72X Return On Ad Spend Using Instagram Stories Advertising

Spending $2.40 in 3 days earned $100 in revenue.

On day three, this campaign yielded $70 in revenue from $0.97 in ad spend resulted in a 7216% return on ad spend (ROAS).

I started delivering this ad on November 7th, 2017, and within 72 hours I had $100 in revenue from $2.40 in ad spend. Overall in the first three days, the data shows a 4167% Avg. ROAS, which I'm still pleased with :)

These data points are a fraction of the power of advertising using Instagram Stories. Your abilities to deliver value through this channel are giving you yet another tool in your advertising toolbox.

A quick background story: This ad was a component of an "early bird" sale I was running to promote gifts for the 2017 holidays.

I shot a 14 second video on my phone, and used it as the creative for this ad. No subtitles, text overlays, or even face filters within the platform.

When I dove into this campaign I realized the power of using Instagram Stories and it's efficiency. 72X return on ad spend is very, very cost efficient.

Here's the secret:

Re-Target consumers who care .

Consumers are demanding that the content they are delivered is relevant. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook demand that you give their users a positive experience too.

Whether you're an advertiser, business page, or content creator, you must give value if you want someone's attention - social platforms are too busy for more noise. By understanding your consumer's behavior online, you can insert messaging, content, and value into their daily feeds.

"How do I know who will care?"

Start by testing segmented audiences from your website traffic.

*If you don't have your Facebook Pixel setup, you won't be able to see any audience data from your website yet. Google "How to install my Facebook Pixel" or contact me to help you get it setup.

Once your Facebook Pixel is installed, you'll be able to create audiences and segment them. You have the ability to organize and filter Facebook users into different buckets in a number of ways. (In the future I will be writing about strategies on segmentation... but for now, I'll stay with this case study.)

Within Facebook's business manager, there is a tab labeled "Audiences"

Within the Audiences arena in Business Manager, I created an audience that had been to a specific product page within the last 60 days. Prior to launching this Instagram Stories ad, I had made a few posts on Facebook about a popular product on Heart Of Timber's website, to generate some awareness and create a small traffic boost.

Knowing that my budget is tiny (spending $1/day was a big deal), I didn't need an audience of 100,000 people to reach. Instead, the audience was around 300-750 and I had a rich audience that was very specific.

So, now that I have this audience as an asset, I went and made that 14 second video like I mentioned before, and built a small campaign with the goal of selling some product.

For the 10 day lifetime of the campaign, I reached only 603 people, and was able to make $100 in revenue within the first 3 days! *Side note, I had one purchase on the first day of the campaign, and had only reached 107 people.

The effectiveness of this campaign is rooted in the relationship I had built with my niche audience. If this video would have been targeted at cold traffic (meaning people who hadn't had a touch point with my brand recently) I doubt I would have sold any product at all.

Please understand the bigger picture to the results of this campaign before you believe that Instagram Stories will magically bring you massive returns. The foundation was building segmented audiences using the tools given to you within Facebook Business Manager. Once I had enough customers in a bucket that were familiar with my brand, and had engaged with a specific product recently, I could test Instagram Stories ads.

Fortunately, at the time of this writing, the cost of this placement is cheap. It allowed me to stay in touch with the specific customers I was trying to reach from one platform to another. From my posts on Facebook, to the Stories within Instagram, these few hundred people were familiar with my brand and product when they saw the video.

My hypothesis was proven that a small discount was enough value for a few people to purchase the product and generate income for my business.

Instagram Stories is a great place to stay relevant with you consumers and bring more value to their lives. It's always about the consumer. By consistently giving them a positive experience with your organization across multiple platforms, you'll begin to build a relationship with them.

After some time and engagement (maybe website visits, reactions on a Facebook post, etc.) not only will the receptivity of your ads go up, but your cost-per-action (meaning the thing you're trying to make them do - like buy a product) will likely go down.

Share this with a friend who needs to see this, or drop a comment with your thoughts!

If you'd like more data about this campaign, or to learn more about using Instagram Stories ads in your own business, message me here on LinkedIn, or contact me through alexjangard.com.

See the full, original post on my website here.