Instagram has over 1.2 billion users worldwide and can be a perfect option to deliver your messages and content to your customers and potential clients.
Instagram allows you to create ad campaigns with minimal investment
The social network introduced advertising in 2015, and since then, many ad formats have been available to businesses and anyone who wants to advertise. In this article, you’ll easily understand what you need to do to launch an ad campaign on Instagram and how to carry it out.
Ads will appear to each user in their update feed. When running your Instagram ad campaign, you can select the audience you want to see your content among the posts shown in their feed (or in other placements, such as Stories).
Instagram considers users’ behavior patterns and preferences when showing them ads and determining whether they are part of your target audience. For example, if you want your ad shown to car enthusiasts, the company will select users who follow car brands, interact with them—not only on Instagram but also on Facebook or even on other websites they’ve visited and whose browsing history is accessible.
Ad formats on Instagram
Instagram identifies any content that is part of an ad campaign with the word “Sponsored,” so users know it’s a paid post. There are different types of formats:
-Image ads. A photo created specifically for Instagram advertising. It can contain text, but it should not exceed 20% of the total image area.
-Videos. Up to 60 seconds long.
-Carousel. The Instagram carousel format allows up to 10 photos or videos in a single ad.
-Stories. Instagram Stories can also include ads, both images and videos up to 15 seconds long.
How to include an ad on Instagram
To add an ad on Instagram, you need a business or creator account linked to a Facebook account. Instagram ads are managed from the same Facebook Page. In the “Settings” section, you must link your Instagram account.
Once this is done, from the Facebook Ads Platform, just click “Create a new ad” and follow the next steps.
For example, you’ll need to choose the objective you want to achieve and segment the audience you want to see your ad. You can select automatic segmentation (e.g., for all your followers) or specify demographic, geographic, sociopersonal data, etc. This way, you can determine who will see the ad.
You can also select where you want the ads to appear on Instagram (on mobile and desktop) and if you only want them to appear on this social network (you don’t have to select or you’ll need to disable the Facebook option, for example).
When selecting Instagram, you can also choose whether you want the content to appear in users’ update feeds or also in Stories. This is important because each format has its own dimensions and characteristics, so if you upload a vertical image, it won’t display properly in Stories—keep that in mind.
After this, you’ll need to select the total price you want to spend on your ad campaign or set a maximum daily price. You’ll also need to set the start and end date for your ad.
Once you’ve selected all the options, you can choose the post for your ad and upload the image, video, etc., you want to include. You can also add text to accompany the ad. Likewise, you must indicate the web address you want users to be directed to when they click your ad or its call-to-action button (e.g., “learn more”), which you’ll also need to define.
Promoting content on Instagram
If you don’t want to create a specific ad on Instagram and just want to promote content you’ve posted on your account, you can easily do so from the app itself.
To do this, as long as you have a business or creator account, just go to the post you want to promote. Then tap the “Promote” button below it. You’ll need to select your objective, add a call to action, segment your audience, set your budget, and define the duration—start and end date—of the promotion.
Campaign monitoring
In both cases, Instagram provides real-time statistics on campaign performance. This includes data such as the number of times the content is shown to users, the number of clicks, and other actions taken—like sharing the format or liking it, etc.
Considering this information will help you make decisions for future ad campaigns. You’ll need to consider whether a particular ad achieved your intended goal and take into account its content, launch timing, audience segmentation, etc.
It’s difficult to determine the best time to publish an ad on Instagram or give a one-size-fits-all answer for all advertisers. Each advertiser, based on their ad’s characteristics and performance, should determine their best practices.
The type of ad, audience segmentation, selected objective, product or service offered, and budget invested will determine each campaign’s performance. That’s why personalized monitoring is so important.
