How To Create Instagram Ads? Examples, Tips & Tricks [With Template]

In case you’ve missed the memo, Instagram ads are here. Like Facebook and Twitter ads, Instagram ads are a great way to advertise on social media.

Below, we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Instagram Ads.

Instagram ads are the newest thing in social media advertising.

Essentially, Instagram ads are a way for people and companies to promote themselves on the popular photo-sharing platform.

The ads appear as sponsored posts, alongside other users’ pictures and videos. They’re simple to create and they cost very little: you can pay as little as $1 per day for an ad on Instagram.

 

 

What Are Instagram Ads?

Instagram is a mobile-first platform, which makes it ideal for advertisers who want to reach their audience on the go.

The app has been downloaded more than 1 billion times, which means that most of your target audience has already downloaded it.

That means you don’t have to worry about creating or distributing an app or landing page to reach them.

You just need an account and your ad!

The average cost of an Instagram ad is $0.75 CPM, which means you only pay when someone actually clicks your ad.

The CPC or “cost-per-click” rate is $0.05, which is far less than other social networks like Facebook or Twitter.

In just a few years, Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 300 million active monthly users.

And businesses have taken note – 82% of marketers are currently using or plan to use Instagram for advertising purposes this year.

What’s more, there’s a good chance that you’re already on Instagram.

A recent study found that almost three in four U.S. adults use Instagram, so if you’re targeting Americans, it’s worth taking a look at how your business could benefit from advertising.

Types Of Instagram Ads

Let’s talk about Instagram Ads.

Instagram is the platform for visual storytelling. This image-centric app has more than 700 million users who are surely attracted to authentic, inspiring and beautiful photos and videos.

Typical Instagram ads can be of three types: video, photo and carousel. Let’s dive into each one:

Video Ad 

Video ads tend to have a better engagement rate than other types of Instagram ads. 

Video ads cost more to create and can be harder to produce. So if you’re not used to creating videos, it might be smart to hire someone else to do it for you or at least consult with someone who can help.

Photo Ad 

This is the most common type of Instagram ad. It’s easy to create and manage compared with video ads, but harder (and more expensive) than carousel ads. 

Carousel Ad 

A single image with multiple images within the ad unit that viewers swipe through in order to see all the images in order. This format is a good way to show multiple products or services in one ad, especially if they are related.

Benefits Of Instagram Ads

If you’re like most business owners, you’ve heard of the benefits of running Instagram advertisements, but aren’t quite sure how to get started. 

If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place!

Instagram ads can help your business grow in many ways. From targeting customers who are specifically interested in your product or service to building brand awareness and increasing website traffic.

In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the best ways to use Instagram Ads for marketing.

 Paid social media marketing is a great way to promote your business.

The biggest benefit of Instagram ads is that it gives you an opportunity to attract people who are interested in your products and services. You can also target your audience through their interests and location.

Another benefit of using Instagram ads is that it will allow you to create brand awareness. You can use a variety of tools in order to target users on various devices.

To conclude, the benefits of using Instagram ads are that it allows you to choose your target audience easily and will help you increase ROI (Return On Investment).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxOX5zxRNtA

How Much Do Instagram Ads Cost?

The old saying goes that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Even if you’re not buying a sandwich from a deli on your lunch break, it’s safe to assume that you’re paying for it in some way or another.

Trying to get free things is unrealistic, so why do so many people expect things to cost nothing?

Many people are under the impression that social media advertising should be free.

For example, when Facebook first introduced ads, many publishers and bloggers were upset because they were required to pay in order to reach their audiences.

However, there are many benefits to using social media advertising, and you’ll have a lot more success with your campaigns if you put some money behind them.

Here are two reasons why investing in your social media ads is worth the cost:

You Can Reach More People with Ads

When you publish content on your blog or website and want people to see it, you have several options for getting the word out: You can share it on social media, send an email newsletter about it, or even wait for Google and other search engines to pick it up.

You Can Target Your Audience Better with Ads

When you use social media ads, you can target specific groups of people.

How To Create Instagram Ads

Creating and promoting your ad on Instagram can be done simply by using the platform’s advertising features. It’s all self-serve, so you don’t need to involve a third party or do any fancy coding to create your own ads.

The best place to get started with Instagram advertising is the Instagram business center, which you can find at business.instagram.com.

You’ll need to log in with your Facebook account, which is required for all businesses that want to advertise on Instagram. 

After you’ve logged in, you’ll see some information about advertising on the platform and then you’ll be taken to the main page of the business center.

Although the process of creating an ad is simple, it can feel overwhelming if you’re not familiar with how native advertising works. The first step is deciding what kind of ad you want to run.

You can choose between a video (10 seconds or less) or a photo (up to 30 seconds). After you’ve made that decision, you can add more information about your ad and customize it.

Once your ad has been created, it will show up in the dashboard of your business center under “view ads”.

How To Choose The Best Instagram Ad Type

When running an Instagram ad, you’ll often have to decide between three ad types: Video, Carousel, and Photo. When choosing which format to use for your ad, consider the following:

Video Ads

As their name suggests, video ads play a video when users click on them. This makes them perfect for promoting products that require a demonstration or explanation about how they work.

For example, if a user needs to see how your product works in order to make a purchase decision, video ads are the way to go.

Trying to promote a more abstract concept? Videos aren’t the best option. If you’re selling something like clothes or makeup that doesn’t really need a demonstration before being sold, then you’re better off using photo or carousel ads instead.

Photo Ads

Photo ads are just what they sound like – an image posted as an ad on Instagram. Because of this, they tend to be used more commonly in branding campaigns than direct sales campaigns (although they can also be used for lead generation).

