Instagram advertising has garnered much attention in the last year or so. The reason why is rather apparent: the reach you can get on the platform alone speaks volumes. With over 1 billion active users monthly, you can get your foot in the door, to say the least. If your business is centered around food, you will be in even better hands due to filters like #picturesFirst. You could install the app and immediately be on your way to success!
Given that speck of information, what is the best way to use Instagram to advertise?
There are many ways to advertise on Instagram, but it will be a step-by-step process. These steps include as follows:
- Selecting the correct tools
- Choosing your objective
- Decide what audience you want
- Select the placement
- Choosing a budget & schedule
- Pick the correct format
- Set up links and a Facebook page
- Track your performance
This article goes into more depth on how to transform your Instagram experience through advertising completely. We want to help you succeed in whatever business endeavors you have, so let us continue reading for the ultimate guide!
Why Should You Advertise on Instagram?
If the sheer number of people actively on the app itself didn’t raise an eyebrow, the passion people have behind each of these categories should draw you in, then the amount of time people spend on Instagram should seal the deal. Never mind the fact that generally speaking, advertising is a visual ordeal. Due to this, it makes sense the two should go hand-in-hand.
The platform allows you to custom-tailor what ads appear in front of people, how they reach them, and most importantly, where they are redirected if they should click them. All of the above come together into a harmonious instance where the product meets practicality.
How to Succeed With Advertising on Instagram
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your business likely won’t be established entirely in one day (or afternoon) spent setting up on Instagram. Still, you can set yourself up for success by following a few simple steps that will allow you to reach your target audience in record time.
It’s worth noting that you will need a company Facebook page to do this. So, if you oppose the platform or have some other conflicting issue, you may want to reconsider. Given that information, we will continue to teach you how to be successful right below!
1. Make a Brand and Product
To market something, you will need a brand and a product, specifically unique ones, that will allow the app to zero in on it and garner attention based on how it looks.
2. Create an Instagram Account
You’ll ideally want to understand how Instagram works before you begin investing money into it. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the app, what your audience will see when looking for new things, how they might stumble upon your brand, and how you can make that work in your favor.
3. Set up a Facebook Business Page
It might not seem like the two are innately needed to find success, but you inadvertently cannot put ads onto your Instagram account without having a business page enabled. While this might be odd, it is undoubtedly inescapable, so take a moment and set this up before moving forward.
4. Create High-Quality Visuals
Instagram is entirely about visual appeal. The more immersive and engaging, the better. In that case, get your best photography game or hire someone to take some stunning shots. Then, put your product in the limelight, and get ready to unleash them on the world!
5. Have a Landing Page
Once you have people interested in your product or brand, you’ll need somewhere for them to invest in you or, at the very least, learn more about you or your products. To that end, you’ll want to set up a landing page to engage with your audience further. In a pinch, you can use your homepage. However, it somewhat pulls away from letting people get a better glimpse of what you and your brand are about.
Steps to Advertise on Instagram
Successfully advertising on Instagram will require you to set up a few parameters regarding what you want to do, what you hope to accomplish, and most importantly, how you want to gather the accumulative focus on your brand and profit from it.
1. Select the Correct Tools
While the term tools can be a bit misleading here, you actually want to select an appropriate way to manage your Instagram ads. Depending on which one you go with, this can vary in complexity and depth.
Most first-timers want to go with Ads Manager, as it’s the most basic and easiest to understand. You can go with others that might be a better fit for you, like Facebook Marketing API or Power Editor. However, it is essential to take some time and do your homework before making a choice and moving forward.
2. Choose Your Objective
Here, you will want to focus on what you want to gain from the views and exposure you get from your Instagram influence. You can select anything from brand awareness (an okay choice if you are already established on the platform) or reach if you want more people to be aware of your product. Afterward, you will further detail this regarding traffic, app installs, or lead generation.
After selecting the first two options, you can finally decide how you want to utilize this additional engagement. This can include rerouting people directly to your store, converting them into catalog sales, and more. Once again, evaluate your goal and game plan before selecting things.
