Creating a seasonal Instagram ad can boost your revenue and online traffic during the peak shopping season. The holidays are brimming with consumers looking for services and gifts to provide for themselves and their loved ones. However, if you’re not sure how to make a killer Instagram ad (or you’re looking for some help to improve your already-existing ads) check out these six tips below.
Holiday Instagram tips
- Find your audience
For your ad to work, it must reach the right people. When creating a targeted demographic for your ad, make sure you include the different interests and exclusions to find the perfect audience for your ad and budget. For example, if you’re a retailer specializing in baby clothes, your targeted audience would be new parents or parents with a newborn or toddler. You should also include a call-to-action. This can range from a button calling for your audience to install your app or to shop at your website. You can also encourage them to follow your Instagram page.
- Explore what’s trending
You can’t appeal to your audience if you don’t know what they like. The Explore page (the page with the photos, videos and stories you see before you search for something specific) shows you what posts are trending and getting engagement in your industry. If you use your small business’s Instagram page to look at other businesses or posts in your industry, this page will serve you well. Here, you can see what people like, and you can try to emulate that. Of course, you shouldn’t copy another user. Just take it and make it your own.
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- Focus on the holiday spirit
For November, December and January, you have some major holidays going on: Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, etc. There are also some major spending holidays to consider like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Your ads should have a hint of fall or winter colors and spirit, and your caption should include any discounts you plan to offer during these holidays. For example, if you own a restaurant, consider highlighting a seasonal menu item (one you only serve during these months). If you own a retail store, highlight scarves, boots and gloves a customer will see and just have to have for the cold months ahead. Perhaps you own a gardening company and offer the seasonal service of snow removal. Incorporate how less stressful planning the holidays will be with a snow-free driveway, sidewalk and walkway.
- Don’t forget the fun holidays
While you should focus on the major holiday, there are also some fun holidays people love celebrating as well. For example, if you’re a restauranteur, you can celebrate National Sandwich Day (November 3) or National Sangria Day (December 20). If you own a retail business, look into National Sock Day (December 4) or National Mason Jar Day (November 30). On these days, offer a discount for the items. For National Sock Day, you could offer a 10 percent discount on the socks you sell in your store. For National Sandwich Day, you could offer a free drink when someone comes in and orders a sandwich that day. Keep it fun and playful!
- Fix your smartphone photo settings
Smartphones have come so far today that you might not even need a professional camera to take stock photos. If you’re sticking with your smartphone, make sure you’ve turned HDR off. HDR, or High Dynamic Range, can make the photo look overdone, with too many details. You should also under-expose the camera by tapping the brightest area of the screen. This will keep your photo from looking too overexposed and grainy.
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- Get the right shot
People love aesthetics. Studies show that people respond better to less filtered photos as well as brighter photos (a 592 percent difference in likes than dark photos). Try to get someone smiling while using your product or service. If you can’t get a person, frame the highlighted product or service correctly. People respond well to cooler colors and busier photos. Sometimes, simplicity can go a long way, but when you’re trying to sell a business in an ad, you’ll want to try to highlight as much as you can – tastefully of course. For videos, make sure you’re able to tell a story or evoke emotion within the one-minute timeframe. The videos should be well-lit, well-framed and shot on a high-quality camera. No one likes to watch a grainy video! You can also create a carousal ad, which can show multiple photos, videos or a mixture of the two.
If you want to expand from your organic reach, the best next step is to make a paid ad, which can be costly but worth it during the holidays. Creating a seasonal Instagram ad can be tough if you’re new to it. However, with the right steps, your ROI will put you in that warm holiday spirit. If you’re looking for some extra inspiration, check out these awesome Instagram ads.
