Social media is integral to connecting with customers & the right marketing strategy executed in the right platforms can multiply your business’s profits.

Facebook ads, attractive Instagram posts, videos—they all are proven to be successful in getting customers to engage with new brands & compelling them to buy.

However, there’s a downside to social media. Of all the tools you can use to market your business, it’s the one that changes the fastest.

The same strategy that got you great results 2 months ago—maybe even 1 month ago—can quickly become obsolete as these platforms roll out new features & trends change.

But one thing doesn’t change. Good marketing meets customers in the places they hang out, & social media remains the best way to do it.

While Facebook is probably the most well known place to advertise on social media, Instagram is not too far behind. In just the last 5 years, brand promotion on Instagram has grown by 1,400%.

As if that wasn’t enough, 68% of Instagram users regularly engage with content posted by brands, compared to just 32% on Facebook.

In particular, the Stories function on Instagram has become an increasingly popular advertising tool. The creative, visually appealing style of Stories makes it easy for viewers to not just learn about brands, but actively engage with them.

What truly sets Instagram Stories apart is the vertical orientation, which lets users not only view ads, but become completely immersed in the experience of viewing them.

Stories make it possible to share content from other Instagram users, instruct them to “Swipe up” to view a website or turn their sound on to hear music or audio, conduct polls & ask questions viewers can respond to, & much more.

In the end, the question isn’t “Why do advertising through Instagram Stories?”

The question is “Why not?”

Gold’s Gym: Heavyweight Advertising Through Instagram Stories

Since its founding in 1965, Gold’s Gym has grown into a worldwide fitness icon. From its beginnings as a small business in Venice Beach, California to having more than 700 locations all over the world, its personalized training, encouraging group environment & diverse array of exercise programs have benefitted millions of people.

But every established brand needs to stay engaged with current marketing strategies, & Gold’s Gym needed a way to use social media to generate more leads.

They were already advertising through Instagram Stories, but wanted to see if combining their strategy with running similar story ads on Facebook Messenger would get them more potential members.

Gold’s Gym started running story ads on both platforms with the goal of getting more leads for membership using the lead magnet of a free trial membership.

From a creative approach, the ads appealed to younger people by showing a young man and woman smiling after working out, along with the headline “Free 30 Day Plan” & the Gold’s Gym logo.

They also crafted audiences composed of people in the areas where Gold’s Gym locations were based & excluded any existing gym members to ensure that the ad’s purpose would only be to create awareness among non-members.

Based on the data from their website’s pixel, a line of code installed in a site that tracks the activity of visitors, they were able to see that using Instagram & Messenger in conjunction with each other was 60% more likely to deliver more leads.

In particular, Gold’s strategy generated double their original number of registrants for the free trial.

The lesson? Advertising through Instagram Stories not only works, but when it’s coupled with additional social media story efforts, the results multiply.

Tips For Advertising With Instagram Stories

Keep Text To A Minimum

The maximum time for an Instagram story to display is 15 seconds, so you can’t give your viewers a ton to read. One catchy headline or catchphrase is all you have time for, & it must immediately & creatively sum up what your business is about.

From a Customer Value Journey standpoint, the story is all about Awareness. If you’ve done your job with the ad itself, you can get them to Engage by swiping up to view more content.

Make Your Visuals Count

Do something that will get your viewers’ attention immediately. 15 seconds isn’t a long time & the image they see must be memorable & engaging. Whatever approach you choose, it needs to grab people’s interest before they click to the next screen.

Video is also an effective tool here for not only getting more attention, but showcasing your product or service in action.

Use humor, thought provoking images, attractive photos—anything that will creatively entice viewers to turn a glance into a stare.

Make Sure It’s Branded

A cool image isn’t enough to make a great experience with a story ad. Viewers have to clearly see who you are & what your brand does. Make sure you include your brand name as well as your logo.

This will help with brand recognition if you do any retargeting ads. Partnered with memorable ad content, it will ensure that viewers will recall your product or service if they encounter it again online.

How To Get Started With Ads

A social media ads strategy is the easiest & most cost effective way to get people’s attention online & create awareness of your brand. At Cirius Marketing, we have a patented formula for better Facebook ads that will resonate with viewers, capture their interest & compel them to learn more.

But before you can start planning your ad strategy, you have to understand the journey your customer takes from stranger to your brand to total evangelist for it.

To help you get started, we’ve made a workbook so you can learn about our formula, see how it applies to your business & start mapping out a better path for forming connections with customers to make more sales.

Click here to download it!