by Social media marketing can drive highly relevant traffic to your online eCommerce store, increase your conversion rates, and boost brand loyalty.
With social media ad spending hitting more than USD 89 billion in 2019, marketers are constantly looking for ways to create powerful ad campaigns that deliver results.
While there is no shortage of social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram emerge as the top choices for fashion eCommerce businesses as it allows demographic targeting based on various filters such as gender, age, ethnicity, education, and even income.
In this article, we’ll discuss how eCommerce store marketers can amp up their advertising on Facebook and Instagram, and maximize conversions with 10 simple tips.
Why run Facebook and Instagram ads for your eCommerce store?
With 2.74 billion monthly active users and a detailed user-targeting option, Facebook is the top choice for eCommerce companies to reach out to the desired audience in a few seconds. In fact, ads on Facebook account for 80.4 percent of the US social referral share to eCommerce sites. Moreover, an average user clicks on 11 Facebook ads every month.
Facebook’s ad formats make it easy to target users regardless of the stage of their engagement journey. Whether a user has just started skimming through various options available or is ready to hit the purchase button in a couple of seconds, there is a Facebook ad for everyone.
At present, Facebook supports a number of ad formats you can choose from depending on your advertising goals. These include video, photo, slideshow, carousel, dynamic product ads, and lead form ads.
Here’s why Facebook ads are useful:
- You can track each ad’s performance by analyzing the conversions, clicks, and impressions received by your ads.
- You can customize your ads based on your campaign goals such as brand awareness, traffic engagement, conversions, lead generation, more video views, encouraging customers to install the app, etc. This ensures that you only pay for those results that are looking to achieve through the ads.
- Using the data from your successful audience base, Facebook Ads can help you locate a ‘lookalike’ audience who are more likely to purchase your products.
- Facebook Pixel, which is embedded within the website, can also track the user behavior after a user clicks on a Facebook ad to find information such as -- What do they do? What pages do they click? Did they leave any products in the cart?
These can help an advertiser target users by retargeting ads of products that they have already shown interest in.
However, it is not enough to rely on Facebook alone to promote an eCommerce store.
Even though Instagram boasts a smaller active user base of 1 billion, it offers ten times higher engagement than Facebook, making it an advertising platform that marketers cannot afford to ignore.
Instagram also offers a great sales potential as 30 percent of users purchase a product after discovering it on Instagram.
There are several types of Instagram ads that work for different advertising goals. These include photo ads, story ads, video ads, collection ads, carousel ads, explore ads, IGTV ads, and Instagram Shopping ads.
Here are some benefits of advertising through Instagram:
- Instagram is a better platform to target the young crowd as more than two-thirds of global users are below 34.
- You can integrate your Shopify account with the ads to sell your products instantly.
- Compared to Facebook, users are 58 times more likely to engage with branded content on Instagram.
- Since Facebook owns it, you can manage the setup, creation, budget, and scheduling of Instagram Ads through Ads Manager, a Facebook tool that lets you create and manage ads on both platforms.
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Top Instagram And Facebook Ad Tips for Fashion eCommerce Stores
1. Remember to Target & Define Your Audience
Facebook can track the interests of the target users by monitoring the user behavior on the platform. For instance, the kind of pages followed by a user or the kind of content a user likes interacting with provides vital insights about what the audience is interested in.
As an advertiser, you can use this data to target those users who have already expressed an interest in the kind of products you offer.
You can target people who are specifically interested in topics and brands similar to your product. For example, if you are selling athleisure outfits, you can target users who like to work out, stay fit, or are planning to join a gym.
It is always advisable to choose multiple narrow interests to get your ads in front of an audience that really cares about what you offer.
2. Create a Custom Audience For Retargeting Campaigns
Custom Audience on Ads Manager allows you to target users who have already interacted with your brand either on Facebook or Instagram. Such users are low-hanging fruits and have a better chance of converting once retargeted with your ads.
