This blog post was originally published in 2016. You can read one of our newer posts on driving installs from Instagram.
Instagram app install ads are quickly becoming the next Facebook install ads. By leveraging Facebook’s ultra-sophisticated audience targeting, it ultimately means great conversions and engagements for brands on Instagram. When you pair that with deep-linked experiences, you can raise your KPIs to the next level.
Setting Up Deep Linked Instagram Ads
When thinking about deep linking your Instagram Install Ads, you must spend time thinking about the display of the actual ad. Instagram is perhaps the most polished and curated place for high-quality photos, and if you’re promoting your content, it must match the same high-quality users have come to expect on the photo-sharing platform. For this post, let’s assume you’re promoting fancy new shoes that you want to bring to the masses, and you want your users to install your app and purchase those shoes.
If the goal is to get people purchasing shoes after installing, we’ll follow these steps:
- Start by creating a high-quality photo of a certain product.
- Set up deep link routing so that when a user clicks a Branch link that points to those shoes, they immediately see it. Step two is simple with Branch; you most likely have a product ID and can pass that product ID through the install process.
- In reality, the hardest part about deep linking Instagram Install Ads is choosing the right photo and making sure deep linking is set up. Once you create a Branch link to run your Instagram campaign and connect Facebook with Branch, it’s a matter of navigating to the Facebook Ads dashboard and selecting Instagram.
By selecting Instagram, the same rules apply as selecting Facebook, meaning you can paste a Branch link inside the “Deep Link” field:
And that’s it! Like we mentioned, the most important part is designing an inspiring photo that empowers engagement with your users. Those users will deep link to the content that inspired an action, and make them come back to your app time and time again.