If you are looking for ways to improve your Instagram strategy and achieve better results on this social network, paid advertising is a proven good choice. This is a completely legitimate and very simple way to get more followers and improve the position of your business.
Consider that Instagram is a social network visited by more than a billion people per month, which the average user spends 53 minutes a day on. It is clear why investing in Instagram advertising will pay off many times over. Your brand should be where as many people as possible will notice and follow it.
Regardless of whether you are just starting out with Instagram advertising, or have already created ads, following are useful tips for creating successful campaigns.
But let’s start from the beginning and first clarify the basic terms in Instagram marketing.
What is Instagram advertising?
Instagram advertising is a very common and effective way to make your posts on this social network perform better and thus increase the number of followers and customers. Practice has also shown that ads on Instagram significantly influence an increase in sales and site visits.
Since Instagram is part of Meta, which also includes Facebook and WhatsApp, advertising on Instagram is directly linked to Facebook advertising. This way of creating campaigns and ads gives you a lot of options for ads, because you can run them through Facebook Ads Manager.
Another way to create Instagram ads is directly from the application, so that users can see them in the feed and in story posts. This is also a good choice, but it does not offer precise enough options in placing ads. In any case, once you have run Instagram ads you will be able to judge for yourself which way is simpler and more profitable for you.
Do you need Instagram advertising?
According to many statistics, Instagram is a social network whose content can achieve great success organically, i.e., without paid advertising. However, everything has its limits, so the rise of this kind of content will stop at some point. And it would be a real shame not to use all the possibilities Instagram offers and not pay for an ad, so that your successful posts reach as many users as possible. This way, you’ll get the best of both organic and paid advertising on Instagram.
On the other hand, the introduction of the Instagram shop significantly increased the possibilities of improving sales on this social network. You should not miss the opportunity to gain more customers on Instagram.
Therefore, regardless of whether you want to expand your brand awareness or increase sales, Instagram advertising is an essential stop for your business.
How much does Instagram advertising cost?
The cost of Instagram advertising depends on many factors. To begin with, it is important to know that the cost of Instagram advertising is not high compared to the results you will achieve.
How much you will spend on ads depends on the goal, your target group, the creative part of the ad, i.e., its attractiveness, your budget, and many other things. However, if you set a rough budget for Instagram campaigns and start from the assumption that everything invested will pay off, the results will certainly not be lacking.
How to create Instagram ads
As already mentioned in the text, you can create Instagram ads from the Facebook Ads Manager you already use for your business on Facebook, or directly from the application.
When you start a new campaign, your first step in creating an ad will be to choose the goal you want to achieve. You have several options here:
- Brand awareness – for a larger number of users to learn more about your brand.
- Reach – when you want as many people as possible to see your post.
- Traffic – if your goal is to increase the number of visits to your website.
- Engagement – achieving more interactions with followers.
- App install – if you have an application and your goal is for users to install it.
- Video view – if you are advertising a video and want to get more views.
User targeting
This is the next step in creating an Instagram ad. Based on the details you know about your customers or online audience, you will enter criteria for targeting them. Then the system itself will offer options that are related to your business, i.e., the nature of the ad you are creating. Be sure to determine the age of your target group, location, language, behavior, followed by interests. Whether you will have more or less options for targeting depends on whether you create the ad in Ads Manager or directly from the Instagram application, where the options are fewer. In any case, this is a very important step and should not be skipped.
If you are not sure who you should target, sometimes it’s good to let Instagram find your customers, because it can do so very accurately. You can also create custom audiences based on the Facebook Pixel, which is also a great tool for Instagram advertising.
Specify a place for displaying the ad
If you create an ad for Instagram from Facebook Ads Manager, and want it to be displayed only on Instagram, be sure to designate it. In the Placement section, you will see designated places for ad displays. What you need to do is to remove everything and leave only Instagram, and possibly Instagram story, if you so choose.
When you’re posting an ad directly from the Instagram app, you’ll see that this part is omitted, because by default you’re only choosing Instagram.
Define a budget
You should know that you have complete control over setting your budget and the duration of an Instagram ad.
To get started, define the planned campaign budget, then choose your daily spending accordingly. If you are a beginner in creating Instagram ads, the advice is to set a start and end date for the ad. It is better to extend the ad, if it is successful, than to forget to turn it off and spend more money than planned.
Determine the Instagram ad format
This is a very important part of Instagram ad creation, as users often make the final decision to click or buy based on the creativity of an ad. Choose quality photos where your products are in focus and clearly displayed. But don’t forget to be interesting and original.
Also, keep in mind that Instagram and social networks in general are increasingly promoting video content. If you are able to make interesting shots, do not miss the opportunity to publish and promote them.
The textual part of the ad (copy) is often decisive to the final decision. So think carefully about every sentence and what you write and don’t forget the call to action (CTA). If you don’t tell your customers what to do when they see your ad, you’ll have a hard time getting any results.
Instagram offers different ad formats. Your choice depends on the goal you specify at the beginning, on the target group and the content you publish.
You can create photo ads, a carousel, video, or story ads. Of course, there are more options available, but these few are enough for a good start to your campaign.
Get started with Instagram advertising today
If you’ve decided it’s time for paid advertising on Instagram, there’s no reason not to start right away. All you need is a little time to create your first ad and wait for the results. Of course, Instagram advertising implies a later analysis of the achieved results, which will lead you to new knowledge about your customers, products, and the promotional method.
If you want to leave Instagram advertising to people who have experience, and know how to place quality ads – you are at the right place. Ad Symphony’s Instagram advertising experts create and monitor the results of successful Instagram campaigns on a daily basis. Contact us and schedule a meeting with our team who will remove all of your doubts about paid Instagram advertising.
