Instagram has become increasingly popular as a platform for social media advertising.
Out of the 1 billion users on Instagram, 71% spend around 53 minutes daily using the platform, and 90% of them follow at least one business.
With such high engagement and a strong tendency to follow brands, Instagram provides an excellent opportunity for businesses to advertise through Instagram ads.
What more?
Instagram is ahead of the game when it comes to user engagement, with 2-7% of users interacting with every post. That’s why marketers lean towards Instagram over other social media platforms.
In this blog, we’ve explored over 10+ unique Instagram ad samples, covering images, stories, and videos, along with their standout features. These carefully selected examples could offer you ideas and tips for crafting engaging marketing ads that can boost your brand’s visibility and reach.
In-feed Instagram Ads Examples
Amidst the popularity of Reels and Stories capturing the spotlight, businesses on Instagram find it challenging to boost brand exposure using in-feed ads. This calls for creativity and an emotional appeal to connect with their target audience.
Coursera
Coursera’s engaging in-feed commercial demonstrates the art of building trust through clear content and measurable social proof. It speaks directly to Coursera’s audience, presenting the course’s content in an engaging manner.
The highlighted social proof conveys the course’s excellence with over 20K positive ratings, adding credibility to its quality. The advertisement features a genuine photo, creating a relatable connection with the audience.
Additionally, Coursera offers a valuable full-access free trial, enhancing the appeal and potentially boosting conversions for interested users.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Create intrigue and inspire your audience by showcasing the possibilities with your product or service. BB&B accomplishes this by incorporating captivating lifestyle videos into its social media campaigns.
This Instagram ad is not only memorable, but it also exudes charm and wit, making it a catalyst for impromptu purchases. Instead of merely promoting a product, consider selling a lifestyle as a whole. This approach also provides an opportunity to showcase your items in a more authentic and relatable environment.
Dropbox
Dropbox’s Instagram ad within the feed stands out because it addresses common issues we often prefer to avoid. It also promptly offers a solution while showing exactly how it functions.
The video commercial is user-friendly, making the explanation simple and removing potential obstacles for those less tech-savvy. It caters to individuals who just want their data secure.
Soylent
How do you make sure your audience grasps the advantages of your product? While clever Instagram captions have their charm, educating them through detailed blog posts can be more impactful.
Soylent seems to have found the sweet spot between informative nutritional content and engaging social media content that attracts visitors to their website.
In expanding their reach to potential consumers, the Soylent team leverages in-feed Instagram ads to highlight new blog articles offering valuable advice and insights. They make extra efforts to ensure their audience comprehends the composition of Soylent products and the reasons behind it.
To maintain Soylent’s distinctive style, the company’s advertisements intentionally adopt a simple and minimalist approach. The Instagram promotions by Soylent serve as a clear reflection of the brand’s goal to increase awareness about holistic nutrition and sustainability.
Instagram Stories Ads Examples
Instagram Stories have become incredibly popular, leading marketers to invest substantial amounts in video production or hire professional content creators to guarantee their 24 hours of fame.
However, merely sharing a vertical video ad or a product photo won’t cut it anymore. Your Instagram Stories ads need to grab attention and make users pause to consider the offer. In this blog post, we’ll explore effective ways to achieve this without breaking the bank.
OfferZen
We’ve all witnessed the dull and uninspiring nature of B2B advertising, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Check out this engaging Instagram Stories commercial featuring a unique graphic.
It’s a captivating and interesting narrative that is sure to grab your attention. Free from unnecessary clutter, flashy effects, and distracting stickers, it manages to stand out and effectively gets its point across.
Sephora
The significance of well-curated content cannot be overstated. Sephora recognizes this and leverages Instagram Story advertising to capture the attention of their target audience. They share secret tips and offer personalized recommendations, creating a connection with their customers.
Even the choice of emojis isn’t arbitrary; it reflects Sephora’s dedication to providing a diverse range of products suitable for all hair types.
Fifth Third Bank
This advertisement showcases how brands can tackle serious issues with a touch of humor and approachability. Fifth Third Bank takes a customer-centric approach by avoiding overwhelming technical details and instead, prioritizes topics that genuinely interest potential clients.
In this Instagram Stories commercial, the bank doesn’t strive to appear overly authentic but rather stands as a compelling example of the tangible benefits it offers.
KitchenAid
Emphasizing the outcomes your clients achieve, rather than solely showcasing the product, ensures that your Instagram Stories ads feel less like a hard sell. KitchenAid does this seamlessly; for example, instead of just promoting their espresso machines, they showcase how mornings become more enjoyable with one by your side.
This type of Instagram ad is notably concise and visually engaging, especially if you can encapsulate your entire story within a 15-second video. Yet, it’s essential to note that crafting polished social media videos does require both financial investment and time.
Instagram Influencer Ads Examples
Customers look to Instagram for authenticity, and businesses often grapple with meeting this expectation (with many falling short). To convey your brand’s beliefs effectively, consider leveraging carefully curated paid partnerships, collaborations, tagged publications, and other influencer materials that genuinely align with your goals. Let’s explore how leading brands tackle this challenge.
Nike
The sportswear brand continues to redefine the game, pushing the boundaries beyond traditional influencer commercials. Nike collaborates with bold athletes unafraid to take a stand and challenge outdated norms. This approach makes their Instagram influencer ads not only highly engaging but also authentic.
By incorporating a social aspect into your influencer initiatives, you can connect with your audience on an emotional level, showcasing that your business goes beyond mere profit and embodies a clear mission and philosophy.
