Instagram has billions of users who spend their day browsing through the platform. That is why it makes a great advertising platform for your brand. However, one thing to remember is that it is easy to start Instagram advertising but difficult to master.
What is Instagram advertising?
Instagram advertising is a paid service that you can use to promote your content. When you publish content on Instagram it is usually displayed to your followers and other organic users, but if you promote a post, then it is shown to a lot of users.
The number of users who will view your ad depends upon your advertising budget.
Why advertise on Instagram?
Instagram is a platform where growing organically is still fairly easy. However, you will have to wait for a long time to figure out which content makes your audience happy.
Other than that, social media algorithms are always changing. If your business relies on Instagram heavily, then why waste time when you can see real growth with the help of pad advertising?
Instagram advertising is also useful if you have just started a new page for your business. It can take a long time to grow your followers organically but with the right budget, you can get a good initial boost.
Advertising on Instagram helps you get real leads and see sales, but it also helps you gain a following. Everything that an entrepreneur wants can be provided by a paid Instagram advertising campaign.
The most important thing is that Instagram advertising is pocket friendly! It does not cost as much as Google ads. If you boost content that is already doing well organically, your chances of getting leads increase.
The eight-step Instagram advertising guide for your brand
You need to be result-oriented to create an effective Instagram ad.
Here are the eight steps that can ensure the success of your Instagram advertising campaign.
Step 1: Choose the objective of your ad
How do you measure the success of a paid advertising campaign? Any paid ad on Facebook or Instagram will get you likes and follows. You have to decide the objective of your ad. Is the objective to gain leads? Close sales? Gain a following?
When you have a clear objective in mind, you will be able to create content that can help you achieve that objective. For example, if you want to increase sales, then the content will be more direct.
Once your campaign is finished, you can measure the results to check if you achieved your objectives or not.
Step 2: Give your campaign a name
You will have to give your campaign a unique name to keep track of it in the ads manager. Then, you can select any special categories that apply to the campaign.
You can also start an A/B test to see which variation performs better. You can select the advanced campaign budget option to distribute the budget across the ad sets. Or you can manually allocate the spending.
Step 3: Design your ad
Now you have to design a lucrative ad that is in alignment with the objective of the campaign. Your creative department will have to work here so that you can get the best results. The Facebook ads manager is also capable of creating your ads for you.
If you choose that path, you will have to upload the content and the CTAs, then the ad manager will test different designs.
Step 4: Select the optimization and delivery
You can decide the primary focus of your ad with the optimization and delivery section.
If your focus is on sales, clicks, or app installs, then you can mention these details. Instagram will try to find an audience that is more likely to perform the desired action.
This ensures that each penny of your company is well spent!
Step 5: Set a budget and schedule for the ad
Advertising on Instagram is beneficial because you have full control on how much money you want to spend on the ad and you can set a custom schedule for the same.
First, you have to choose between a daily budget and a lifetime budget. If you go with a daily budget, then you have allocated a specific amount to be spent daily!
The ad will run indefinitely and you can stop it at any time you want. You are more likely to overspend if you choose this option, but it can create a lot of opportunities for your brand.
If you have a fixed budget, then you are more likely to go with the lifetime budget option. You can also choose a specific schedule for the ads to appear.
Some marketing experts claim that a few weekdays are better for Instagram posts compared to others. You can view data from your own Instagram posts and decide which weekdays are best for your ad.
Step 6: Target your audience
Knowing your audience is the best advice any marketer will give you. It is important to know the demographics, habits, interests, and challenges of your audience. Only then can you hope to achieve the objectives of your campaign.
It is a waste of your money to shoot an arrow while wearing blindfolds!
Step 7: Select ad placement options
Now you have to decide where you want to place your ad.
Since Meta runs both Facebook and Instagram, you can run the same ad on Facebook too. For this, you need to connect your Facebook account with your Instagram account.
If you want to ignore Facebook for now, you can do that too!
After you have decided that, you need to select where you want your ad to be displayed. Some of the options are user feed, in-stream, overlay ads on reels, search ads on Facebook, in-article ads, apps, and sending messages to your existing followers.
You need to think strategically about the placement options as you don’t want to overdo it!
Step 8: Finalize the ad format
Now it’s time to upload the content, write your copy, and publish the ad.
You have to finalize the Instagram ad format. Some of the basic Instagram ad formats are:
- Photo ads: This ad only contains one photo, the copy should be really strong in this case.
- Carousel ads: You get more space to write your copy, but you have to keep the reader intrigued. The user can scroll through more than one image.
- Slideshow ads: Slideshow ads are similar to the carousel but the switch to another image is automatic and not manual.
- Video ads: These are video ads that can be up to 60 seconds long!
Start advertising on Instagram today!
Instagram advertising is extremely easy to start, but difficult to master. Follow the mentioned tips in the blog to create the perfect ad for your brand. Overall, the platform has a lot of advertising potential!
