I Wrote Copy And Created Instagram Ads For water buffalo

I set up three different ads for Water Buffalo, an online store that sells hydration packs for running, hiking, and other outdoor activities.

They currently sell two hydration packs and apparel for their fans. The products that I’ve purchased from them are high-quality and reliable, for a cheap price!

Due to the appealing visuals of their product photos, I decided to make Instagram ads for them. The demographic for their consumers can be quite large due to the nature of the product being aimed at the outdoors and staying hydrated.

I optimized the Instagram ads to be shown on the Feed, Stories, and Explore page. Also, I aimed to create the ad copy to be consistent and on-brand for the Instagram platform. All of the images I’ve used for the ads were photos of products on the Water Buffalo site and their Instagram/Facebook pages.

For the first two ads, and as a secondary audience for the third ad, I chose to target:

• Males and Females
• Ages 18 – 40
• Location: The United States and Canada due to the online store only shipping to those two countries.
• People who have “Outdoor recreation”, “Outdoor enthusiast”, “Camping” or “Running” as interests.

Here’s a video going into detail on how I created the ads:

Here are the three Instagram ads I created:

Ad #1

Target: New Customers

Goal: Drive sales for Road Runner Hydration Pack

Copy: Stay Hydrated! Go on outdoor adventures with our durable hydration packs. Now on sale!

Staying hydrated is a key part of going on outdoor adventures like hiking and running. Water is necessary to live. This is why I started the copy off with “ Stay Hydrated!” So when they see that phrase and the image of the product, they associate it with water and staying alive. 

Then I quickly highlight:

• Where you are most likely going to use the product, the outdoors, so it grabs the attention of people interested in outdoor activities.
• That the pack is durable so when people look at the ad they know the pack is reliable.
• And then I say “Now on sale” so the audience can infer it’s currently discounted.

On a mock $50 daily budget, our ad would be able to reach 4.1K – 12K people with potentially 81 to 233 link clicks being driven to the product page for the Road Runner Hydration Pack.

Ad #2

Target: New Customers

Goal: Raise awareness of the store and products

Copy: “Stay Hydrated! Go on outdoor adventures with our durable hydration packs! 💧”

For this ad, I chose pictures of models wearing the hydration packs in beautiful scenery so that the ad blends in more naturally with the audience’s Instagram feed. I did this because not everyone likes blatant ads. So I picked pictures that look as if they could be from anyone’s outdoor trips, to feel more natural in the feed, with the third picture being the product by itself. The caption is designed similarly to the caption for the first ad, to associate the packs with water, adventure, and reliability to intrigue the audience. The water emoji is at the end of the caption to further signify this is to hydrate you and to make the post seem friendlier. The “learn more” call to action button would link to the home page where viewers could see more about the products.

On a mock $50 daily budget, the ad would be able to reach 4.8K – 14K people with potentially 159- 470 clicks on the link to the home page of Water Buffalo, detailing their products.

Ad #3

Target: Previous customers and Instagram followers

Goal: Drive repeat business and brand awareness through apparel sales with brand logo on them

Copy: “Rock your enthusiasm for Water Buffalo with awesome designs on our comfortable apparel!”

Although the hydration packs are quite durable, reliable, and have lifetime warranties,  that doesn’t mean we can’t get repeat business from customers that enjoy the product. We can specifically create an advertisement for these customers and fans to buy apparel. This further increases sales and also adds the potential for marketing for the business through the logos on the apparel. For this ad, I chose to highlight the apparel that Water Buffalo offers in an Instagram feed ad/post. This would be marketed specifically to the Instagram followers of the Water Buffalo page through a post that’s converted into an ad and then adding in the audience from the first two ads. New keywords would be added to the audience as well such as “Clothing”, “Hoodies”, “Hats”, “Shirts”, “Designs”. The copy specifically targets people who are fans of the brand with “Rock your enthusiasm for Water Buffalo” while highlighting how desirable the apparel is by saying “with awesome designs on our comfortable apparel!”. The call to action button “shop now” leads to the apparel page on the website.

With a mock $50 daily budget, the reach would be between 4.8K-14K people, with 159-470 potential clicks. But that would be separate from the Instagram follower audience of Water Buffalo, which would be an additional reach of 1846 people.

Overall

• Always include a strong call to action.
• Keep your images consistent with the aesthetic and feel of your brand.
• Your ad copy should be short, engaging, and direct.
• Target audiences who are most likely to engage with and share interests related to your brand.
• It’s of high importance to make sure the ads are tailor-made to work with all Instagram ad formats, and Facebook ad formats if you desire, or they’re specially made for one format.