Instagram ads are one of the powerful tools on social media. Social media marketing has revolutionized the concept of marketing and branding. It has changed the whole concept of commercialization and business marketing.
If you want to know everything about Instagram ads, here is the complete guide of what you need to know.
Instagram is used by almost every business today. After realizing its tremendous potential to market your business with such ease and swiftness, people are shifting more to Instagram.
Instagram has made it possible and quite easy for anyone who wants to work from home and monitor his business by sitting at home. You can also market and advertise on Instagram by following these steps.
Before going further, let’s look at what Instagram ads are and their potential for your business promotion.
What are Instagram Ads?
Instagram ads use the Instagram promotion feature to promote your products. It takes your products to your targeted audience, who can see them on their feeds, Stories, IGTV, or Reels. There are several modes of Instagram ads; we will help you decide what works best for you and how you can use this amazing feature. Additionally, partnering with an influencer marketing agency can amplify your reach and engagement, enhancing the effectiveness of your Instagram promotions.
To launch advertising campaigns, Instagram ads are used with links, CTAs, and product catalogs. Instagram Ads cost is not definite as it is a variable factor that depends on a few other factors, i.e., time of year, placement of ads, potential competitiveness of your brand or business on Instagram, and your target audience.
There are various options, i.e., you can set up a daily budget or lifetime spending on the ad, which maximizes the time of its run.
Types of Instagram Ads
Following are the types of Instagram ads. You can use different formats to achieve your goals.
1. Image Ads
Image ads are shown just like a photo on the Instagram feed. It should be highly compelling with attractive and high-quality visual content. Image ads are used when you have to put an ad or promote one specific product.
It can be used by companies or businesses that have launched a new product and want to advertise it. It shows just like a feed post on the Instagram homepage, but it shows it as ‘sponsored’ to ensure that it is an ad.
2. Stories Ads
Stories ads are shown as Stories to Instagram users. It can be in the format of video, photo, or carousel. It shows the ad as an Instagram Story like other Stories on Instagram but as ‘sponsored.’
All the ads posted on Instagram are shown as sponsored posts, not feed posts. Story ads are much used as 500 million Instagram users watch IG Stories daily.
3. Video Ads
Video ads are the ads that are run in video format. It shows a variety of products in a moment. These are shorter videos and end in 30 seconds only.
4. Carousel Ads
Carousel ads show products that are more than one in number. They are a series of photos or videos and can be up to ten. You need to swipe left to see the next and right to see the previous products. You can add different CTAs to them as well.
5. Collection Ads
Collection ads are the ads in which more than one product or a collection of products are showcased. It is shown in a grid of photos and has a CTA that can directly take the user to a website or online store.
6. Explore Ads
According to a source, 50% of Instagram users visit the Explore page every month. Explore page shows those IG posts that are mostly liked or searched by the users. Explore ads are shown on the explore page of Instagram and seek its audience from the users who access the Instagram explore page frequently.
7. IGTV Ads
IGTV ads are ads shown on IGTV. When a user is watching IGTV, ads are shown during that. It does not nag the user as it has a skip option.
Full-screen ads are shown on IGTV.
8. Shopping Ads
Shopping ads are shown as other advertisement formats. It has some additional features. Anyone using this format can add product descriptions through CTAs like ‘learn more.
One can make purchases through a mobile website. To use this feature, you have to set up a shopping catalog.
You can choose the ad type you find more accommodating for your business and products. Determine your goal and then decide accordingly.
How to Run Ads on Instagram? Step by Step Guide
There are two ways to promote your product/business on Instagram. One is by promoting an uploaded post, and the other is by using the Facebook ads manager. You can choose anyone according to your preferences and objectives.
To define your objectives, look at your goals, brand personality, and competitors. You should always keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. You can use Instagram profile viewer to stalk your competitors and get to know what strategies they are using.
Method 1: Promotion of a Post
You can promote your post on Instagram by choosing your preferred audience, destination, i.e., where you want to hit it more, budget, and duration.
This is the easiest and quickest way to advertise. It simply boosts your post, and it reaches the audience you choose.
Method 2: Using Instagram Ads Manager
This is another way to advertise your products on Instagram. If you want to create an ad, you can follow the following steps:
Step 1: Choose the Objectives of your Campaign
Choose objectives of your campaign, i.e., awareness, consideration, or conversion. After determining your objectives, click on the goal you want to achieve.
Step 2: Naming the Campaign
Then, name the campaign as you want. You must name your campaign according to the message of your business, signature idea, and objectives.
Step 3: Choose Your Budget
It is time to choose a budget for your advertisement campaign. There is no best practice followed as it depends on the factors like audience definition and estimated daily results.
It is about defining and determining your goals and then deciding the budget. If you want your product to reach a large audience and get the best results, budget optimization should be done carefully.
Step 4: Schedule Your Ad
Schedule your ad by tapping on the schedule given in the menu. You can choose a schedule according to your preferences. You can select the start and end times for your ad.
You can choose a lifetime schedule, i.e., to run for the maximum time without any schedule or time limit.
Step 5: Select Your Audience
Select your audience by tapping on the audience button. There are two options that you can select from. To create a new audience or use the saved one for this campaign.
It is always encouraged to use saved audiences as you already know who your audiences are. But if your product is different and you are more into experimentation, you should add more audience or create a new one.
Step 6: Select Placement for Your Ad
Select the placement for your ad to narrow it down. There are two options, i.e., automatic or manual. It is better to use the automatic option, but the manual one can be used if you want to be more specific.
In the manual option, you can choose platforms and formats selectively.
Step 7: Create Your Ad
Now you are at the conclusion of posting your ad. Identify the format and type of ad you want to run. Above are mentioned multiple types of ads; select any one.
Choose your photo, video, or any other content according to the type of ad you are going to run. Please select the payment option and review your ad before confirming it.
Add a website URL you want to add with respect to CTA used headline and link description.
Try to use delightful images and high-quality videos for your marketing through these Instagram ads. Use music to make it pleasant and sound good. Keep your message upfront while producing content for the ad.
Step 8: Final Step - Confirm
Press the confirm button, and you are ready to go.
Conclusion
Instagram ads are one of the best features of this meta-owned app. It is user-friendly and very easy to go. It has changed the concept of advertising and marketing by revolutionizing social media. You can use the above step and create your ad without any hustle.