Since launching performance-based solutions eight months ago, such as Mobile App Install and Website Conversion link adverts, advertisers are seeing success in driving action with adverts. In fact, 58% of online sales campaigns such as USTRAA's saw a significant lift in online conversions, 78% of Mobile App Install campaigns such as Fablic's saw a significant lift in installs, and 71% of Instagram performance campaigns such as Too Faced's saw a significant lift in action.¹ The success businesses are seeing with these objectives is exciting. To help businesses drive even more action from consumers, we researched best practices for performance-based adverts on Instagram. And here's what we found.

While Instagram is a leader in mobile reach and time spent, people behave differently on mobile. Consumers shop across multiple devices, often discovering products on one and making a purchase on another. In this mobile world, Instagram is a key place for discovery. As well as just discovery, in a survey of Instagram users, we found that 75% of people take action after being inspired by a post on Instagram.² Because of Instagram's mobile-only advertising experience, it's crucial to set up your direct response campaigns in the right way.

When setting up a campaign to drive action on Instagram, such as app installs, clicks to or conversions on a website, or new dynamic adverts, it's important to target your adverts more broadly, bid the true value of your adverts, think mobile, track consumers' paths to conversion and use creative that inspires action.

1. Target broadly: To ensure that your advert is reaching the right people, start targeting your campaigns to a broader audience. Then, as you get a better sense of who's responding best, you can refine your targeting approach over time.

2. Bid for conversions: If your goal is to drive action on a website, bid for website conversions instead of website clicks. Because people shop and convert across a variety of devices, the Website Conversions objective delivers adverts to people who may convert on mobile or other devices.

3. Think mobile: When running a performance-based campaign on Instagram, adding the pixel on your landing page or the SDK in your app is critical to maximise the benefits of the campaign. With the pixel and SDK, you can automatically track how many customers access and convert on your website or app from your advert. Remember that if you're taking people to another site from Instagram, you should make sure that your landing page is optimised for mobile.

4. Track the path to purchase: Because Instagram adverts are mobile-only and people shop and ultimately convert across multiple devices, visibility into conversions on other devices is important. Make sure that you review cross-device actions in adverts reporting to see the value Instagram is creating.

5. Inspire action: When creating your adverts, provide information about your products or services. Your photos and videos should also represent your brand, so add in a nod or visual link to your business' personality. You can encourage people to take the action you want by adding a specific call-to-action button that aligns with your objective.

6. Bear placement in mind: Running a campaign across both Instagram and Facebook is best for advertisers who care more about efficiency than delivery. If you're trying to get predictable delivery on Instagram, then you should run campaigns separately.

Whether you're running Mobile App Installs, Website Clicks or Website Conversion adverts or new dynamic adverts, bear these best practices in mind to drive even more action with your campaigns.