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USING WEBSITE TRAFFIC CAMPAIGNS TO INCREASE INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS:

Overview

At Social Thrive, we believe in not stopping until we have exhausted all avenues to get the best results. This is exactly what we did when creating these Instagram follower ad campaigns. It’s 2024, and while we may be in the “future of technology” era, there are still obvious things missing from Meta, like a dedicated Instagram Follower Campaign to increase your desired audience (… even though one does exist for Facebook!). So, as a small but mighty digital marketing team, we took it upon ourselves to test out our own version of an Instagram Ad Follower Campaign, to increase those follower counts for our clients! 

While (clearly) there isn’t any one particular campaign objective in Meta specifically set for this goal, we put on our thinking caps and decided to use a Website Traffic Campaign to lead the target audience straight to the Instagram page, leaving them no other choice but to look at the content… and of course, (hopefully) click “follow”!

Why are Instagram followers so important that we felt this inclined to find a paid route? Well, once you hit 10,000 followers Instagram’s algorithm shoots your content and page much higher organically as it considers your page to be influential. And, of course, anything beyond 20,000 followers or more, is exponential success for your clients.

The Challenge:

The biggest obstacle we faced in this project was that there is currently no specific campaign set-up for “Instagram followers.” While “Page Likes” has their own campaign objective in Meta, we had to get creative with how to make a successful Instagram follower campaign. 

We decided to choose a Conversion campaign with a Website Traffic objective –  the website being the actual Instagram page. While the “Page Likes” campaign targets people who would be interested in the brand, and then allows them to take action to “like” the page, Instagram does not have that straightforward option. The secondary challenge then was to create visually compelling and attention-grabbing content to draw in the end users and compel them to follow. 

The Strategy:

The challenge was not only getting the target audience to see the ad. It was then drawing them to actually look at and find interest in the ad – enough so to click through. The options we used for this call-to-action button included “Learn More” and “Subscribe.” 

So, how did we capture the audience’s attention? As you know, hundreds of ads pop up on one’s Instagram throughout the day, along with friend’s content, family photos, suggested pages, and so on. Dipping into that pool of content and appearing on the target audience’s feed is no easy feat. To do so, we carefully set up our target audience. We looked at audiences that we were already capturing, the desired audience for the brand, and the interests of people that we felt would relate to and resonate with the brand. 

Then, we thoughtfully curated an ad that was visually appealing, informative, and representative of the brand. Both still photography and animations/videos were used. Despite some contrary information from Meta, we found a mix of success with both video and static ads. If the static image was of high quality and had personality, it was just as successful in capturing the eye of the target audience as a video ad. 

After capturing the end user’s attention and prompting them to click on the ad, the objective was to then instill the feeling that “following” was a necessity driven by the desire to see more of the content. 

After clicking “Learn More” or “Subscribe” the end user landed on the Instagram page. Ensuring the grid was aesthetically pleasing, bios were interesting, and posts were engaging was essential. Luckily, high-quality content is already a part of our everyday work life, so that part was (and is) a continuous effort. It was, however, vital that at this point in time, no images were cut off and every post was up-to-date. 

If we played our cards right – sought after the right audience, and proposed the right kind of creative advertisement – then the end user would feel a need to hit “follow” to see more of our content. 

The Results:

Within the first month, this test method proved successful for several of our clients. We took note of follower counts before setting the ads live, as well as previous month-over-month follower counts so that we could ensure our numbers were increasing. Insights in Meta revealed a correlation between the number of clicks on these ads and the number of Instagram followers for that month.

Take a look at some of our data below! 

On the Dot®: 

Starting Follower #: 2,472  

Endings Follower #: 2,650

Total Gain: 178

Link Clicks: 210

Spend: $138.59

As we tell our clients, there is no direct data correspondence that tells us these followers came straight from the ad. However, if you take a look at past follower data and the link clicks on your ad, you will be able to tell if there was a positive relation between the new ad and the follower gain.

On the Dot®, Round 2:

Month Over Month: 

June 1st: 2,868 

July 1st: 3,067 (+199)

August 1st: 3,233 (+166)

On the Dot®’s best-performing ad (thus far) proved to be a carousel of high-quality neighborhood images taken by our staff photographer. 

 

Suffolk Downs: 

Over 4 months, this client gained 386 followers. Data below!

Starting Follower Count: 2,657 (Feb. 27)   

Ending Follower Count  3,043 (June 20)

Total Gain:  386

Link Clicks: 340

Reach: 21,745

Impressions: 35,491

Spend: $320.74

Month Over Month: 

Feb 1st: 2,572

March 1st: 2,659 (+87)

May 1st: 2,823 (+59)

June 1st: 2,896 (+73)

July 1st: 3,043 (+147)

The first round of follower ads included images of redevelopment renderings. The second round included videos with brighter brand colors and real people enjoying The Track. While the first set of ads performed well, the second set of ads proved to be more appealing to the audience. 

The Sarkis Team 

With a smaller budget, this client was hesitant to put their money towards a newly founded Instagram follower campaign. However, they did so for a month and the results proved true. 

Starting Follower Count:  7,320

Endings Follower Count:  7,411

Total Gain:  181

Link Clicks: 132

Spend: $203

As you’ll see, over the month they gained around 181 followers, meaning they spent about $1.10 per follower. A small price to pay for an increase in quality audience. 

Their imagery included a photo of a home they were selling and a photo of the two Sarkis brothers. These images were of high quality, aesthetically pleasing, and attention-grabbing – which proved useful in follower gain.

Offshoot success: 

While our goal was to increase followers, anyone who didn’t convert to a follower was not a waste of ad spend; on the contrary, overall brand awareness and engagement were boosted simultaneously.

Conclusion: 

While there may be no direct Instagram campaign objective in Meta to increase your followers, there are some creative avenues you can take to gently nudge your desired audience in the right direction. The long lead-ROI benefits of reaching over 10,000 followers are worth the spend in our expert opinion, and the secondary results of increased brand awareness aren’t too shabby either.

With a strong website traffic campaign and premium creative content, you’ll be able to set up a path to success and lead your audience to “follow” you for more content! Never be afraid to try new things and find new innovative ways to create success in the world of digital marketing!