Whether you’re about to launch a startup, or you’re already an established business, how you market and promote your brand can be the difference between growing your operation and failing. Social media giant Instagram is home to over one billion users from across the world, making it the perfect platform to advertise your products and services.
With such a large audience, Instagram ads are a key tool for any marketer. Before you get started, here is everything you need to know about Instagram advertising and how it can benefit your business.
Introduction to Instagram Ads
In 2015, Instagram introduced advertising in the form of Instagram ads that have led to over 1 billion user actions. Research carried out by Strata discovered that 63% of US ad agency professionals had plans to use Instagram ads. In a nutshell, Instagram ads are stories or posts that a company pays to promote to their users Instagram feeds. Instagram ads look very similar to a regular Instagram post, but are always clearly labelled as ‘sponsored’. These posts can feature a call-to-action button which is used to build conversions or traffic.
The reason why Instagram ads are growing in popularity is because they can expand your audience, catch your demographics attention, help you target the right people and enable users to learn more about your products and services. There are several factors to consider before using Instagram marketing, such as whether your target demographic uses the platform and if they discuss your products and services on Instagram. To get noticed, you will need to create visual content that blends in seamlessly with your target demographic’s feed.
Getting Started
Instagram has made it easier than ever to design Instagram ads. There are five routes that you can go down to manage and create Instagram ads, such as by using the Instagram app, power editor, Instagram partners, Facebook ads manager, and Facebook’s marketing API. If you want to create a huge number of Instagram ads at once, it’s best to choose Power Editor or Facebook’s Marketing API.
The method that most marketers use to create Instagram ads is by using Facebook Ads Manager. There are 8 different objectives of Instagram ads that you need to be aware of, which include brand awareness, engagement, reach, lead generation and conversions. All these objectives can help boost awareness of your brand, increase how many users see your advertisements, as well as how they engage with your page. If you have your own app, you can use this objective to send consumers to the app store to download your product.
Define Your Audience
Instagram advertising is a powerful tool as it allows you to target a specific demographic of people. Before you create and publish your ad, you need to establish who your audience is and how they can benefit from seeing your content. There are combining factors that you must take into account, such as where your audience are located, their age, common interests, and behaviors. Once you have established your audience, Facebook Ads Manager will give you information on your selected audience that includes useful information, like how broad or specific your audience is, potential reach, and estimated daily reach. Using this data can help you going forward to create more effective Instagram ads.
Determine Your Budget and Schedule
Before you start creating an Instagram ad, you need to decide how much money you want to spend, and how long you plan to run the ad for. When it comes to creating a budget, you have the option to decide between a daily or lifetime budget. A daily budget is the average amount you will spend on your Instagram ads each day, whereas a lifetime budget is the overall amount you will spend over the lifespan of your ads.
For your schedule, you can either let your Instagram ads run constantly, or set a precise start and end date and time. The purpose of Instagram ads is to interest consumers and get them to buy into your product, which is why you need to be careful with how long you run your ad for.
Cost
Instagram ads follow the same system as Facebook. The overall cost will depend on several factors, such as your budget and whether you opt for automatic or manual bidding. Remember, if you use Instagram ads, it will never cost more than what you have to spend. To achieve your goals, make sure that you draw up a budget before you start creating your ad and don’t spend beyond your means.
Formats of Instagram Ads
There are four types of Instagram feed ads that you need to be aware of before getting started. Carousel ads are those that feature two or more scrollable pictures or videos. Single images are ads that are what they say they are, in the sense that they’re ads with one singular image. Should you pick this format, you’re allowed to create up to six ads and use one image. Single video ads are those that include a GIF or video, while slideshow ads are lopping video ads that allow you to use up to 10 images and music.
Instagram Stories Ad Formats
In the last year, Instagram opened up Instagram Stories ads to companies across the world. These are ads that appear in between user’s stories. The first format is a single picture, which lets you create up to six ads with one singular image each. This format looks like a normal story with a small ‘sponsored’ message at the bottom. A single video is a format that lets you upload a GIF or video of up to fifteen seconds in length that can be placed in between user’s stories.
If used correctly, Instagram advertising can be a great way to increase brand awareness, deliver better customer satisfaction and ensure you’re targeting the right people. With hundreds of millions of users accessing Instagram every day, using this guide, and putting your marketing efforts into Instagram ads can boost your audience base.
