Advertising on Instagram is a popular topic for numerous online businesses. There are more than 1 billion users on this social media platform. It’s no wonder why people are learning different ways to advertise on Instagram. Instagram is one of the biggest visual content social networks today that provides a massive opportunity for marketers to tap into their target market. It has already changed how we conduct our daily lives. The way it is evolving recently will undoubtedly influence the way we conduct our business operations.
Instagram ads are social media posts that online businesses can pay to serve Instagram users. Like Facebook, Instagram ads, including the newsfeed and stories, can be seen throughout the application. Although they look similar to a random post, it includes a “sponsored” label to indicate that it is an ad. They also have more features than regular posts, such as a call to action (CTA) button and product catalogs.
Types of Instagram Ads
1) Video ads:
The videos on Instagram can be a minute long, with the footage being either square or landscape. The length of the videos makes it easy for users to advertise on Instagram because they can introduce and promote their business freely.
2) Photo ads
Just like the video ad, a photo ad can be either in square or landscape format. This is probably the easiest way to create an ad because you only need one high-quality image.
3) Carousel ads
Carousel ads are a combination of 2 to 10 videos or images that people can see by swiping through.
4) Stories ads
Image taken from Instagram
If you have used Snapchat, you will know that Instagram stories work the same way. Instagram stories allow online businesses to share visual content about their plans. You can use videos or images in your Instagram stories.
5) Collection ads
Collection ads behave like video ads on Instagram. On a user’s feed, they appear in the form of a video. They are created using a compilation of still images played in the form of a video slideshow. You can also add audio or text to your Instagram collection ads.
How Much Does Instagram Ads Cost?
The cost to advertise on Instagram depends on various factors. Some of the aspects regarding Instagram costs are as follows:
- Your target customers
- Competition in your industry
- Time of the year (prices usually go up in the holiday season, such as Black Friday)
- Ad placement (prices can change depending on whether your advertisement is running on Facebook or Instagram)
Instagram ads can be costly. According to research from Revealbot, the average cost of running an Instagram ad campaign is $8.83 CPM (cost per one thousand impressions) or $1.28 CPC (cost per click).
The research also claims that the value of CPM and CPC may change according to the marketing campaign objectives. Based on your marketing objective, an Instagram CPC could vary between $0.25 and $7.96.
A healthy CPC on Instagram will differ from one business plan to another. The results depend on the competition in your industry, the products you market, and the advertisements you use. If you belong to a competitive industry, acquiring a customer will be more costly than in a lesser competitive business sector.
Why Advertise on Instagram?
Instagram ads are often created around the needs of a short attention span audience. Instagram and eCommerce go hand in hand. Numerous online stores rely on quality images to convert visitors into paying customers. Organizing these quality images and learning to advertise on Instagram on a photo-sharing platform seems a wonderful idea.
Image taken from Instagram
Instagram advertising helps you to control where your ads are located and the people who see them. Unlike paid partnerships, Instagram ads are published from your account. You must decide the investment you can make in your ads and where to take the people who click on your ad. Numerous businesses advertise on Instagram because:
- It is easy to use as a social media platform
- It has scalable pricing
- It has robust reporting to ensure consistent improvement
One of the most significant advantages of advertising on Instagram is that you can reach out to thousands of users without interrupting their browsing experience. Instagram posts appear the same as you see any random Instagram post. According to a Mobile Marketing Association report, users spend 40% more time focusing on native ads than traditional display ads. It is remarkable for those trying to invest in different advertising channels.
Tips to Advertise on Instagram
1) Select the Right Tool
There are numerous Facebook tools on the Internet that you can use to create Instagram ads (Facebook Marketing API, Ads Manager, and Power Editor). When you choose a tool, choose focus on simplicity and how it can easily meet your requirements.
Of course, the first thing you should do is create your advertisement campaign.
2) Choosing Your Objective
When you click “Create a New Ad,” you will appear on the following page.
