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How to make a good instagram story ad


8 Tips for Creating Highly Effective Instagram Stories Ads

Instagram Stories have captured the hearts (and eyeballs) of Instagram users across the world. So is it any surprise, then, that Instagram Story Ads are one of the very best ways to advertise on the platform?

With more than 500 million people using Instagram Stories daily, brands have a massive opportunity to make an impression. In fact, 58% of Instagram users report being more interested in a brand or product after watching their Stories.

So if Instagram is part of your brand’s social media strategy: it’s Story time, baby! Here’s everything you need to know about making effective, engaging Instagram Story ads.

What are Instagram Story ads?

How to publish an Instagram Story ad

Instagram Story ads design requirements

Meta ad guidelines for Stories

How much do Instagram Story ads cost?

8 tips for creating highly effective Instagram stories ads

Get your free pack of 72 customizable Instagram Stories templates now. Save time and look professional while promoting your brand in style.

What are Instagram Story ads?

An Instagram Story ad is paid content that appears as users are watching Stories on Instagram.


Source: Instagram Business

Instagram Stories are vertical, full-screen photos and videos that appear at the top of the Instagram app, rather than in the news feed.

Organic Stories disappear after 24 hours; Instagram Story ads will continue to be served up as long as your campaign is running.

Stories incorporate fun, interactive components like stickers, filters and effects. They’ve become incredibly popular since launching in 2017, and brands have reaped the benefits. In a survey of Instagram users, half reported visiting a business’ website to make a purchase after seeing it in Stories.

TLDR: For brands on Instagram, Story Ads are a powerfully effective avenue for sharing your message. Get that ROI! Get it!


Source: Instagram Business

How to publish an Instagram Story ad

You’ll be creating your Instagram Story through the Meta Ads Manager on your computer or through the Meta Ads Manager app. (At this point in time, you can’t publish an Instagram Story ad directly through Instagram.)

1. Go to Meta Ads Manager and select the + icon (aka, the Create button).

2. Choose a marketing objective, like Website Traffic, Reach, or Page Likes. (One key note: “Post Engagement” does not offer an Instagram Story ad option.)

3. Select your creative from your camera roll or from an existing Instagram post.

4. Fill in the details (which vary depending on the marketing objective).

5. Then, tap on Placements. Toggle Manual to see all of your platform distribution options. Tap Instagram and select Stories.

6. Continue on to the next page to set your ad audience. You can select people who are already interacting with you (for instance, “People who engaged with your page”) or create a new target audience.

7. Set your campaign budget and schedule.

8. The final step will allow you to review and preview your campaign. Tap Place Order to seal the deal.

Instagram Story ads design requirements

For best results, use Meta’s recommended dimensions and formats as you’re designing your Story ad. Otherwise, you may risk an unflattering crop or sketchy-looking stretch.

Aspect Ratio9:16
Recommended Dimensions1080px x 1920px
Minimum Dimensions600px x 1067px
Video File Type.mp4 or . mov
Photo File Type.jpg or .png
Max Video File Size250MB
Max Photo File Size30MB
Video Length60 minutes
Supported Video CodecsH.264, VP8
Supported Audio CodecsAAC, Vorbis

In case this chart isn’t enough of an inspiration (ok, weird??), check out our list of 20 creative Instagram Story ideas!

Meta ad guidelines for Stories

Buying an Instagram Story ad doesn’t give you carte blanche to do what you want — this isn’t Westworld, people.

Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has policies in place to try to create a user-friendly experience. If your ad doesn’t meet these guidelines, it may not make the cut.

Ads should not violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines. You can read the full rundown here, but basically: don’t be a jerk! Here’s the bullet-point version of prohibited content:

  • Illegal products or services
  • Discriminatory practices
  • Tobacco and related products
  • Unsafe substances
  • Adult products or services
  • Adult content
  • Third-party infringement
  • “Sensational” content
  • Personal attributes
  • Misinformation
  • Controversial content
  • Non-functional landing pages
  • Cheating and deceitful practices
  • Grammar and profanity
  • … plus a laundry list of predatory businesses like payday loans or multi-level marketing.

Wow, I guess Meta just hates fun??? (JK, JK, JK! Online safety: we love to see it!)

In addition to this list of outright no-nos, there is also content that Meta restricts, such as:

  • ads for online gambling
  • promotion of online pharmacies
  • Alcohol related advertisments
  • promotions for dating services

To advertise a business focused on these products or services, you’ll need to request special permission or comply with applicable local laws.

