Instagram Story Ads in 2024

What’s the story with Story ads? 

Instagram Stories ads have been incredibly popular ever since the feature launched on the platform back in 2017. 

Did you know that, in 2024, Instagram Story ads will bring in close to $21 billion in global net ad revenue?

Are Instagram Story ads still kicking goals for brands in 2024? The short answer: yes! 

Facebook and Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp – have more than half a billion people using them every day, and four million advertisers use Story ads monthly.

While Instagram may have started as a photo-focused platform, there’s no denying that video is a massive focus for the social media giant. 

This post will show you how to get started with Instagram Story ads. We’ll explain some rules and best practices to help you achieve impressive results with Instagram Stories, and we’ll look at a few examples of great Instagram Story ads.

If you’re new to Instagram Story Ads, here’s everything you need to know to get started….

1.  Pick your Instagram Story Ad Objective

What are you hoping to achieve with this ad campaign? You can choose from a variety of campaign objectives, including:

• Awareness
  • Reach, brand awareness, video views, store location awareness 
• Traffic
  • Link clicks, landing page views, calls, Instagram profile visits
• Engagement
  • Video views, post engagement, conversions, calls 
• Leads
  • Instant forms, Messenger and Instagram, conversions, calls
• App promotion
  • App installs, app events 
• Sales
  • Conversions, catalog sales, calls 

Note: not all of these campaign objectives are eligible for Story ads. 

2. Work on your Instagram Story Ad Creative

This content needs to match what you are trying to achieve with your objective. If you need some help developing Stories, we’ve made a list of some hacks that might help you.

3. Make sure you are using the correct dimensions

For image ads:

• The recommended resolution is 1080 X 1920 pixels
• Maintain a resolution of at least 600 X 1067 pixels
• Maintain an aspect ratio of 9:16
• Use either JPG or PNG format
• Maximum size allowed is 30MB

For video ads:

• The recommended resolution is 1080 X 1920 pixels
• Maintain an aspect ratio of 9:16
• Use either MP4 or MOV format
• Maximum size allowed is 4GB
• It should have a resolution of at least 720p

4. Pick your target audience

Before posting anything to Instagram, you should know who you want your ads to connect with, what you want them to achieve, and how people should interact with them. 

Instagram lets you target users based on the following:

• Location
• Gender
• language
• Interests
• Behaviours
• Age

5. Instagram Story Ad Placement

Make sure you’re not just copying your Facebook audience. Your followers on Facebook and Instagram can be very different from each other.

6. Finish with a strong CTA

You want your call to action to align with your objective. Make sure you are asking viewers something along the lines of “swipe up”, “learn more”, “buy now”. Whatever it is, make sure it flows smoothly with your content.

Best Practices to help with your success

1. Make the most of the first few seconds

We all swipe through ads quickly on Instagram, so get to your point EARLY!

To appeal to your best audience, it helps to experiment with different fonts, colours, stickers, emojis and other features.

2. Use Influencers in your Instagram Story Ads

Influencers are massive on Instagram. 

Using Influencers is a great way to amplify your content and have your ads seen by many followers who align with your brand.

The example below is a successful influencer marketing campaign between SlimFast and Katie Gonzalez (@gonzo_grown). With just 72k followers, Katie Gonzalez isn’t a huge influencer. Still, she does have a dedicated following and is an excellent choice for brands looking to take a more targeted approach to influencer marketing.

It is good to communicate with your desired influencer before creating content. Influencers tend to have a pretty good understanding of their audience, and by brainstorming with them you can better develop compelling content that their followers will enjoy.

3. Keep your brand strong

It’s easy to get carried away with all the features on Instagram Ads, but make sure viewers can always identify your brand.

Below are some key things to remember:

• Make sure no other elements block your brand logo displayed at the top left of the screen
• Use minimal colours and fonts so your brand name is easily recognisable
• Focus on your product or service

4. Don’t be afraid to just sell

With the rise of TikTok, you might be tempted to try and make your Instagram Story ads feel more organic. You should avoid this. 

Consumers aren’t stupid, so don’t treat them like they are. Instagram Story ads are just that: ads. People don’t want to feel like you’re trying to fool them into making a purchase. Be open and upfront, and don’t be afraid to just sell.