Are you looking to expand your business’s reach and engagement on your Instagram account? Instagram ads can be a great way to achieve your marketing goals. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through creating and running successful Instagram ads.
Whether you’re new to Instagram advertising or looking to improve your current strategy, our guide will provide you with the essential information and practical tips to make the most of Instagram’s advertising platform. So, let’s dive in and learn how to run an Instagram ad for your business!
But First, What Are Instagram Ads?
Instagram ads are posts that businesses can pay to serve specific target groups on Instagram. These ads are designed to look like organic content posted by other Instagram accounts and can be seen in users’ feeds, Stories, and explore pages. Instagram ads can be in the form of images, videos, carousels, or collections. While they resemble normal posts, they always carry a “Sponsored ” label to demonstrate that they are an ad. Additionally, they often have more advanced features like links, CTA buttons, and product tags.
How to Advertise on Instagram?
Let’s find out seven incredible tips on how to run Instagram ads:
Step 1: Choose An Editor And Create Your Campaign
Create Instagram ads, such as video ads, post ads, etc., using tools like Instagram Ads Manager, Power Editor, etc.
When choosing which tool to use, you’ll want to consider your company size and the number of ads you plan to run simultaneously. You should lean toward the Power Editor if you’re managing many campaigns or looking for precise control over your Instagram campaigns. However, the meta Ad Manager suits most marketers’ requirements.
Once you’ve selected an editor, you can view all campaigns or create a new one. You’ll want to create a new campaign to get started with an Instagram ad.
Step 2: Know Your Objective
You can pair your ad with an existing campaign or begin a new one from scratch. To start a new campaign, you must select your objective first.
There are six campaign objectives available:
- Awareness: Target your advertisement to reach the most memorable Instagram audiences.
- Traffic: Directly lead people to your website, Instagram Shop, or app.
- Engagement: Boosted posts, views, likes, comments, and shares on your Instagram posts.
- Leads: Gather leads for your business through Instagram ads or encourage them to share information in exchange for content.
- Instagram promotion: Promote the engagement and installation of your app.
- Sales: Find potential customers likely to buy your goods or services and drive more sales. Choose the objective that best matches your goals, and click continue to start Instagram post ads, Instagram story ads, Instagram carousel, Instagram video ads, etc.
Step 3: Choose Your Audience
If you are a beginner with Instagram advertising, you may not know which audience to target. However, with time and practice, you will gain more experience and be able to identify the right Instagram followers. Initially, you may have to experiment to find out. If you require assistance selecting the appropriate audience, you can ask Nivara to help.
During this process, you will discover that the platform’s built-in targeting system is flexible and adjustable according to your requirements. It offers many options, ranging from simple to extensive, such as locations, gender, age, parents, relationships, and much more.
Step 4: Set Your Placement
You can decide where your ad will appear in the placement section to advertise on Instagram. Here are two options:
- Advantage + Placements: In this placement, your ads will usually shown to your target audience where they perform best.
- Manual Placements: You can choose where your ad will show (and not appear). If you want to limit your ads to display only on Instagram (not Facebook), you can choose these using Manual Placements.
Step 5: Determine Your Budget and Schedule
To advertise on Instagram, you have two main budget options – daily and lifetime budget.
- Daily Budget: Setting a budget for your ad ensures it runs continuously throughout the day. The algorithm will automatically adjust the spending based on the budget set for each day. Please remember that your Instagram campaign has a minimum daily budget requirement for different factors, usually around $1.00.
- Lifetime Budget: This Instagram budget ensures your ad runs for a specific period, with the algorithm pacing your spending.
Despite the budget, another essential aspect is Instagram scheduling. Well, when setting up your campaign, you will be required to select the exact start and end time of when you want your ads to be displayed. You can also set specific parameters, such as scheduling your ads to run only during certain hours or on particular days of the week. These options can be found in the “Ad Scheduling” section.
Firstly, you need to set up the delivery of your ad. You have three options to consider, which will affect who sees your ads:
- Link Clicks: If you choose this option, your ads will be delivered to get the most clicks to your website at the lowest possible Instagram advertising cost. The delivery will be based on the platform’s algorithm.
- Impressions: If you choose this option, your ads will be delivered to the same people as often as possible. This option suits those who want to repeatedly get their ads in front of the same Instagram followers.
- Daily Unique Reach: If you choose this option, your ads will be delivered to people once a day. This will prevent people from seeing your ad multiple times a day.
Step 6: Build Your Page Links
The other step for Instagram marketing is to build your page and set up links. For this, select the Facebook Page you want to use, even if you’re not planning to run ads on Facebook. If you don’t have an Instagram account, you can still run ads on Instagram using your Facebook Page. Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook ads account by clicking “Add Account” and entering your username and password. Then, add the website URL to which you want to drive traffic, a headline, a caption, and a call-to-action button. Preview your ad and make sure it looks right before placing it.
Step 7: Report Your Performance
It is important to monitor the performance of your Instagram ad after advertising on Instagram. You can modify most elements of your published ad. So, if you notice any errors or your image is not performing as expected, you can go back and make the necessary changes.
Conclusion
Instagram Ads can be a perfect tool for reaching new audiences, boosting brand awareness, and driving Instagram conversions. To advertise on Instagram, follow the above-mentioned steps; you can effectively create and manage ad campaigns to achieve your marketing objectives. With a clear understanding of the ad formats, targeting options, and budgeting tools, you can leverage ads to Instagram engagement and achieve measurable results. Embracing Instagram Ads as a comprehensive marketing strategy can help you to stay competitive in the digital landscape and capitalize on the platform’s widespread popularity.