If you put together an ad in violation of Meta’s advertising policies (uh ohhh!), you’ll receive a notification that your ad has been denied, and it won’t run.

However, if you think your denial was unfair, you can always request a review of the decision. Typically, that review happens within 24 hours.

Dive deeper into Meta’s ad policies here, or Instagram’s Community Guidelines here.

How much do Instagram Story ads cost?

Instagram Story ads cost as much as you want to spend. As Instagram itself puts it, “the cost to advertise is up to you.”

A draft campaign is the best way to see what bang you’re going to get for your buck.

Set the budget, the duration, and the audience that works for you as you’re planning your campaign. This will give you a clear estimate of just how much reach you’ll get. Adjust as necessary.

We know you probably want a clear prescription here, but there’s honestly no best practice for how much to spend on Instagram Story ads. Sorry!

Start with a few bucks, see how it goes, and add on from there. We’re all social media scientists, just trying to make our way in this crazy, mixed-up life.

For more Instagram advertising wisdom, check out our 5 Step Guide to Instagram Ads.

8 tips for creating highly effective Instagram stories ads

Now that you know how to buy an Instagram Story ad, let’s dig into how to make the most of your moment in the spotlight.

Take advantage of fullscreen

When you’re creating your content for your Instagram Story ad, shoot it in a vertical format. That’s how your audience is most likely to be viewing it, after all.

Take advantage of the fullscreen vertical canvas and design creative specifically proportioned for the mobile experience.

Along those same lines: consider planning out which Stories add-ons and tools you’ll be using in the final product. That way, you can compose your video or photo scenes strategically to make visual space for stickers, polls, or effects.

Hotels.com, for instance, created this vertically oriented ad with space around their spokesperson to pepper in fun stickers.

Source: Instagram Business

Emphasize your CTA

A CTA — or “call to action”— is what you’re asking the viewer to do. For instance: “Swipe up,” “Shop now,” “Get your tickets,” or “Place your vote.” (Explore our list of compelling CTA ideas here. )

ClassPass asked the audience to Swipe Up for more info on a free trial. Even though the video itself is fast-paced, we don’t miss the point since that CTA is front and center: ClassPass would love if we just give a lil swipey.

Don’t let that important detail get lost in the thick of your graphic design or fun stickers: make sure your mission or ask is crystal clear for the person tapping by your ad.

Instagram reports that campaigns perform far better when they emphasize their CTAs and make the product or service the vocal point. Say it loud and proud!

Add text overlays

Visuals can say a lot but sometimes words can say it better. Instagram recommends pairing text with a visual focal point for best results in your Story Ad.

According to internal research, there’s actually a 75% chance of better performance with central-placed text for add-to-cart objectives.

Clinique layered in text onto dynamic, colorful product shots to hammer home the benefits of each of its new hydrating gels. Now I know it’s green and refreshing and treats irritation! I’ll take 12!

Here are 19 helpful tools for designing cool Instagram Story graphics and creating thumb-stopping text treatments.

Enhance your ad with audio

Sound can be a powerful tool to set a mood or hammer home the value of your ad.

Experiment with voice-overs and music to enhance your Instagram Story ad. Chances are, it’ll pay off; Instagram has found that 80% of Stories with audio (voiceover or music) enjoy better results than ads without sound.

This VW ad features fun (and dare we say, funky?) music to enhance the cool-factor of its mini car commercial.

Get interactive

Elements like polls or “tap to hold” games give your audience a moment of fun.They also encourage users to actually stop and take the time to interact with your brand instead of flipping by.

For instance, this Doritos poll — sure to inspire a fiery debate.

Another cool idea: this interactive Ritz ad gave the viewers a surprise result when they hit pause. (Suddenly, I’m craving strawberries on crackers?)

Design with your brand in mind

Every second counts in the fast-paced world of Stories, so make sure you’re integrating your brand right off the bat. Elements like products or logos at the very beginning of your Story will help capture attention and build positive brand recall.

Sephora makes sure to start off its Instagram Story ads with its logo and beautiful, on-brand imagery.

Try one of our 72 free Instagram Stories templates to get you started.

Make those Stories move

Motion catches the eye and captures attention, so if you have the opportunity to enhance a static image with a little bit of movement… do it! Studies show that ads that use motion regularly receive more views and purchases than still images. So get moving, why dontcha?

