How to Sell Instagram Ads: 8 Tips for Newbie Bloggers

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Advertisers don't need celebrities anymore - and that's great news for bloggers with a small but loyal audience.

You don't need to have millions of followers for advertisers to pay attention to you. Enough and five thousand people who actively follow your life. This, of course, is not about contracts with six-digit numbers, but about quite mundane amounts, sometimes - free goods and services.

Why is that?

Big brands, middle-class entrepreneurs and flower sellers in the metro realized that megapopular bloggers are expensive and ineffective. They are less likely to buy ads from them, distributing budgets among small opinion leaders.

This is because millions of subscribers can be completely different from each other. Even if the advertised product is suitable for only a few, you will have to pay for everyone. Plus, celebrities are less trusted. This is due to the huge volume of advertising in their accounts: people simply stop perceiving it.

But the audience of small bloggers has understandable interests that generate the same understandable demand. This allows the advertiser to predict and achieve the desired result within a relatively small budget. And again about trust: the fewer people follow the blogger, the more likely the audience will perceive the advertisement as useful advice from a friend, and not as an obsessive attempt to sell something.

Now, so that you weigh the pros and cons, here's how to better prepare yourself for working with Instagram ads. Believe me, it's not easy, but very interesting.

1. Study your followers

Uncertainty scares advertisers. Prove that your followers are worth every dollar you spend.

Find out who they are

In order for you to see detailed statistics, you need to change the status of your profile by connecting a business account. This can be done in a couple of clicks in the settings of the mobile application.

In the "Statistics" section, you can see the age, gender and geography of your audience. If most of the followers are elderly men from Saratov, then you shouldn't advertise a jewelry boutique for teenage girls in Voronezh. It sounds silly, but such strange offers are not uncommon in the market.

Find out what interests them

Let your subscribers know that you are going to sell ads. Consult with them: what products and services they would like to learn from you and in what format. This way you will take care of your followers, who will initially be loyal to advertising content. And at the same time, you will collect information about their interests and needs.

2. Pay attention to numbers

It's time to remember the basic knowledge of mathematics. You will have to count a lot. To work with advertising, special attention should be paid to the indicators "Coverage" and "Engagement". You will also need a business account to check them. Using these values, the advertiser predicts performance.

We advise you to make it a rule to periodically fix these numbers and look for the average values among all posts for the month - you need to share the growing indicators with clients on a regular basis. This will keep them informed of your professional development.

LiveDune and PopSters can save you the hassle of manual counting: their algorithms do all the work automatically.

Coverage

This is the number of people who viewed your post. Unlike impressions, only unique views are counted here. If one person has looked at your post multiple times, then Instagram's internal calculator will not pay attention to it.

Involvement

This indicator reflects how actively subscribers interact with your content - like and comment. Remember to convert it to percent using the following formula.

The dry grocery post will be scrolled more often, and clever Instagram algorithms will enter the battle. Your metrics will decrease, and with them the influx of new users will decrease. As a result, we lose more than we earn.

5. Follow trends

No, we are not talking about those viral posts that suddenly fill your feed (for example, wavy eyebrows or pranks over pets). Although you need to learn how to use them for advertising purposes. But, as they say, first crawl - then fly.

You must become a technical specialist in the field of content and learn how to use this knowledge not only to grow a subscriber base, but also for advertising purposes, to work for the result. Industry-specific advertising resources will help you stay on top of trends.

Today, video content is popular, and especially Stories. Interestingly, long videos (from 20 minutes) start gaining more views than short ones (up to 5 minutes). Although a few years ago, everything was exactly the opposite. Therefore, Instagram launched the long video service IGTV and gave its users the opportunity to work with the trending format.

6. Don't lie

Never advertise what you are not sure about. A small audience trusts you and appreciates your opinion. But wait for trouble if it turns out that the file you praised spoils your nails and falls apart after being used twice.

Authority is the most precious thing you have. Use it correctly.

This also includes hidden advertising. Try to practice this as little as possible, and accompany all commercial posts with an appropriate mark or hashtag. People love it when you are open with them, and they hate it when you try to pass off a paid opinion as your own.

And never buy bots, likes and comments: they are useless, advertisers have learned to calculate them. And because of this, mistrust of all bloggers is growing.

7. Love bureaucracy

Yes, this is the same fuss with pieces of paper. But they give guarantees that the work will be done, and the conditions for its compensation are met. When it comes to money, then always work under a contract, even if the advertiser seems like the cutest creature on the planet and the budget is minimal.

Think about registering an individual entrepreneur. Firstly, this way you will be able to comply with the laws of the Russian Federation and sleep well. Secondly, you will not miss out on truly responsible "white" clients who cannot transfer money to a card or pay you in cash. Third, it's easy! Lifehacker told in detail how to register an individual entrepreneur and not go crazy.

Don't worry about tax. It is always “sewn up” into the total cost of your services.

8. Treat advertising like a real job

The market values professionalism. Always follow the agreement and demand the same from the client. Be in touch during business hours and don't ignore messages. Try to report on the work done and always share the results of your publications.

Warm, partnership relations and work for results are the guarantee that the advertiser will return more than once. And he will tell others about you.

When you start partnering with ad agencies and major brands, the word "reconciliation" will start to ache in your heart. Alas, this is how corporate machines work. The decision to publish content is usually made by a whole group of people - and their opinions may differ.

To make everything go smoothly, carefully follow the deadlines in which you promised to complete the work, and do not be afraid to make adequate edits to the content.

And remember, fire in your eyes is the most important condition for success. There will be a desire, and money will appear.