How To Advertise on Instagram: 5 Steps to Using Instagram Ads | Adsspire
By Adsspire
Do you have a business that could benefit from using Instagram ads to promote your products? If so, keep reading! In this article, we’ll be covering the basics of how to use Instagram advertising for businesses. We’ll also be highlighting 5 key steps that will help you succeed with these ads on the platform. Let’s get started!
Instagram is a powerful social media platform but it can be difficult to know what works and doesn’t. This guide will tell you how an advertising campaign should work, from start to finish!
- What are Instagram ads?
- How much do Instagram ads cost?
- Types of Instagram ads
- How to choose the best Instagram ad type?
- How to advertise on Instagram?
- Effective ways to measure your advertising success
1. What are Instagram ads?
Instagram ads are posts for which businesses can pay to serve their products and services directly on Instagram. Unlike Facebook, these ads appear throughout the app including in users’ feeds, Stories, Explore. They always have a “sponsored” label indicating they’re an advertisement so you know at first glance that there’s no need to scroll past them!
These advertisements often come with more features than just text-like links or call-to-action (CTA) buttons making it easier than ever before purchase your next product without even having to leave social media site.
2. How much do Instagram ads cost?
The cost of Instagram ads is highly dependent on a variety of factors, but there’s no average or benchmark price. Some factors include:
- Audience Targetting
- Target Industry
- Competitiveness
- Time
- Placements (Costs will depend upon the placements like Facebook ads or Instagram ads or Messenger ads)
The best way to evaluate your budget is by setting up a draft campaign in Ads Manager and looking for the Audience Definition module, which will tell you if your settings are sufficient.
If it isn’t or there’s not enough information available about what kind of audience would be interested in viewing an advertisement on Instagram (i.e., age range), then consider allocating more budget per day/lifetime budget according to how successful they were with reaching their desired target demographic-the higher quality leads that come into contact!
Maintaining control over costs through daily budgets vs lifetime limits can help minimize risk while maximizing potential return; we’ll go into detail about this later!
Types of Instagram ads
Explore ads
IGTV ads
Shopping ads
Reels ads
Image ads
Stories ads
Video ads
Carousel ads
Collection ads
The wide range of ad types mean that you can choose the best type for your specific business goal. Each format has its own Pros & Cons.
1. Explore Ads
Instagram Explore ads are an area of the platform where users can discover new content and accounts that are tailored based on their Instagram usage habits.
More than 50% access it every month, so exploring this tab is crucial for brands seeking to gain exposure in front-of-many eyeballs who may not otherwise see your post or business account through other means like hashtags only visible by followers.
The space does have its limitations though—it doesn’t show up within grid views nor topic channels such as trends; these types things need not worry you if looking at just one specific type (e g – shopping!) however here lies another opportunity! When clicked upon from among whatever material might be inside someone’s own personal “explore page.
2. IGTV Ads
IGTV ads on Instagram are video advertisements that play after you click to watch an IGTV video from your feed. Videos can be up 15 seconds long, and should have been designed for vertical full-screen viewing (more info about these formats here).
They’re shown midroll (in the middle), potentially with options like skippable pre-rolls as well – meaning they’ll show right before any content starts playing automatically! If this is intriguing but we don’t offer what you need just yet then keep reading – because soon enough there might be more than one option available where creatives will get 55% of ad revenue generated by each view.
3. Shopping Ads
Are you looking to take advantage of Instagram’s new Shopping features? With 1 billion monthly active users, it’s no wonder that this app has been heavily improving its E-Commerce capabilities over the last years. Now with an enhanced way for consumers and businesses alike can shop from within Instagram itself!
When users tap on an ad, they’re taken directly into Instagram and allowed two choices – buying through your website or going straight home without leaving!
In order for these innovative marketing tactics to work best you’ll first need to set up some catalogs so visitors can browse products before making purchases as well as what type of things should go inside each category (fashion? electronics).
4. Reels Ads
Instagram announced a new feature that allows users to advertise in between Reels.
Ads are full-screen vertical videos just like Story ads and can have up to 30 seconds of sound or music integrated with the organic video feed.
Stories allow you to share moments from your day, whereas reels focus more on what’s going down right now – live streaming without all those pesky advertisements interrupting everything.
5. Image Ads
Image ads are perfect for any company looking to make their brand stand out in an engaging way.
These single images can be successfully used by businesses with compelling visual content that conveys the message of what they offer, like high-quality photography or design and illustration; but it is recommended you keep text limited when possible so users will feel compelled enough not only to view your ad but also click on it!
6. Stories Ads
Instagram has taken the world by storm, with over 1 billion people using it daily. Stories are a great way to engage your audience and turn them into customers! Instagram ads, in particular, find higher levels of engagement than other kinds because they take up almost all of our screens-it feels so immersive we can’t help but watch for longer periods than normal when browsing through stories or looking at an advertiser’s product page on their website before purchasing anything.