Arlo Skye’s Story ad flips between images of its carry-on suitcases, which creates a dynamic movement despite the fact that the product shots themselves are static.

Can’t wait to see your captivating Story ads as we’re flipping through our Stories soon. Want more marketing ideas for Instagram? Dig into our Instagram marketing cheat sheet here.

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Bonus: Get the Instagram advertising cheat sheet for 2022. The free resource includes key audience insights, recommended ad types, and tips for success.

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Instagram Story Ads: Best Practices for Impressive Results

People are becoming increasingly fascinated with Instagram Stories as a more authentic and less filtered alternative to regular Instagram posts. As of January 2019, 500 million people were using it on a daily basis–a 250% increase since 2017.

And ever since the introduction of Instagram Story ads and full-screen Canvas ads in 2017, the platform has also seen a lot more advertisers promoting their products through Instagram Stories. This means that there is more competition for businesses that wish to advertise on the platform.

As an advertiser, you’d want to make sure that your Instagram Stories ads have the desired impact. Instead of just using any catalog image of your products in your ad campaign, consider all the Instagram Stories best practices that will help you create impactful ads that convert.

That’s exactly what you’ll learn to do in this post. In addition to learning the basics of creating Instagram Story ads, you will also discover some of the most effective tactics to get swipes and conversions.

Getting started with Instagram Story ads

Before you can start creating ads that convert better, it’s important to understand the basic rules of creating Instagram Stories ads first. Let’s take a look at the basic steps to create ads for Instagram Stories:

1. Decide on your objective

What do you want to accomplish through your ad campaign? You can choose from several objectives for Stories ads including reach, brand awareness, traffic, engagement, app installs, video views, lead generation and conversions.

2. Develop your ad creative

The next step is to create ad content that will fulfill your objective. This could either be images or videos along with other creative elements like an ad headline and copy. To help you with this, read on to learn some tips for creating Stories that get attention.

3. Use the recommended dimensions

You can’t use the same ad dimensions across all platforms. Instagram has recommended ad sizes that will ensure optimum visibility for your feed ads and your Stories ads.

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. Set your target audience

Next, you need to narrow down on the audience you wish to target for your Instagram Story ads. You’ll have the option to target people based on location, gender, language, interests, behaviors and age. You can also narrow down your targeting based on how people are connected with your brand i.e. include/exclude everyone who already like your page, target friends of your followers and other options.

Since Stories ads display for a shorter amount of time, make sure you get really specific with your audience targeting. So make the most of Facebook Pixels, lookalike audiences and retargeting options.

5. Select your ad placement

The next step is to choose your ad placement. While Facebook provides an automatic placement option, it’s better to manually choose your preferred placements. Your audience on Facebook may be drastically different from your Instagram audience. So it may not be wise to display the same ads and offerings to them.

6. Develop a compelling call to action

Just like your ads on other platforms, your Instagram Stories ads should also have a clear and compelling call to action that motivates the audience to take the desired action. Use action words like learn, see, shop, buy, discover, get, etc. You could even test out different CTAs to find out what works best with your audience.

Best practices for Instagram Story ads

Once you’ve nailed down the basics, you can refer to the following Instagram Stories best practices to create engaging ads that convert better:

1. Make the first few seconds count

The first few seconds of your Instagram Story ad is crucial for capturing and maintaining your audience’s attention. A study by RivalHQ found that brands are losing about 20% of their audience by the second frame of their Stories. This means that it’s important that your Story ads stand out even more than organic Stories posts and captivate your audience instantly.

Users are less likely to skip Story ads that are visually appealing right from the start. Experiment with colors, fonts and imagery that would appeal to your target audience.

NUXE France created a short stop-motion video highlighting their products. It used a soft background color to match their product packaging, which created an eye-catching effect. This resulted in a 6.2X return on their ad spend.

2. Create clear and concise messaging

With Instagram Stories ads, you don’t have much space for text elements because your visual content takes up most of the screen space, and your audience has limited reading time.. So if you’re going to use text in your ads, make sure you come up with a brief message that’s punchy and gets straight to the point. You could even use carousel ads and video ads if you want to tell a longer story.

Overstock launched a video ad that asked the audience a short question about a common brand perception, and compelled them to “think again.” What followed was a series of product photos with two-word messages relaying their value proposition.

3. Maintain brand visibility

The whole point of creating Instagram Story ads is to introduce more people to your brand and its products. So it won’t make sense if people see your ad but don’t know which brand it’s from. Make sure your brand logo is prominently visible. This means ensuring that no other design elements are obstructing or distracting from the brand logo at the top left hand corner of the screen.

