After creating an app, you likely want to get started on maximizing exposure and downloads for it. However, with so many social media platforms and other channels available, it can be difficult to decide on the ideal platform to boost app download and installation rates. One of the best social media apps to use today is Instagram, which is highly visual and an effective way to engage potential app users. Through a strong Instagram ad campaign, you can significantly boost app signups and usage, turning your target audience into happy users.
As you approach Instagram advertising, you may be unsure how to advertise an app on Instagram. If you want to learn more about how to promote your app on Instagram, the following are some strategies worth implementing. By taking these steps, you’ll attract new audiences and boost app usage.
Create a Variety of Instagram Ads
If you want to boost app downloads, you need to use different types of Instagram ads to get the most from this platform. You can use a wide variety of ads to connect with Instagram users, including:
- Image ads — Instagram image ads use a single image to advertise apps. These are ideal to use if you have a single image you can use to entice audiences.
- Video ads — These are video ads that can feature videos up to 60 minutes long, but the shorter the better. With visually appealing and engaging videos, you can attract even more attention than traditional image ads would alone.
- Instagram Stories ads — Stories ads are full-screen video or image ads that will show up between users’ Stories. Because they take up the entire screen, users frequently engage with them, which can help dramatically boost app downloads.
- Collection ads — Collection ads function as both carousel and shopping ads together, showing multiple products directly. These ads could be helpful if you offer several apps.
- Carousel ads — Carousel ads use a series of videos or images that people can swipe through, which could include screenshots from your app. They may appear in people’s feeds or Stories, and they can include a link that people can swipe or a call-to-action button to drive more traffic to your app store or website.
- Explore ads — Explore ads are image or video ads found within Instagram’s Explore tab, which is where users can uncover new accounts and content that appeal to them based on their unique user behavior. These ads appear once a user clicks on a video or photo in Explore.
- IGTV ads — IGTV ads play midroll once a user opts to watch an IGTV video in their feed. These video ads are up to 15 seconds long and are normally intended for vertical full-screen viewing on smartphones.
- Reels ads — Reels ads appear between Instagram Reels, and they’re similar to Stories ads. These are video ads that can be as long as 30 seconds, and they typically feature audio tracks such as music to help create a seamless viewing experience between Reels.
Each of these ads can bring your app to people’s attention in different ways and encourage them to download it. Keep in mind that creating effective ads takes time and effort, but it’ll be worth it in the end as you watch your download rate increase. If you can develop campaigns consisting of multiple types of ads, you’ll be able to extend your reach on the app and further boost app usage.
Use Compelling Calls to Action (CTAs)
Calls to action, or CTAs, indicate a specific action that people should take. Effective CTAs in Instagram ads can encourage people to download or buy your app. If you to boost app signups, there are many CTAs you can use to drive downloads, including:
- Use App
- Download App
- Install Now
- Sign Up
Depending on the ad, you can try different CTAs in mobile A/B tests to see which works best. For instance, you can run two different ads at the same time, one with “Use App” as the CTA and another with “Install Now.” Based on which performs better, you can drop the other. Of course, your CTAs could include more complex messages depending on what you want audiences to do.
Be Creative
It’s best to be consistently creative and unique with your Instagram ads if you want to boost app downloads. Instagram gives you plenty of ways to showcase your creativity in innovative ways. If you can make your ads stand out with high-quality images and videos that introduce people to your brand and app, you’ll be able to drive more engagement and downloads.
When developing your ads, keep your audience’s specific needs and wants in mind. What are the features in your app that would appeal most to them? What are the specific pain points that your app can solve? You can answer these and create different ads that appeal to different segments of your audience on Instagram. From messaging to visuals, you’ll be able to develop creative elements that truly speak to Instagram users.
Locate the Right Audience
Finding the ideal audience for your ads is crucial when promoting your app on Instagram. It doesn’t matter how well-designed your app is or how high-quality your ads are. If your ads don’t reach the right people, you’ll wind up wasting valuable time, money, and energy. Make sure you find the right audience for your ads before you develop your creative and launch your campaigns, as this will mean the difference between success and failure.
When selecting the right target audience, consider who can benefit most from your app. What kinds of demographics, occupations, and other factors would your users fall under? Of course, you may already have had a clear audience in mind when developing your app, but you then need to locate them on Instagram.
To help you target your ads, Instagram offers a number of targeting options. Facebook ads are known for their targeting capabilities, and the fact that Facebook owns Instagram enables you to access those same capabilities via Instagram.
When targeting users on Instagram, the targeting options available to you include:
- Demographics such as gender, location, age, and more
- Behaviors, including purchase intent or previous purchases, device usage, and other behaviors.
- Interests, which are based on the kinds of apps and pages that people have expressed interest in on Instagram and Facebook
It’s also possible to create custom audiences based on your current list of phone numbers, email subscribers, app user IDs, or Facebook IDs, which can make ad targeting even simpler. Regardless of your approach, effective targeting for your Instagram ads will make sure they appear in front of the right people at the right time. In the process, you’ll be able to effectively boost app downloads with much greater success.
Set Other Campaign Goals Beyond App Downloads
While increasing app downloads may be your ultimate goal, remember that other goals can help indirectly lead to more downloads and users. In addition to increasing app downloads, set some other goals for your Instagram ads that could help drive more installations.
For instance, you can set the following three goals to get people interested in your app until they eventually download it:
- Video views — A high number of video views can help measure the effectiveness of your video ads. How many people are watching compared to how many people are engaging with your brand can also indicate how well your videos are performing. If you’re developing a brand awareness campaign, video views can be invaluable in helping gauge the campaign’s success.
- Website visits — If people are clicking through to your website at a certain rate, this could also show how well your CTAs are doing. In turn, this could show how many people are interested in learning more about your app before downloading it.
- Page post engagement — Some ads may encourage people to follow your Instagram account, which could lead to increased brand engagement overtime on other platforms.
Setting these goals for different ad campaigns could help you track users along their buyer’s journeys toward eventually downloading and using your app. Based on how well your campaigns meet these goals, you can then work to optimize your ads accordingly to drive even better results.
In Conclusion
Instagram remains and will continue to remain one of the best platforms for advertisers of all kinds, including app developers. If you want to boost app usage and launch an effective ad campaign, be sure to use a variety of ads, create effective CTAs, be creative, and target the right audience with specific campaign goals in mind. In doing so, your app will have the chance to excel through the platform with strong advertising behind it. When used in combination with other platforms, including Facebook and other social media sites that your audience uses, you can get all the exposure you want for your app to increase downloads.
If you want to learn more about how to promote your app on Instagram and get the best possible results from Instagram ads and other campaigns, App Samurai can help. App Samurai is an AI-powered mobile growth platform that’s both intuitive and secure. Contact us today to begin implementing this platform.