One thing about designing these types of advertising, however: you don’t want your advertisement -or ad-like to feel too forced; make sure there is some kind of organic elements like filters/textures, etc, that remain part.
Stories ads can still use photos, videos, and carousels.
7. Video Ads
Video ads are a great way to get your brand in front of more people. These video advertisements can be up to 60 minutes long, but shorter videos tend not only have greater engagement rates but also higher conversion rates than longer ones!
8. Carousel Ads
In a world where we are constantly on our phones, carousel ads make it easy for Instagrammers to showcase their favorite products.
It’s also great if you want the user who is scrolling through your feed or story to just click and go!
You can have up to 10 images/videos when they’re done viewing each part in order without any hassle at all awesome right?
9. Collection Ads
Collection ads are a hybrid between carousel and shopping ads. They allow users to purchase products directly from the ad by clicking on it, much like an Instagram Instant Experience Storefront where you can learn more about each item before purchasing them in bulk or single items for sale!
Collection Ads are best suited towards E-Commerce brands since they give shoppers quick access without having to make another trip online after finding your store through this particular type of advertisement.
How to choose the best Instagram Ad type?
With so many different ad types available, it can be overwhelming to select one to use for your campaign. Luckily Ads Manager has been set up with experimentation in mind which means you have all the tools necessary and even more options than ever before!
The first step would be narrowing down what type of ads will best fit a certain need or target audience. To do this test out as many formats until finding something successful then scale up from there.
Goal -
With your social media marketing strategy in mind, identify the most important outcome for each type of Instagram ad. Do you want to:
- Drive traffic to a website or app.
- Get video views on products that are new and worth promoting through ads.
- Increase brand awareness among customers who may not yet be loyal followers but could become trendsetters if they learn about what’s great here at Company name.
- Drive E-Commerce purchases, app installs, or email signups.
Target Audience -
Think about the kinds of videos your audience already watches. Are they avid online shoppers? Are they more interested in Stories and Reels than scrolling through their feed, or do you think these types will enjoy watching both equally as much (or less)?
Knowing who you want to target with your Instagram ad, the type of content they consume, behavior, and their browsing habits can help tailor a message.
Content that is performed best on organic
Organic content is a great place to start for finding inspiration with your paid campaigns. If you see what types of posts performed well on the platform, then these are likely going to be some popular Instagram ad formats as well!
How to advertise on Instagram?
With Instagram, you can create two types of ad campaigns: promoting an existing post or using Ads Manager.
The former is easy to do right from the app itself but lacks customization options that are available in this second function for more advanced marketers who want their strategies tailored specifically towards advertising on social media sites like Facebook!
Instagram advertising method 1: Promoting in the app itself
It’s easy to start advertising on Instagram. To promote one of your existing posts, you can use Instagram’s Boost Post option or follow these steps:
A) Find a post that has great engagement rates- make sure the audience likes/follows back!
B) Tap “Promote” in order to have this specific instance be seen by more people who might not know about it yet (and want access!).
Instagram advertising method 2: Creating Instagram ads using Facebook Business Manager
You can use Facebook Ads Manager to create ad campaigns that will let you reach your customers the way they want. This is because of Instagram’s extensive targeting options, creative potential, and reporting abilities.
Click here to know more about creating ads using Facebook Business Manager.
Effective ways to measure your advertising success.
Now you have everything to know about how to set up and launch Instagram ads. The next step is designing effective visual assets for your ad, like photos or videos that will get viewers’ attention in the middle of their busy day-to-day lives!
Here are some tips on what types of creative work well with the type of Instagram ads:
Design mobile-friendly ads.
98.8% of all users are accessing social media through mobile devices, so it’s crucial to design your ads for the smaller screens first!
Here are some tips on how you can do just that:
• Choose the best format for your video content (9×16)
• Minimize the amount of text
• Add Animation or Motion graphics to increase engagement
• Keep videos short and engaging (15 seconds or less)
Keep the Messaging & Branding first
When you’re developing an ad, the first few seconds are crucial to whether or not someone will watch it. That’s why starting your video with a key message and showcasing our branding within 3 seconds of hitting play is important for getting viewers’ attention right off of the bat!
Make your content stand out!
40% of users consume social media without sound. This means it’s important to design your ads for sound-off consumption, and use the power of audio in order to delight those with a listening ear! Here’s how:
First off – include visual elements that tell their story so there’s no confusion on what you’re advertising or promoting;
Secondly- add captions when someone speaks aloud during playback (or have an automated voiceover) this will help them get through more content since they won’t need subtitles all day long; thirdly ensure written text is readable even if viewers aren’t looking at keyboards while scrolling down screens because some people only skim texts nowadays.
It's time for a change: Use Instagram ads!
Instagram ads are a powerful tool for any business. Whether you’re new to the platform or have been using it for years, If you think an Instagram ads might be right for your business but want help setting everything up and getting started, contact us! We’re here to help grow your company’s revenue through social media marketing campaigns like these ones.