3. Choose Which Audience You Wish to Find
Catering your product even more specifically to who you want to see it begins here. While there are several options, first-timers should choose what makes the most sense for your product.
You can use customer data and create lists that match people based on similar interests and age groups. For those of you utilizing a different app, you can match them based on progression, like levels reached in a game or similar items purchased.
You can expect some trial and error here, as finding a way to reach the audience you like properly will be complicated. Thankfully, once things are zeroed in, you can save the selected audience, so you don’t have to repeat the same process.
4. Select the Placement
The ability to select many places to advertise your product and brand is phenomenal. However, for now, you want to focus on establishing your Instagram handle.
So, uncheck everything but that, and you will be well on your way. Unless, of course, you are trying to go for blanket coverage. In that case, do what works best for you. Still, this article assumes you are singularly focusing on an Instagram advertisement.
5. Choosing Your Budget & Schedule
Next, you will define how much you intend to spend on your advertisement and how long it will last. The budget can be a certain amount per day or a lifetime budget. This means how much you intend to invest in total throughout the entirety of your ad being run. If you are low on funds or looking to gauge how things will play out best for you, a daily budget might be easier to manage for most people.
Depending on your experience with your product and how well you know your target audience, you might want to go with the “run my advert set continuously starting today” option. Unless you know specific timeframes, your audience will be checking the app. You can shoot yourself in the foot by putting timeframes on when your ads will and won’t show.
6. Choose the Correct Format
In this section, you’ll select how your audience sees your ad. This can be anything from a single image, video, slideshow, or carousel. You’ll want to choose something that accurately reflects your brand and keeps your audience’s attention. If your product doesn’t require an entire video to explain what they would be getting, it won’t make sense to pick that option.
7. Set up Your Links & Facebook Page
It’s finally time to cross your Ts and dot your Is. Here, you’ll link everything together, including your Facebook and Instagram accounts. After that, you are all done, excluding the fact that you’ll want to know how your ads are portrayed. For instance, if you show your product via text, there is typically a 125-character limit, meaning any information after that will require your audience to click a read more prompt.
The same can be said of a CTA; it’s better not to be misleading if you want people to learn more about your product instead of offering them a “shop now” button. Still, as always, the choice remains entirely up to you.
8. Track Your Performance
The best way to see how well you are doing is to go back into your Ads Manager and check how well your brand is doing by checking things like your audience reached, page likes, and more. You can even alter the ad itself, changing how it looks entirely or just changing your call to action; doing so will allow you to fine-tune your ad to your expectations.
How Much Does It Cost to Advertise on Instagram?
Advertising on Instagram is paid for in either a (cost per one thousand impressions) or (cost per click) option, with the cost per thousand impressions option roughly totaling $8.83 and the cost per click option coming in at $1.28. Still, the price fluctuates based on the campaign objective.
What Types of Instagram Ads Are There?
You can use many types of Instagram ads, from putting them on your stories that only last a short time to making a video.
1. Stories Ads
These ads are only relevant based on when the customer sees them. After you’ve posted something newer, it will no longer be visible, which is very similar to how Snapchat operates.
2. Photo Ads
As basic as it can get, you choose an image that accurately represents your brand and are off to the races.
3. Video Ads
A video that will appear in either landscape or square format that can be up to 60 seconds long will allow your targeted audience to get an accurate scope of your brand or product. This is a fantastic way for people to get a better insight into who you are or what you are about, with the ability to gain further interest by having something witty or informative.
4. Collection Ads
While they are called collection ads, they might be more accurately described as slideshow ads, as they are videos composed of several still images strung together.
5. Carousel Ads
In much the same way that collection ads are a slideshow, a carousel ad would be a series of short video ads strung together in much the same way, with as few as two or as many as ten different videos that someone can swipe through and look at.
Conclusion
Advertising on Instagram is one of the best ways to get your name and product out there. With the amount of exposure you can gain, it makes sense that people try their hand at it purely due to the volume of audience you can reach with a minimal investment. Never mind that you can custom-tailor these exposures based on how well (or poorly) they were received; it’s a great marketing choice that will surely only grow in popularity as the app does.
