Instagram Instagram remains an essential advertising lever. Yet more and more campaigns are failing to generate concrete results: few clicks, few conversions, soaring acquisition costs.
And it’s not a question of targeting. It’s not even about algorithms.
The real problem is that traditional formats just don’t appeal to anyone anymore.
Which means that what worked yesterday no longer works today.
In other words, the solution is not necessarily more budget, but a new creative approach. An approach driven by those who really master the platform’s codes: content creators.
The real challenge: users have learned to ignore ads
The Instagram feed is saturated. Users reflexively scroll through and zap anything that even remotely resembles an overly obvious advertisement. Visuals that are too perfect, slogans that are too smooth, videos that are too clean… are perceived as advertising content – and therefore automatically filtered out.
It’s not that people don’t like brands. It’s just that they’ve lost faith in overly marked speeches.
They’re looking for proof, not promises. And that’s exactly where designers come in.
What designers bring to the table (which brands have often lost)
In concrete terms, creators – influencers, UGC creators or simple enthusiasts – have something precious that many brands no longer have: credibility.
They speak to a community that follows them by choice, not obligation. Their content is imperfect, more raw, more real. And it’s precisely this perceived authenticity that makes their messages so much more effective.
In concrete terms, they know :
- Capture attention from the very first seconds, without special effects.
- Create trust, because their voice is not that of a brand.
- Show a product in a real, not staged, context.
- Translate the concrete benefits of a product into a language their audience understands.
Above all, they generate engagement where conventional campaigns stagnate.
The lever to activate: integrate designers into your paid campaigns
It’s no longer just about organic partnerships.
On the contrary, the real opportunity lies in what’s known as Creator Licensing: using content produced by creators in your own advertising campaigns.
So why does this change everything?
- First, this content doesn’t look like an ad, so it grabs attention.
- Secondly, it benefits from the creator’s implicit social validation.
- Finally, it performs better in terms of engagement, clicks, and often conversions.
According to Casaneo data, brands that include this type of content in their Ads see a 30-50% drop in cost per acquisition.
3 concrete steps to integrate creators into your Instagram Ads strategy
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Identify the right profiles
A common mistake? Looking only at the number of subscribers. But what really counts is :
- Engagement rate.
- Content quality (tone, style, visual consistency).
- Alignment with your values and target audience.
In other words, it’s better to work with 5 consistent designers than with one inaccessible star who’s out of touch with your market.
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Framing without restraint
The brief is essential. Designers need to understand :
- The message you want to convey.
- The product to be promoted.
- Incentive action.
But once that framework is in place, leave them to it. Their strength lies in their ability to create content that resonates with their audience. Too much framing risks producing a video that looks like a commercial… and therefore loses the desired effect.
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Amplify content that works
Once the content has been distributed, analyze its performance. Then identify the assets that are performing well (engagement, comments, shares) and integrate them into your Ads campaigns via licensing.
In practical terms, you can :
- Broadcast the ad from the creator’s account (via Meta tools).
- Reuse content in your own campaigns, while respecting the original style.
It’s a hybrid strategy, halfway between organic and paid, combining the best of both worlds.
What’s in it for you?
Numerous brands such as Tabs, Westwing and Glossier have built their Ads strategies almost exclusively around designer content.
And for good reason: this content outperforms.
Including creator content will give you :
- Higher click-through rates
- Lower costs per acquisition
- Higher conversion rates
- Campaigns that live better on Instagram
In short, advertising isn’t disappearing. But it is changing form. It’s becoming more embodied, more personal, more contextual.
Conclusion: it’s not a question of format, it’s a question of trust
Today’s users no longer want to be spoken to as an audience. They want to be spoken to as individuals.
Designers are not there to replace brands.
They are there to give them a credible voice.
Integrating content from creators into your Ads isn’t about influence on the surface. It’s about rethinking the way you reach your customers, based on a simple principle: people trust other people.
So, if your Instagram campaigns are no longer converting, it may not be that you have a bad product.
Maybe you’re just not addressing the right person in the right way.