Image taken from Instagram
When you advertise on Instagram, you must determine what you want to achieve. If you are doing Instagram advertising for the first time, our advice would be to go with a simple objective. For example, you can have the objective of bringing website traffic to your platform.
Although you could be focusing on your business leads right away, you must know that creating such ads is a time-consuming and complicated process.
You are not going to tick all the boxes with Instagram ads. If your marketing campaign is on both Facebook and Instagram, you can choose any of the proposed objectives. If your campaigns are running only on Instagram, your objectives can be from the following list:
- Traffic
- Brand awareness
- Engagement
- Video views
- Conversions
- Lead generation
After selecting your objective, make sure that you give your marketing campaign a name. You must also fill in all the essential attributes so that your marketing campaign can be easily identifiable in the future.
3) Choose Your Audience
If you are learning how to advertise on Instagram, you will find it challenging to choose the right audience. However, you don’t need to worry because the more you practice in this field, the better you will become. You must know what kind of audience will relate to your selected objectives.
If your objective is traffic, you should study the buyer personas to define your target audience. You should know about the audiences who like to buy your products and services. Similarly, you can create a Custom Audience to display the ad to a specific group of people.
There are four ways to define a custom audience:
- Upload a file with customer data (name, origin, date of birth, gender, etc.) and create a Custom Audience on Facebook with the same criteria
- By including a piece of Javascript on your site, you can create a list of people who have visited your website. Suppose the visitors have taken some actions on your web pages. In that case, you can target them on Instagram
- If you have an application, you can create a Custom Audience for reaching people who can take specific actions on the app
- You can use the data on Facebook followers to create a Custom Audience for your Instagram account. You can create a list of followers who have seen your videos
When you complete this process, make sure to save the audience so that you don’t have to go through the same process again.
4) Select Placement
This is where you must select the social media platform to show your ads. You have to uncheck all the platforms except Instagram.
5) Set Your Budget
When advertising on Instagram, you must have an idea about your business budget. There are two options for you: daily budget and lifetime budget. The daily budget is the average amount that you will spend on your advertising period. A lifetime budget is the maximum you will pay on your ad to function properly.
After that, you focus on the schedule part. If you have an idea of the time when your advertisement will function properly, click the option “Run my advert set continuously starting today.”
6) Setting Your Likes
In this step of Instagram advertising, you must have an eye on three elements:
- Text
- Website URL
- CTA
Your text shouldn’t be more than 125 characters. If there are more than 125 characters, you can expand the ad by clicking “More.”
The URL will be where you will be driving the entire traffic. Your URL must contain unique UTM parameters to track how your ad is performing.
Your CTA should be linked with the content you are offering. For example, if your objective is to bring more visitors to your website, “Learn More” will be the best option.
7) Tracking Your Performance
Once your Instagram ad is launched, make sure that you track your performance. Your ad metrics will be there to support you and identify any deficiencies your campaign is going through.
Add Instagram to Your Strikingly Website
Strikingly is a website builder that allows you to build a professional website to showcase your Instagram videos to a worldwide audience. When you understand how to advertise on Instagram, you can implement your advertising strategies on your Strikingly website. Using a quality website design, Strikingly helps you create an online video portfolio and promote your Instagram content to the world.
You don’t need to write one line of code to build your website on Strikingly. All you need to do is be creative with your Instagram content. Your Instagram reels can be embedded in the gallery section, media, and mainstream media.
Conclusion
When you advertise on Instagram, you can ensure that your business achieves remarkable heights. It is simple to do Instagram advertising that reflects your brand’s aesthetic and identify your target audience using Ads Manager. You must also set up your business budget and manage your expenditure so that you are never surprised by the ad charges.
You can start your journey today by launching a business campaign. Take all your time to learn about advertising strategies through our blogs and improve your skills. By learning about Instagram marketing, you can locate targeted customers and increase your revenue.
