to run this story ad to see if my customers
like these leggings too.
By creating an ad that focuses on ONE product, I can rely on the ad results to teach me what
my customers like and don’t like.
If they swipe on this story ad, they like the Leah leggings.
If they don’t swipe, they don’t like the Leah leggings.
Simple.
But if I run an ad with multiple products, I won’t know whether customers swiped for
the first product they saw or the last.
That’s going to make it harder for me to decide which products to spend more money
promoting in the future.
Bottom line: Advertise one product per ad, and you can depend on the results to teach
you what your customers like.
Ok, back to creating our ad.
I’m going to press and hold each product image to save it to my phone.
I got all of these product images straight from the supplier photos on Oberlo.
I got lucky because my supplier took great photos in the first place.
And it’s totally allowed and legal to use these supplier photos in ads.
Now that these photos are saved, I’m going to fire up a photo editing app on my phone.
I use an app called InShot to do this.
What’s nice is you can create a basic Instagram ad using just the free version of InShot.
Alright, here’s my gameplan: I want to capture my audience’s attention in the first 1 second
of my Instagram story video.
That’s key.
To do that, I want to throw a lot of movement at my audience in that first second.
That’s why I’m essentially going to create a GIF with the product images I just saved.
I’ll select video, and add my first photo.
Then I’ll click this plus sign and add the next photo I want to appear.
And so on.
If you want to change the position of these photos, which are now essentially video clips,
click and hold, then click and drag any photo to the position you want it in.
Then click anywhere else on the screen.
Now I want to format this for Instagram.
To do this I’ll click Canvas.
Instagram story ratios are set at 9:16, so I’ll select this icon right here that says
9:16.
I’ll click the double checkmarks on the left to apply this canvas change to all the
clips in this video, not just the first product image.
Now my photos are formatted correctly, but this pace is waaayyyy too slowwwww.
To quicken things up, scroll here and select speed.
Remember, we want to capture the viewer’s attention in the first second.
However, we have 15 seconds to play with in the video ad.
There’s no need to use all 15 seconds though.
If you can create engaging content the whole way through, great.
But if not, a 5-10 second video will work.
To make sure my images change fast enough to catch the eye, I’m going to bring each
image in my ad down to half a second.
I’ll hit the double check mark to apply that speed change
to all images.
Next I want to add some text.
Click text.
Select the big and little A icon to change the font.
I’ll go with something modern and on-brand like this font here.
Click the keyboard icon to type.
Click the color wheel if you want to change the color.
You can also add a background.
And hold and drag the text to change its location on the frame, and use this icon on the corner
to make the text smaller or bigger.
A few notes on what text to include in your ads.
The most important thing is to include a compelling offer.
Just displaying your product images isn’t enough.
You need to convince customers to buy your product now.
For example, you might mention that shipping is free, inventory is limited, or that the
item is on sale for a limited time only.
Just make sure that your call-to-action is repeated on your product page.
If you say a product is $19.99 for a limited time only, make sure it’s not listed as
$29.99 on your product page.
Also, don’t include too much text.
Remember that in the first 3 seconds, your audience will decide whether to stick with
your ad.
If the first thing they see is a small novel, they’re going to swipe away.
And finally, pay attention to text placement.
You want to draw attention away from the “Sponsored ad” text, and toward the “Learn More”
text.
To do this, place text in the middle and bottom of the screen.
As a finishing touch, I’ll upload my logo.
I’ll review my video, and make the necessary adjustments so that my finished video looks
great.
Now that my Instagram video ad is done, it’s
time to upload it using Facebook ads manager.
I saved a copy of my video to my desktop computer.
Now I’ll go to my ads manager account and get started creating a new ad.
Today I won’t cover how to choose an objective or define an audience for our ad.
But I’ll cover those topics in a future video--just make sure you subscribe to Oberlo’s
YouTube channel so you get those videos when we publish them.
The important thing to remember here is to edit placements.
Deselect automatic placements, and select edit placements.
For device types, deselect Desktop.
The vast majority of Instagram story views are on mobile, so I don’t want to pay Facebook
to show this ad on desktops.
For platforms, uncheck everything but Instagram Stories.
Now all that’s left to do is create your ad by selecting Single Image or Video as the
format, and uploading the video you just created.
Insert the product page as the website URL and select your call to action--I’ll select
Shop Now.
Because this is a stories ad, you don’t need to worry about text, a headline, display
link, or news feed link description.
Alright, this ad is a great start, but it’s your own creative twist that will really make
it stand out and get sales.
So here’s where I welcome your feedback: What would you change about this ad?
Would you rewrite the copy?
Use a stronger call-to-action?
Choose different product images?
Share your feedback in the comments and let’s learn from each other.
I’ll jump into the discussion too.
That’s all for today.
Remember to hit subscribe, and until I see you again, learn often, market better, and
sell more.