With more than 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is the perfect place for you to reach your target audience and grow your business. Running Instagram ads can help you reach customers at any stage of the sales funnel and drive new and returning users to purchase products and services.
Want to get an ad on Instagram? Here’s how to get started:
BASIC – Create Ads on Instagram With the Promote Feature
The simplest way to advertise on Instagram feeds or story is through the “Promote Feature”. You can create a new Instagram account for your business and then turn it into a business account.
Alternatively, you can use your personal Instagram account to promote ads in your name – you will first need to convert your personal account into a business account before you begin.
Next, within your account go to Settings > Business > Promotion to add a payment method.
You can now promote an existing post or story by clicking the blue “Promote” button which shows up below your post (only you will see this button.)
Once you click “Promote” you can select your destination (send people who click your ad to your profile, your website or to direct messages), your audience (target people similar to your followers or create your own audience based on interests, age and location), your budget (how much you are willing to spend) and duration (how long you want to advertise your post for). Once reviewed, your post will go live, and your insights can be viewed in the “Promotions” section on your profile.
ADVANCED – Create Ads on Instagram Through Ads Manager (Get more control and run ads across Facebook, Messenger and Audience Network too)
If you would like more control over your ads and a more organized desktop experience, you can use Business Manager to run ads across Instagram and other Facebook placements. Within Business Manager you can create custom audiences to reach people similar to your customer lists, and target people who have engaged with your website or with your Instagram content.
Create A Business Manager Account
Go to business.facebook.com and create a new account.
Enter the required business details. Once your account is set up, you can add a Facebook business page or create a new one. This will enable you to run ads across Facebook placements as well.
Click Business Settings > Instagram Accounts to Connect your Instagram business account to Business Manager.
Create A New Ad Account for Your Business
Go to Business Settings > Ad Account to Create a new Ad Account for your business.
Adjust your account settings to include your Business Name, Time Zone and Currency. The time zone and currency settings cannot be changed in the future without creating a new ad account, so make sure these are accurate.
Go to Business Settings > Payments to set up your payment method and insert a credit card that you would like media spend to be billed to.
Set Your Objective And Your Target Audience
Go to Ads Manager and select “Create” to launch your first ad campaign.
Select your marketing objective to meet your end goal and choose your campaign name.
You can now build your audience targeting by selecting location, age, gender and detailed targeting. Facebook has thousands of interest categories to choose from (see the full list here!).
You can also create audiences from customer lists and build remarketing lists to reach people who visited or took action on your website. You can even make an audience of people who watched a video on your page or engaged with your Instagram ads. You can save audiences to use for future campaigns.
Next, select your placements – you can run ads on Instagram only, but for best results select Automatic Placements. This allows Facebook to serve your budget across the platforms that best meet your objective. If you select Automatic Placements, your ads will run across Facebook, Instagram, the Audience Network and Messenger. Set your daily or total budget.
Create an Ad
There are a variety of ad types across Facebook that can showcase your brand and offerings. You can choose from Single Image, Video, Carousel or Collection ads. Single Image (Static) ads are recommended for best results. Select your Primary Text, Headline and Description, then enter your Website URL.
Choose a Call To Action that best matches your desired outcome. Then review your campaign and hit Confirm to launch.
Measure Your Results
While your ad campaign is running, you can collect important data including Clicks, Impressions, Reach, conversions (actions taken) and lots more. It’s important to check your Click Through Rate (CTR) to determine what percentage of people are clicking through your ads, and your Cost Per Click (CPC) to see how much you are paying per ad click.
Make sure to check your Ad Relevance Diagnostics by pulling out the following columns at the ad level to see how optimal your Facebook ads are. This will give you an indication of how well you will perform in the Facebook auction.
As you run more campaigns, you can work to improve your KPIs over time by writing more relevant ads that speak to your target audience and building better audiences to target.
Haven’t got the time to set up Instagram advertising for your business? SEP can help get you started! Tell us about your business goals and get a quote today.