It’s crucial to align your deeds with your words in this approach. Nike, for example, consistently engages in developing sustainable solutions and supports various entities, including organizations, schools, individual athletes, and local communities. This not only establishes a genuine connection but also reinforces the commitment behind the brand.
United Airlines
This airline joined forces with the Golden State Warriors, one of the NBA’s top basketball teams, to demonstrate that even superstars can’t resist the allure of their attractive loyalty program.
The influencer content exudes authenticity and comfort, steering clear of any pretentiousness. The commercial features key Warriors players casually boarding the plane. There are no extravagant or overly luxurious embellishments, distinguishing this campaign as both unique and appealing.
Malt-O-Meal
If you’re eager to discover influencers who resonate with your target audience, take a peek into the profiles they follow. Malt-O-Meal, a cereal brand, teams up with bloggers who share insights on motherhood and lifestyle—a perfect alignment of message and audience.
For a successful Instagram influencer ad, scout for niche blogs and local personalities boasting an authentic following. This way, you can be confident that your paid partnership content will get noticed and read by the right eyes.
Guess
The renowned clothing business collaborates with models, singers, actresses, and creators worldwide, leveraging Instagram influencer ads more than any other advertising format.
This approach adds an intriguing twist, making branded content stand out and captivate audiences. Partnering with numerous influencers enables a swift expansion into new demographics. Although it might come with a higher cost, the potential benefits make it a strategy worth exploring. Moreover, it’s a great chance to showcase your product in action, highlighting its features and benefits effectively.
Instagram Shopping Ads Examples
Transforming promotional content into something less overtly promotional presents a challenge, but fear not – we’ve uncovered several strategies to infuse your Instagram Shopping ads with more allure and captivation.
Birchbox
Understanding the allure of thoughtfully curated kits and aesthetically pleasing sets is no small feat. They not only add to the overall enjoyment but are often budget-friendly. Fortunately, the challenging task of selection has been taken care of by Birchbox, applying a personalized approach akin to their Instagram ads.
Birchbox offers uncomplicated travel packages containing essentials even for those who lean towards a minimalist lifestyle. This advertising approach proves particularly impactful for solo travelers seeking to explore the world without the burden of excess baggage.
Bellroy
An awesome image is essential, but there are moments when a witty caption steals the show. Case in point: check out this Instagram ad.
Bellroy’s ad not only showcases their brand personality but also adds a touch of intrigue, surpassing the usual mundane product descriptions.
Reebok
Reebok’s Instagram Shopping ads feature lively, genuine photographs handpicked by their team, capturing the true essence of the brand in every sponsored post.
You won’t need to ponder about the durability of those new training shoes during intense workouts; the ad makes it crystal clear. To adopt a similar approach, think about incorporating a carousel ad to enhance audience engagement.
Instagram Explore Ads Examples
Instagram’s “Explore” section is already buzzing with activity, making it crucial for sponsored posts to stand out.
Asos
The store employs retargeting to reconnect with forgetful buyers, reaching out to them as they scroll through their feed with personalized recommendations.
This strategy proves to be quite effective since the “Explore” section is often brimming with enjoyable and dreamy content, instantly lifting the spirits of consumers.
Yves Saint Laurent
YSL utilizes highly visual advertising that always catches the eye in the “Explore” stream. Take, for example, a stunning animation showcasing flaming letters; it’s hard to miss.
While it might be challenging to compete with big brands boasting unlimited budgets, you can adopt a comparable strategy. Infuse more creativity into your Instagram Explore ads, as your competitors probably haven’t explored this avenue yet.
How to Find More Relevant Instagram Ads Examples and Learn From Them
Here are the key reasons why keeping an eye on your competitors’ ads is crucial:
- Draw inspiration from their descriptions, graphics, and animations to continuously generate innovative concepts.
- Confirm that you’re reaching the right audience and maintaining the appropriate tone of voice in your ads.
- Identify the most effective Calls to Action (CTAs) employed by your competitors and integrate that insight into your own campaigns.
- Pinpoint the ideal ad types for your niche, avoiding unnecessary expenses on experiments and A/B testing.
- Gain insights from your competitors’ shortcomings and refine your strategy to capture the audience they are trying to attract.
- Uncover the secrets to making your Instagram ads stand out from the crowd.
The Meta Ad Library stands out as the go-to spot for exploring advertisements from rival brands. You can effortlessly access it, even peering into your competitors’ Instagram ads.
If a particular ad catches your eye, simply click on the three-dot icon situated in the upper right corner. From there, select “About this account.”
By selecting “Active Ads,” you get access to their ad library, containing a record of all their previous and ongoing Instagram campaigns.
Discovering ad spy programs for various social media platforms is made easy, with some even available as Chrome extensions. These tools empower you to monitor your competitors’ advertisements across platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.
Nevertheless, for a secure and reliable solution, the official Meta library stands out as the go-to choice. Not only is it cost-free, but it also fulfills the majority of your requirements effectively.
To gain insights into what your target audience thinks about your competitors and their marketing strategies, exploring social media listening techniques is a valuable approach.
Final Thoughts
The ten ads we watched were all uniquely captivating, sparking curiosity about the respective products or services.
What ties these advertisements together is their visual charm, quick communication of benefits to the audience, and the presence of engaging subtitles and text that effortlessly grab attention.
Remember these principles when crafting your next Instagram ad, and who knows, your ad might just stand out as one of the best!
Author: Jugnu Nagar
SEO Specialist