You can install [Facebook Custom Audience pixel]
(https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-pixel/implementation/custom-audiences/) on your website and allow Facebook to track the pages these users visit and retarget them with ads when they visit Facebook or Instagram.
There are various ways to target the audience -- you can filter them by age, gender, location, interests, behaviors, income, the composition of their household, and a lot more. You can also track your current users and the lifetime value of customers.
Custom Audiences also allow micro-targeting based on the user history. For instance, you can track visitors who viewed a page about a new pair of denim and send targeted ads on Facebook about the types of denim you offer.
3. Use Lifestyle Photos
Since Instagram is a photo-sharing platform, using high-quality images in your ads can be a great way to attract the audience.
However, instead of boring product photos, try lifestyle shots -- portraits of users in real-life events to show your product in action. These photos look more genuine and appeal to the audience in a better manner.
Make sure to shoot these photos from eye-level. This adds a personal touch and makes the target audience feel like looking at the product in person. Try to click your models in action instead of them merely posing. This shows the audience what your products can do.
Take, for instance, the Instagram ad by Lemon and Line. While it may look like this is an ad for women’s clothing, it actually promotes rope bracelets. The copy of the ad demonstrates the objective beautifully -- as these bracelets are subtle accessories, it uses the tagline“we whisper, never screams.” The image also shows how to style the bracelets which helps the audience get a clear idea of the whole look, making it easier to hit the ‘shop now’ button.
4. Boost Content Shared by Influencers
Influencers have started playing a critical role in marketing products to customers. In fact, 68 percent of people visit Instagram to simply interact with such creators. Influencers understand what the audiences want to see.
They create highly appealing content that gets noticed by their followers. Since they know product positioning very well, you can use their content as ads to target prospective customers.
One way to do this is by boosting organic posts from influencers as feed ads within the platform. Such influencer-generated content can showcase your offerings in the most relatable way.
Look at, for instance, the boosted content from an influencer in partnership with Old Navy that offers the latest designs at great prices for the entire family.
The ad shows a real-life mother-daughter duo instead of professional models, making it more appealing for the audience.
5. Upsell Products to Existing Customers
Upselling is a great way to boost your sales by targeting such users who have already expressed an interest in your product. While deals with new customers close only 5 to 20 percent of the time, the chances of selling to existing customers are 60 to 70 percent!
Facebook allows you to set up an upsell campaign on its Ads Manager. You can place these ads along with your existing product ads to increase the reach of your campaign. Whenever you are designing an upselling ad campaign, think about the core intention of users who are browsing through the products.
So if a customer has purchased a pair of yoga pants from the product catalog, you can upsell sports bras by targeting them with relevant ads as the core intention of the customer is to purchase workout clothes.
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6. Combat Cart Abandonment
Let’s face it -- watching a prospective customer abandon the cart can be disheartening. But such customers who have added a product to their shopping cart but leave it right before checkout offer a great sales opportunity. Using retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram, you can nudge such customers to complete the purchase.
Take, for example, this retargeting ad by Red Balloon. Using the Custom Audience tool on Facebook Ad Manager, Red Balloon remarkets the ad to customers who abandoned the cart before checkout. To make it even more attractive for the customer, the brand added a discount code.
7. Offer Special Discounts or Offers
Discounts or promo codes are one of the easiest ways to grab the attention of your customer. These work even better when they are valid for a limited period, creating an urgency.
Once customers land on your website to redeem the discount coupon, the chances are that they will complete the purchase and also browse through the store to purchase other items. This can, in turn, boost sales across the board and increase your reputation as a brand.
Facebook allows you to create Offer Ads through the Ads Manager, where you can add the details about the offer, choose where it can be redeemed, or even create a unique barcode for redeeming the offer.
Apparel brand Maurice's gained a 31% increase in its return on advertising spend using an Offer Ad to promote a USD 15 discount.
While Instagram doesn’t have a specific category of Offer Ads, you can still add the details of the offer in various ad formats such as carousel ads, video ads, and IGTV ads.
