Instagram is a popular social media platform. Approximately 1 billion people use Instagram per month, and the app gets 500 million users per day. As an emerging channel for companies to connect with their customers, Instagram can be an effective way to promote your product and brand.
Why should I use Instagram Advertising for my brand?
As a marketing strategy, advertising gives you the opportunity to create brand exposure and awareness (in other words, it’ll get the word out on your company), attract new followers that otherwise would not have seen your content or brand, and drive more traffic (and possibly more sales) to your website.
It is important for your ads to generate a high click-through rate, so we will focus on two categories of Instagram ad costs: CPC (cost per click) and CPM (cost per mille, or cost per thousand views). The average CPC for Instagram varies according to several sources, but the average can range between $0.20 and $0.80, with some reaching as high as $5 CPM if your ad receives a lot of attention.
Instagram’s advertising platform allows you to make your ad as targeted and detailed as possible by giving you control over the amount you spend, how much you want to spend per day, or how much you want to spend over the lifetime of the ad or boosted post; extra extensions like link clicks on the post; your bid method; and what times of the day you want your ad to be run. This gives you a lot of control over how your ad is seen and engaged with.
Before creating an ad, you should have a Facebook business page and an Instagram business page. You can build your ads from the ground up and specify the audience and objective by using your ads manager, but if you already have some posts on your profile, you can try promoting one of them. To promote a post, navigate to your Instagram profile, then click “Promotions” and choose a post that you want people to see. Then, you’ll be prompted to choose the timeline when your ad will run and how much money you’re willing to spend. After all of this, your ad will be reviewed by an employee of Instagram; if it’s approved, you will receive a notification in Instagram informing you that it is being displayed on the selected date.
What's the difference between a regular post and a promoted post?
Promoted posts and ads extend your reach beyond your followers, exposing your brand to new audiences. Promoted posts appear in the news feeds of people who do not follow you, and promoted ads can appear on the right side of any Facebook page, or on mobile devices in the Facebook app.
Promoted posts also allow you to add extra extensions to the post that encourage viewers to click straight to your website. For example, if you add a link as an extension, a solid bar that says “Learn More” will appear under the image of the post and above the caption. When people click it, they will be taken straight to your company’s website.
How do I know if these ads and promoted posts are working?
Instagram provides a way to track your advertisements by providing analytics. To view the analytics on an advertisement, simply go to your Instagram profile and click “Promotions” from the menu. Click “Past Promotions.” Pick one of your past promoted posts and then you’ll be able to see how much you spent, what the audience was that saw the post, the number of profile visits due to your post, the interactions, and where people visited after clicking on your post. You’ll also be able to track how many people that weren’t following you saw the post and how many impressions it got.
To get a more detailed look at the demographics of your ad or boosted post, you can view gender, age range, and location for the audience to determine if it was the right fit for your content..
If you were happy with your boosted post’s performance, you can promote it again using the same audience and ad spend as before; if not, try changing the audience or ad spend..
Instagram ads give you the ability to be creative with your posts in a similar manner to creating regular Instagram posts..
Image Feed Ad.
In order to promote your business with Facebook ads, you can create a static image post. This is the standard format for posts and ads on Facebook. It’s a single image that you can add a caption and call-to-action buttons like “Contact Us” and “Shop Now.”
Video Feed Ads.
A Video Feed Ad is a video that plays like any other Instagram post in a user’s feed. Your video can be up to 60-seconds long and can include the same CTA buttons that Image Feed Ads have. One thing to keep in mind with Video Feed Ads is that you cannot rely on sound. Most people scroll through Instagram quickly and rarely click on a video to enable the sound, so make sure to capture the viewer’s attention even when the video is muted!
Carousel Feed Ads.
A carousel feed ad is a type of Sponsored Story that consists of multiple images or videos. You can include up to 10 images or videos in one post, and you can include call-to-action buttons. A unique feature of carousel feed ads is that each photo or video can have its own button. The first image can be “Call Now,” the next can be “Contact Us,” and so on and so on.
Story Ads.
Story Ads are simple, full-screen ads that appear in Instagram Stories. They can include Call-To-Action buttons, but the viewer will be prompted to swipe up on their screen instead of tapping a bar at the bottom of the image. These can be images or videos.
How do I know which ad is right for my brand?
Instagram ads are perfect for testing out different types of posts, including images and videos. Try making one ad with a photo, one with a video, and one with both. You can also try boosting posts to different audiences and seeing which posts get the most engagement. You can even try using different budgets to see what the difference in impressions and reach is like. Instagram ads give you the perfect opportunity to play around with formatting and ad style to find the best ad for your brand. The only way you’ll know if this type of advertising works for you is if you give it a try!
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