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Hot social channel Instagram is now offering advertising options, and it’s creating a lot of buzz in the industry.

Instagram started dabbling with ads in 2013, giving big brands a chance to try the platform out. Then, around summertime last year, the advertising flood gates opened and Instagram ads were available to everyone.

While many believe Instagram ads will take off, there is one thing that every ad needs to be successful: great imagery.

If your brand or product isn’t eye-catching and attractive, Instagram advertising might not yield results. But that didn’t stop a startup company, Rebateszone, which specializes in coupon codes, from trying its hand at the new advertising platform.

Coupon codes don’t exactly lend themselves to visuals. They’re usually some combination of a word and letters that’s so random it requires copying and pasting. So, how will a site that specializes in what looks like robotic code, with very few images on its website make an Instagram ad?

Kayla Ethan, the owner of Rebateszone, was up for the challenge. Here’s how her team found success on Instagram:

Set a goal
As with every advertising method, you need a goal.

“We wanted to use Instagram to achieve maximum brand awareness and driving more interested traffic to our website,” Ethan says. “We wanted to at least double the number of visitors to our site from NYC in the first stage.”

With a goal in mind, Ethan’s team now faced the tough task of creating something visual from their not-so-visual product.

Go visual or go home
Coupon codes aren’t sexy or attention-grabbing, so ad creation was a challenge.

“The creation process was tough; there were many brainstorming sessions about the images that would go into the ads. It is difficult to associate the process of using coupons with visuals,” Ethan explains.

Eventually the team decided to use images of products that customers could save money on.

“Our strategy, put simply, included promoting other brands through our Instagram campaigns. We targeted brands like Bonobos, Harlequin and Todd Snyder,” Ethan explains.

Here’s an example and ad:

Analyze the results and plan for round two

Rebateszone found success with Instagram ads. Overall, the ads had a 60 percent conversion rate. Each brand had its own conversion rate. Bonobos saw an 80 percent conversion rate; Szul saw 32 percent and Todd Snyder had a 55 percent conversion rate.

Of those driven to the site through the ads, 53 percent returned the following day to check out the website.

“The results were beyond our expectations,” Ethan says. “Now we’re analyzing the results to calculate our specific return on investment and plan to use that information to guide us in our next ad creation on Instagram where we’ll likely focus on a different geographic area.”

If your business is considering Instagram ads in its advertising strategy, here’s a link to get you started.