In addition to this, there are a few options to highlight your brand name and ensure better brand visibility in your Instagram Stories ads:

  • Overlay your brand name or logo without obstructing other elements
  • Focus on your product, especially if it has your brand name and/or logo on it
  • Opt for minimal colors, fonts and design elements so that your brand name stands out.

Take a look at how the following ad from Waterdrop focuses on the product. It clearly displays the brand name on the product and also includes the product name at the bottom of the image.

4. Position your text strategically

As mentioned earlier, you have very limited space to add text elements in your Instagram Stories ads. While keeping your messages short solves half of this problem, your text positioning is equally important. You can’t just throw your text around anywhere on the screen and hope for the best. You have to make sure it’s prominently visible without obstructing other elements.

It’s best to add your text over white space so people don’t miss it. While this isn’t always possible, make sure you choose highly legible fonts even if you’re placing your text over other visual elements.

You can add it in the middle of the screen or towards your “Swipe Up” link if you want to draw people away from the “Sponsored” tag at the top. If you only have white space at the top of the screen, make sure your text isn’t too close to the “Sponsored” tag.

Batch Organics launched a video ad, which first highlighted the brand’s products at the beginning.

It then added text overlays over these images to highlight the brand’s messaging using a highly legible font.

The ad then ended with an offer at the bottom of the screen just above the “Shop Now” link.

5. Feature influencers in your ads

Combining your influencer marketing strategy with your advertising campaign can be a great way to amplify your efforts. If you’ve already launched a campaign with influencers, perhaps you could use the sponsored content they created for you in your ad creative. That way, you’ll be saving a lot of time and resources in developing ad content.

You could also create an entirely new set of ad creative that feature influencers. Perhaps you could even involve them in your brainstorming session. Influencers know their own audience deeply so they might have great ideas on how to tell a compelling story through your Instagram Story ads.

Toni Mahfud, the German-born artist and influencer was at the center of the JOOP! advertising campaign on Instagram Stories. The brand showcased a video featuring the influencer. It offered the audience with an opportunity to win a t-shirt designed and signed by him. This campaign increased ad recall by 60% and lowered cost per reach by 27%.

Do more with Instagram Stories

These basic rules and best practices can help you get started with successful Instagram Story ads that convert. But that doesn’t mean you should stop there. Keep testing and trying out different ad formats, messaging, visuals, targeting options and more to see what works best for your brand.

Need tips to bring your organic Stories up to the level of your paid ads? Check out these guides:

  • Instagram Stories: Best practices and inspiration to engage your followers
  • How to add links to Instagram Stories
  • How to use Instagram Stories analytics

How to advertise effectively on Instagram Stories: Facebook tips

Marketers know that a good story can be the key to success. What about Instagram Stories ads? We are publishing a translation of Facebook recommendations based on several studies.

In November 2017, over 300 million Instagram accounts used Instagram Stories every day, a full-screen creative format where people watch and share daily moments in photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours (unless saved). Marketers have become storytellers: half of all Instagram business pages from around the world post at least one story per month.

To help advertisers understand and embrace this new format, Facebook IQ commissioned a study on non-obvious metrics to understand how people around the world perceive content in Instagram Stories. A meta-analysis was also conducted for the US audience to explain what creative elements will help to attract the attention of users and achieve business results.

Stories evoke emotions

The study showed that people from all the markets studied (Brazil, Indonesia, UK, USA) react emotionally to Instagram stories. It turned out that people associate Stories with heightened emotions such as excitement, fun, and inspiration.

Perhaps the reason for this is that the full-screen format offers an immersive experience, and therefore allows advertisers to create a deeper connection with the audience.

Creative elements make stories effective

Business stories take over. On average, more than 1 in 3 respondents (active Instagram users) admitted that they are more interested in a product after seeing its Instagram Stories.

Effectiveness was measured by two factors: "breakthrough" - the probability that the ad will be noticed, viewed or the user will return to it and "response" - the probability that the ad will force the user to take some action.

There are 5 key insights from the study that support other observations: Some of the elements that make mobile feed ads perform better will also work for Instagram Stories.

5 Essential Elements of Instagram Stories Ads

  1. Relevance

On average, top-performing Instagram stories are ranked more relevant than underperforming ads. In addition, they attract attention, are easy to understand, and fit the advertised brand.

