Instagram (from Meta formely Facebook) allows you to create and share your photos, stories, and videos with the friends and followers you care about. Connect with friends, share what you're up to, or see what's new from others all over the world.
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What is Instagram?
Instagram is an American photo and video sharing social networking service created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations and view trending content. Users can like photos and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed.
Source: Wikipedia
How to Advertise on Instagram
It's not too hard to create successful Instagram ads, as users are already primed to shop on the platform.
Source: Laura Wong-Hootsuite
1. Set an Objective for your Ad
Before you create your Instagram ad, it is essential to set a campaign objective. The campaign objective is an action that you may want your audience to take after they see your ad. Luckily, Instagram offers a pre-made list of campaign objectives that you can select to optimize your ad and gain more Instagram followers and engagement.
On Instagram, you can choose the following campaign objectives:
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Reach – show your ad to a maximum number of people on Instagram
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Traffic – for lead generation, and clicks to your website or app store
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Brand awareness – gain a wider reach to increase awareness for your brand
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Engagement – get your audience to engage with the post or page through comments, likes, and shares
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App installs – direct people to the app store where they can download or purchase your app
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Video views – promote videos and get more views to raise awareness about your brand
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Conversions – encourage your audience to take valuable actions on your website such as purchasing a product
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2. Target your Audience
Audience targeting is all about finding the right people who will be interested in your Instagram ad. These are the people who will most likely take an action that you specify in your campaign objective. For example, if you want to sell home décor products, find people who will buy your product.
Just like Facebook ads, Instagram ads provide every tool for targeting the right audience. This includes audience targeting based on demographics, location, behavior, interest, and much more. Narrow down your targeting as much as possible to have a better chance at achieving your campaign objective.
There are two types of audience groups you can make for your Instagram Ad – Custom Audience and Lookalike Audience.
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Custom Audience refers to a group of people who have previously visited your website or shared their contact info with you. These groups are perfect for gaining engagement on Instagram and increasing conversions.
To build a custom audience, you don’t need to use the built-in targeting options. Instead, you can simply upload a database of emails and phone numbers. Instagram and Facebook will match those users and create a custom audience for your ad.
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A Lookalike Audience is a type of custom audience that allows you to create specific targets for your ad. It lets you take your established customers and serve ads to them to upsell your products.
You can also create a lookalike audience by narrowing your target marketing. This involves the collection of more information about your audience’s interests, demographics, and behaviors. You can find this information on Instagram Insights or Google Analytics tool.
3. Set your budget
Instagram offers two types of budgeting options:
Daily vs Lifetime
Once you have set the budget, Instagram’s ad engine spends it
efficiently to fulfill your campaign objective. If you select a daily
budget, the Instagram ad engine will spend the set amount each
day to run your ad.
Similarly, if you select lifetime budget, Instagram will distribute
your budget at optimal times throughout your ad campaign.
Standard vs Accelerated Delivery
In standard delivery, Instagram spends your budget evenly
throughout your ad campaign. However, in accelerated delivery,
Instagram spends your budget as fast as possible. Usually,
standard delivery is best because it brings in more engagement
at a lower cost.
Budget Optimization
If you have a campaign with several ad sets, budget optimization
is the perfect option for you. Here, Instagram spreads your funds
efficiently across the ad sets to gain maximum results.
4. Choose the Right Instagram Ad Format
Once you know what your campaign objective is, what type of audience you want to reach and what message you want to convey, it is time to design your Instagram ad. There are four different Instagram ads that you can choose from –
Photo ads –Use these ads to tell brand stories or feature products through visually stunning imagery. If you are a beginner and new to Instagram ads, it is best to start with photo ads because they are easy to set up and perform very well.
Carousel ads – These ads are best to showcase multiple products or multiple uses of a single product. Here, the user can swipe to see all the images and take the right action to purchase the product.
Slideshows – These are lightweight video ads that are formed from a series of still photos. It is best to use slideshows when you don’t have the resources to create video ads.
Video ads – Instagram allows you to create video ads up to 60 seconds long. However, it is best to hook your audience within the first 30 seconds. Create compelling and emotional ads that add value to your audience and encourages them to take the desired action.
Another great way of creating Instagram ads is to use ‘User-generated Content’. It is best for promoting a product.
5. Track your Conversions and Engagement
To build a successful Instagram ad campaign, you need to consistently edit and optimize your ads as it runs. This can be done by tracking your conversions and engagement rate through Facebook Ads manager or any data analytics tool.
If you run a large business or corporation, you can also take help from social media marketing tools that offer in-depth data analytics and reporting.
The purpose of tracking your ad performance is to understand the weak and strong points of your ad.
Using this data, you can make the necessary changes to gain wider reach and engagement on Instagram. Moreover, you will also be able to increase your conversion rate.
Creation of Reels & Stories
Reels for your business
Stories for your Business
Quick breakdown of what each of these objectives aims to achieve
REACH
Show your ad to as many people as possible in your target audience
BRAND AWARENESS
Increase awareness of your business or products among users who haven’t heard of you yet
TRAFFIC
Drive clicks to your website, app, or any other URL
APP INSTALLS
Get users to download your app
CONVERSIONS
Drive sales or sign-up conversions on your website or app
LEAD GENERATION
Gather personal info from interested users (i.e. email signups)
STORE TRAFFIC
Direct users to your brick-and-mortar location
ENGAGEMENT
Increase comments, likes, shares, event responses, and offer claims on your ad.
VIDEO & PICTURE VIEWS
Get video views and likeable Images from users most likely to watch it
CATALOG SALES
Promote sales from your online store catalog
MESSAGES
Get users to send a message to your brand account.
SOURCE: HOOTSUITE & INSTAGRAM
