6 Best Instagram Ad Campaign Examples for Ecommerce

As a visual platform, Instagram has become a great storefront for ecommerce companies, whether your business has a website or not. In fact, people search for more product information after seeing it on the platform:

Source: Facebook

Simply put, the popularity of Instagram shopping is growing and the platform has introduced various features for ecommerce brands like clickable links, product tags, and in-app checkout. Practically every ecommerce brand wants to drive more sales with this platform.

But here’s the catch:

With 25 million businesses on Instagram, it’s getting harder for ecommerce brands to cut through the noise and reach their target audience. 

Luckily, brands of all sizes and niches can run paid ad campaigns to make the process faster and easier. Not convinced? Keep on reading to find out the top reasons why ecommerce brands run Instagram ads.

Why Ecommerce Brands Should Run Instagram Ad Campaigns?

As a marketer, you must know that the Instagram algorithm prioritizes content from friends and family. This means your brand’s posts can get buried in the news feed unless your profile gets top engagement.

One of the best ways to beat the Instagram algorithm and reach your target audience is to run Instagram ad campaigns. Numbers speak for themselves:

Source: eMarketer

Since the Instagram net ad revenue is growing year-by-year, chances are that Instagram advertising is extremely effective. In fact, 2 million advertisers promote their products or services with Instagram ad campaigns.

Here are the top three reasons why ecommerce brands should run Instagram ad campaigns:

• Stand out from the crowd: Despite the popularity of Instagram shopping, just a few companies create and run Instagram ads. If you seek out creative approaches to spread the word about your company and products, Instagram advertising is the right method for you as it helps to stand out from the crowd and beat your competitors.
• Reach potential customers on the platform: Instagram advertising has a variety of functions to set up ads for the right audience. This means you can reach potential customers without spending much time and effort if you know your target audience well.
• Drive more ecommerce sales: Not all of your customers follow your business profile on Instagram. However, many Instagrammers are your potential customers, so targeting the right audience with Instagram ads is a great way to convert social media users into customers and drive more sales.

When done right, Instagram advertising gives wonderful results. To inspire your next Instagram ad campaign, here are 6 best Instagram ad campaign examples for ecommerce:

1) AllBirds: Show Your Product Details

Online shoppers differ from brick-and-mortar customers. They don’t have an option to test out products before buying them, so ecommerce brands should show off their products from different angles when creating ad campaigns.

For example, AllBirds made a series of Instagram video posts with a focus on its products. Since potential customers could see products in detail, the campaign got a 48% lift in purchases.

To create a similar stunning video for your ad campaign, consider using a graphic photo & video editor like Instasize. With a variety of graphic design tools on the market, it’s no longer a problem for businesses with a limited budget to create amazing videos for their ad campaigns.

2) Gelato Factory: Collaborate with Local Influencers

Did you know that the creative-first approach in paid ads is one of the biggest ecommerce trends? Modern consumers crave authenticity, so it’s no wonder that they pay close attention to ads that feature real people, whether customers or influencers.

When it comes to Instagram ads, ecommerce companies can promote their products with branded content ads through the voice of niche influencers they love and trust. Not only can it help to increase brand loyalty and trust, but it can also allow you to reach a wider audience on the platform.

Let’s take a look at Gelato Factory. When the company decided to expand into the Japanese market, it worked with local influencers and promoted their UGC photos/videos in ads. 

Just within two weeks, the campaign got a 20% increase in return on ad spend and a 27% decrease in cost per person reached.

But if you’re a small business with a limited influencer marketing budget, you can create a customer loyalty program and therefore encourage your loyal customers to create user-generated content for your brand. Then, you can reach out to your fans and ask them to become the models of your next ad campaign. 

3) Hapa Kristin: Show Off Your Brand Identity

For ecommerce brands, having a variety of products is a great way to find a wide audience of potential customers. However, once your brand becomes famous and has its brand identity, you get an opportunity to expand your company and sell merchandise online.

Since customers have different preferences, it’s a great idea to show off your brand identity as Hapa Kristin did in its Instagram ad campaign:

To spread the word about the new lenses, the company made a video ad with a clickable story link and an exclusive offer. What is more, the company included its brand sticker to show off its brand identity and draw attention to the offer.

4) Grove Collaborative: Tell Your Brand Story with Short Videos

Have you ever heard about the power of storytelling?

With the rise of Instagram video marketing, when brands get opportunities to create different videos on the platform, ecommerce brands have more options to tell their brand stories. As a result, not only can you tell more about your brand and its products, but you can also keep your target audience engaged and therefore get more views which means reaching a wider audience. 

When it comes to Instagram ads, it’s a great idea to create carousel Instagram Story video ads that tell brand stories with short videos, just like Grove Collaborative did it:

Instagram carousel ads allow marketers to add several video posts in one ad and therefore tell more about the company and its products. 

As a result, viewers get an opportunity to learn more about your ecommerce business or skip the ad if they are not interested in it. All in all, it allows you to understand your audience better and create brand stories that resonate with your customers.

5) Beachbody: Include a Time-Limited Offer

The modern market offers a great variety of options, so it can be difficult for customers to decide which brands to choose unless they are motivated to buy from you. Since most people are looking for deals and offers, including a time-limited offer in your ad campaign is the best way to convert viewers into customers.

Being limited in time, these offers create a sense of urgency and therefore promote impulse buying. Case in point: Beachbody included a time-limited offer in its ad campaign and it resulted in a 72% increase in subscriptions.

If you want to give this strategy a try, here are several options on what type of time-limited offers to include:

• Discount
• Free shipping & returns
• Brand freebies

6) Hollister: Add Product Tags

It’s no secret that most consumers buy on impulse. Once potential buyers see a product that interests them, the customer journey begins, and people start searching for more information. For ecommerce brands, this means a perfect way to convert interested viewers into paying customers.

One of the best ways to do it is to add product tags. Not only can it provide viewers with more product information like description and prices, but it can also improve the customer experience which also leads to more sales.

Here’s an example from Hollister. Once the company added product tags to their Instagram ads, the campaign got a 13% increase in click-through rate, a 34% lower cost per impression, and a 42% lower cost per click.

To create and run your Instagram ad campaigns for maximum impact, it’s important to know your audience well, analyse what works best for your company, create & plan ads, and test campaigns. Thus, choose from a variety of social media management tools or simply rely on Systeme.io, an all-in-one marketing tool.

Conclusion

Instagram ads help businesses of all sizes and niches find their target audience on the platform and turn them into paying customers. 

But when it comes to Instagram ecommerce, the platform has a great number of features that help to show off, promote, and sell products in-app. In other words, Instagram ads have great sales potential, so running an Instagram ad campaign can be a great way to bring your ecommerce business to the next level.

Additional Links:

How does Instagram Algorithm Work?

How to Get Free Instagram Followers?

How to Start Ecommerce Customer Loyalty Program?

About the Author

Hugh Beaulac is a data-driven content strategist, social media manager, and passionate writer who runs MC2 website and writes for various blogs to share his tips and tricks on digital marketing. He also helps SMBs grow on Instagram, so Hugh keeps an eye on top brands to learn from them. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.