  1. Video length

Typically, effective ads on Instagram stories are shorter than ads with poorer results, and the brand is mentioned earlier in terms of video timing.

  1. Fast paced

Among Instagram Story ads containing multiple scenes, effective ads had shorter scenes.

  1. Product demo

Only half of the Instagram stories evaluated in the study showed product use. However, those that contained such material worked more efficiently.

  1. Creative optimization for
    2. format

About half of the ads in the study were made specifically for Instagram Stories. But at the same time, only a third of all studied ads showed the best results. And success was influenced by the length of the video and the fact that the key message was announced at the beginning, and not at the end, regardless of whether the announcement was made specifically for Instagram stories.

By the way, Popsters has a lot of opportunities for content analytics in social networks, both your own and other people's accounts. You can easily find out what and when to publish.

Kei Hsu, Instagram Global Leader at Creative Shop recommends:

Stories open up a new world for marketers as they offer a new set of creative tools. My advice? Design content based on how people consume content and don't be afraid to experiment.

Insights for Marketers

Use stories to evoke emotions

The full-screen format of Instagram Stories offers immersion and engagement. Consider creating emotionally immersive content ranging from movie trailers to live, behind-the-scenes scenes to create a stronger connection with your audience.

Optimize for mobile

You don't have to create content specifically for every format you use to be successful. But optimization for mobile is necessary, it is important to consider this when setting up ads in Instagram Stories. Read the translation of another study (about mobile) to understand how to create content for mobile users.

Experiment more

More advertisers are using Instagram Stories, and the company is becoming more aware of what creative experiments really work.

At the same time, Instagram encourages marketers to experiment with video content and different creative tools that Stories offer: filters, stickers, emoji.

Useful articles on a related topic:

  • How to increase views on Instagram Stories;
  • Advertising on Instagram: how to properly set up and run;
  • Perception of content in Instagram Stories and feed;
  • Insights from research on the effectiveness of Instagram Stories.
  • How to set up targeted ads on Instagram as efficiently as possible.

How to set up Instagram Stories ads: step by step guide

The variety of placements and ad formats in Facebook Ads gives advertisers the opportunity to promote their business on several social networks - Facebook and Instagram - as well as the WhatsApp messenger.
In this article, we will talk in detail about how to set up ads in Instagram stories and work with them correctly.

Instagram Stories appeared in the summer of 2016, and two years later advertisers were allowed to show targeted ads. In less than four years, attendance at the site reached 500 million people.

Stories on Instagram will help:

  • increase brand awareness;
  • increase sales;
  • inform customers.

To understand if ads in stories are right for your business, you should run test campaigns.

Instagram Stories advertising: setting up

To launch your first advertising campaign, set up a business account via Facebook. We have detailed instructions on how to do this. Then link your Instagram page to your Facebook account through settings.

Let's take a closer look at how to create ads in Instagram stories.

  1. Go to the advertising office.
  2. Define the purpose of the advertisement. Depending on the tasks that the advertising campaign must solve, select one of the items (each is discussed in detail in the official Facebook help):

  3. Specify the site that a person will go to by clicking on the link from the ad. It can be a website, app, or Messenger. If you are promoting an account, you must select the “Site” item.

  4. Set the audience settings. On Facebook, you can use basic and detailed targeting:

  5. Select a placement for showing ads. Facebook offers to display ads on all sites by default. To select a specific site, click on the "Edit placements" item. In the "Platforms" menu, check the box next to "History" only:

  6. Set the budget and schedule for impressions (read more about this in our guide to running Facebook ads):

  7. Add creatives, write text and mark up with links. Open the ad in preview to make sure it displays correctly.

If everything is in order, send the ad for moderation.

Another way to run ads on Instagram Stories

You can run ads on Instagram Stories from the social network interface.

  1. Publish your story.
  2. Click on "More" in the lower right corner:

  3. Enter your Facebook details and allow access if you haven't already:

  4. Then select the site that the person will go to from the ad: profile, website or direct. Check the box next to the desired option in the "Action Button":

  5. Specify an audience to target or select an automatic audience (those who are similar to your Instagram followers):

  6. Click "Done" and open the ad preview.

Pay special attention to creating creatives for advertising, as they can contain basic information about a product or business. Use creativity to create creatives. Don't limit yourself to images and texts; it can be videos, a carousel. Apply the principles of creating an effective ad.

When preparing a creative, consider not only the content, but also its format.

Learn more