8. Leverage Video ads to Increase Engagement
The power of video ads is undeniable. Video ads generate better engagement with the users and generate 20 to 30 % more conversions than image ads and boost your leads by 66 percent annually. 87 % of businesses across industries use video as a marketing tool, proving that video ads are here to stay.
Both Facebook and Instagram support video ad formats. You can use video ads to attract more users. However, these videos should never come across as too sale-sy -- they should blend seamlessly into the feeds on Instagram and Facebook.
They should be shot within the right dimensions and have a powerful intro to make a solid impression right off the bat. The headline should be less than 40 characters, and a clickable CTA button should also be included.
For instance, look at this video ad by Apple.
This eye-catching ad starts with a slow-mo intro but changes gears soon. It uses bright neon colors to capture the attention of the audience.
It also delivers a clear message about the utility of the Apple Watch through the caption -- you can clock in 30 minutes of workout all at once or a little at a time.
While you may not have the budget to appoint designers to create such video ads, you can always use a free online video editor that offers a variety of professionally designed video ad templates. These video editors help you create professional-looking video advertisements without breaking the bank.
These video ad templates can be completely customized as per your requirements and advertising goals. They can also help you save a lot of time -- instead of starting from scratch, you can select a pre-designed template and make necessary changes right from your web browser. You can also reuse a single ad template for similar products.
There are various free video editors available online that you can check out. Always make sure to pick an editor that allows you to also add necessary effects such as animations, transitions, and music, etc., to create high-converting video ads.
9. Make The Buyer’s Journey Effortless
Since you are competing with numerous other brands to get the attention of your customer, make sure that every ad is designed to make the buyer’s journey effortless. You can do that by creating ads that fulfill the following objectives:
- Attracts the right audience: Start by nailing down a concrete description of who you want to target by answering questions such as: Who is in the market to purchase your products? What is the average age of your customers? Where do they live? What is the average income?
Doing this will help you place the ads before the ideal audience instead of shooting in the dark.
Increases awareness about your product: Showcase how your product will benefit the buyer and improve their lives. You should also display your products in a manner that surges the demand without coming across as too sale-sy. Consider creating urgency around your products through time-bound offers or promo codes.
Makes the decision to purchase easier: Most Instagram accounts end up adding a link to the landing page of a recently uploaded product in the bio. But what happens if your buyer is interested in a particular t-shirt that you had uploaded two months back?
Using third-party tools such as Like2Buy can simplify the process for such buyers. Instead of opening a different browser to search for each product, the buyers can simply click on the Like2Buy link, which takes them to a page with the featured products of your brand. The buyers can select the photos from the feed and get to the landing page of specific products within a few clicks.
10. Pay Attention to Analytics
A thorough review of analytics can provide you useful information for creating the right kind of Facebook and Instagram ads. Insights, the native analytics tool on these platforms, can show you how your content is performing. You can identify what kind of content is getting the maximum amount of organic interaction and design your ad around such content.
If your image feed on Instagram gets more traction than Instagram Stories, opting for Image Ads is a better idea. Take, for instance, the Facebook page of clothing brand Ralph Lauren. The regular posts always contain a stunning image showcasing the merchandise.
The brand also uses Facebook Photo Ads with powerful images that capture the attention, leave a lasting impression, and allows the audience to visualize themselves wearing Ralph Lauren clothing.
Summary
You have just learned the best tips to create compelling Facebook and Instagram ads that can help you skyrocket your sales. Here’s a quick recap:
- Start by narrowing down the audience through the Interests tab.
- Then dive into creating a Custom Audience to target those who have interacted with your brand.
- Try other strategies like using lifestyle photos in your ads, offering special discounts, and boosting influencer content to make your products more appealing.
- Focus on creating specific ads that address cart abandonment issues and upselling products to existing users.
- Increase engagement by making the buyer’s journey effortless and monitoring the performance of your ads.
- Finally, use video ads to capture attention.
While it may seem like an incredible amount of work, don’t try to incorporate all ten tips overnight. Experiment with a couple of strategies to figure out what works best for you and tweak your marketing strategy accordingly.
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