We’ve established how hard it is to get attention to your tweet. But high engagement can help stretch that attention out, involving your followers to give them a reason to hold on for more.

Contests are a great way to drive engagement since there’s something in it for the end user. InSinkErator’s contest is a good example because it focuses the message on what their products do or allow.

Combining promotional methods is also a smart idea – ad-promoted contests get 10x the entries.

Sure, the image in this Twitter ad isn’t the most attractive. And who runs on a hosted WordPress site these days?!

However, the real value here isn’t the ad necessarily, but the intent behind what you’re seeing.

Visit Santa Clara is doing a great job capitalizing on the (a) timing and (b) location of Twitter users with relevant content. Twitter is also destination #1 for live events. Especially big ones like the Super Bowl.

So they’re positioning their ad in front of a growing trend which will explode with activity – note the use of the hashtag to increase exposure.

Nobody likes cancer (duh). But is that dislike, in and of itself, motivating enough to actually do or share something? Sadly, probably not. You know what is? A person you know or care about who’s suffering from cancer.

Cancer Research UK   brilliantly taps into that side of the equation, steering clear of daunting facts and figures in favor of exposing the human element. This ad is complete with a real picture of actual people – NOT stock photography – to get you (the viewer) to imagine yourself or someone you know in their shoes.

This human element is key if you’re doing marketing for a nonprofit.

In Free Prize Inside, Seth Godin explains a concept called ‘edgecraft’ to help companies or products stand out from the crowd by focusing on what puts them at the extremes. (Because, the theory goes, everything in the middle is too similar and too easily ignored.)

Verge Transportation does that by choosing a specific car to highlight that just so happens to look like a rocket ship and is the fastest on the planet.

Another thing that got my attention? What first looks like a typo (cat instead of car) upon closer inspection is a pun on Jaguar. Well-played.

No matter what you sell, your customers are definitely interested in exclusive promo codes from your brand. As specified in this post, 93% of customers use a discount or coupon at least once per year, and offering a bonus pack leads to a 73% increase in sales.

As such, it’s always a good idea to include a discount or promo code when creating and running Instagram ads. Moreover, Instagram allows advertisers to include clickable links in ads, so you can quickly redirect interested users to your website to get more traffic from Instagram and encourage them to complete a purchase.

The image above shows an example of this strategy in action from Fresh Beauty. With a simple yet effective visual, the company got straight to the point with its time-limited discount and also included product tags, making it easier for customers to discover product details. As a result, the campaign got 8x more content views per link click from ads with product tags and generated 32% of sales from Instagram.

To stay ahead of your competitors, you can also offer interested viewers to share their contact information and send exclusive offers right to them. This strategy helps businesses capture more leads and convert them into paying customers.

Customers choose to buy from brands they trust. From peer recommendations to influencer endorsements, there are many ways to increase brand trust. However, providing social proof is one of the most effective ways to convince customers to choose your company over competitors.

To drive holiday sales, Milton & Goose shared crowdsourced images in its ad campaign to raise brand awareness, provide social proof, and build a following of potential customers. As a result, 50% of customers discovered Milton & Goose on Instagram, and the company got a 4.6X increase in the 2018 Black Friday sale compared to the previous year.

And if you want to repurpose these assets for your ad campaigns and emphasize details, always use an image upscaler to increase a photo in size without losing its quality.

However, always keep your customers in mind and ask for permission to repost their images. After all, satisfied customers are loyal customers who can become your brand advocates.

Brand communication matters. To turn reached viewers into followers and customers, it’s important to show that you value your consumers, so listen to your audience. How? Encourage conversation with your ads!

The best way to do it is to use Instagram Story ads. First, it’s easier to increase a following with Instagram Stories. Second, Stories have in-built features to interact with followers (polls, question stickers, quizzes) in a fun and engaging way and therefore automate business communication. 

For instance, ASOS made a series of images that showed celebrities’ outfits and included a poll sticker that encouraged viewers to vote for their choice as shown above. Since people love sharing their thoughts, the example mentioned above performed well, giving ASOS a solid reason to boost these Stories and turn them into the next ad campaign.

Creating bright and fun visuals for its ad campaign is a way to grab the attention, but asking about customers’ preferences is another proven way to show interest in your consumers and start a conversation with viewers.

Paid ads bombard customers from all sides. Today, people see around 5,000 ads a day. For brands, this points to the importance of creating memorable ads that stand out from the crowd. 

First, lay a bet on visual content. Appealing visuals grab your audience’s attention. Why? Research has found that 65% of people perceive visual information better and people retain 80% of what they see. A good visual helps to deliver your brand message and convert viewers into customers. 

For instance, Milly made bright and eye-catching photos for its in-feed ad campaign to target potential customers. The company made a carousel post to show off several outfits, dedicating each of the five visuals to a different color. The campaign resulted in a 44x increase in purchases.

But if your company doesn’t have the budget to hire a product photographer who can take similar stunning visuals of your product for your ad campaign, consider the following options:

• Find freelance photographers starting out.
• Use a free photo editing type of software.
• Repurpose old visual content you can find.