They’re also great for posting behind-the-scenes content that your followers might not otherwise see in your main feed – think photos of the company at work or photos from events you’ve attended. You can also use photo ads with carousel formats.

How To Advertise On Instagram

Social media has changed the way businesses market their products and services. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are just a few of the social media platforms that have gained immense popularity in the past decade.

Trying to determine which platform is right for you? There are many factors to consider before making a decision. 

It’s important to choose a platform that best fits your business goals, so you’ll want to research each option carefully.

Type of Company

There are several different types of companies that might benefit from advertising on Instagram. Here are two examples:

Large Companies 

Large companies such as Coca-Cola, Nike, and McDonald’s have used Instagram to advertise their brands by sharing photos with fans. 

These companies have millions of followers on Instagram, but even smaller companies can achieve great results using this strategy.

Small Businesses 

Small businesses are able to target a specific market through Instagram advertisements. For example, a florist might want to attract brides who live in a particular area.

By targeting that specific group of people, the florist can connect with potential customers who already have an interest in its products or services.

Best Practices For Instagram Ads

With any form of advertising, it can be difficult to decide what your best practices are.

To help you get started, here’s a list of some of the best practices for Instagram Ads:

Have a Strategy 

When you get started with Instagram Ads, it can be tempting to just start a campaign and see what happens.

However, it’s much better to have a strategy in place first.

You might want to focus on driving website traffic, increasing brand awareness or getting more followers.

Your strategy will help guide your decisions on how many ads you should run and which ad types are best for your goals.

Use Relevant Hashtags 

Using relevant hashtags is one of the best ways to get your content seen by people outside of your immediate network. It also makes it easier for users to discover related content that might interest them.

The most obvious ways to find relevant hashtags are by researching similar accounts or by using tools like RiteTag or Keyhole. If you want more control over your hashtags, though, consider using Tailwind.

Are Instagram Ads Worth It?

Instagram’s advertising platform, which it calls “Sponsored Posts”, is fairly simple, but that doesn’t mean you should go crazy and spend a lot of money on it.

Treat Instagram ads like you would a new dollar bill—you probably wouldn’t try to buy everything in the grocery store with it.

So, are Instagram ads worth it? Yes… if you use them correctly.

Every time I log on to my Instagram account, there’s a tiny red tag on top of the “Explore” bar that says “Ad.” Clicking on it reveals a grid of sponsored posts from companies like Nike and Lululemon, which are sponsoring my feed.

If I scroll down far enough, I’ll eventually see another ad for something else, maybe a new TV show or an ad for a new song. It’s not subtle.

But these ads aren’t just annoying; they’re effective. In fact, they appeal to me so much that they actually make me want to buy things. And I’m not the only one.

The numbers speak for themselves: according to AdWeek, Instagram’s sales are up 600% compared to last year. This year alone, businesses have spent $600 million on advertising on the social media platform.

What’s The Overall Engagement Of Your Ad Campaigns?

One of the most important metrics that you should be tracking is your overall engagement rate, which is the percentage of people clicking on your ad.

Tuning into your ad performance metrics can reveal a lot about what’s working and what isn’t in your campaigns. If you notice that some ads are performing much better than others, you can optimize those to get the greatest return on your ad spend.

Understanding Your Ad Performance Metrics

Your ad performance metrics fall into two main categories:

1. Cost per action (CPA)

The cost of each action is based on the CPC or CPM price you pay for each click, but it also includes any variable costs associated with your campaign.

So if you set up an ad campaign to promote a free ebook, the cost per action would also include variable costs like shipping, handling, labor, and other expenses related to fulfilling the offer.

To calculate cost per action, take all of your campaign costs divided by total actions taken by visitors.

2. Click through rate (CTR)

This number represents how many people clicked on your ad divided by how many times the ad was shown to a potential audience. CTR is always expressed as a percentage. It’s good practice to set goals for CTRs.

How To Promote An Instagram Post

Promoting your Instagram post is a great way to get more followers and likes on Instagram.

This can be done through many different channels, one of the best ways is to promote your posts on Facebook.

Promoting your posts on other social media platforms like Twitter and Pinterest can increase the reach of your post, but not as much as promoting it on Facebook.

So now that you know where to promote your Instagram post let’s talk about how to promote them. The first thing you should do is make sure that you are following people who are interested in similar content as you.

You can find them by using hashtags to search for similar content. Another way to promote your posts is by using paid ads like promoted posts or sponsored stories.

Promoted posts will show up in the news feed of users who have similar interests as you while sponsored stories will only show up in the news feed of your followers.

 After you have promoted a few of your posts they will start showing up on the explore page, which means that users who don’t follow you will also see your post and possibly even follow you.

Tips For Creating High-Performing Instagram Ads

Instagram ads are a great way to get your products in front of customers. In fact, they’re one of the most popular social media advertising platforms there is.

Most recently, Instagram launched full-screen and carousel ad formats that allow you to show off more of your product at once.

Tailoring Your Ads To Your Audience

Before creating any new ads, it’s important to understand who you’re advertising to. You can use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to gain valuable information about your ideal customer.

What age range is most likely to purchase from you? What gender? What interests are they most likely going to have?

This information can help you create an ad that will be appealing to your target audience, which will improve your click-through rate (CTR).

Creating A Compelling Ad

Once you’ve got a handle on who’s going to be viewing your ad, it’s time for the fun part! While there are several different formats for Instagram ads (including carousels, videos and slideshows), the most common one is the photo or video format.

Your best bet here is a single image or video with a clear CTA. Remember that while Instagram is a visual platform, text can still play an important role in grabbing a viewer’s attention.

How To Run Instagram Ads Within The App

Creating and running an ad on Instagram is pretty easy. Open up the app, head to the top right menu, and select Business Tools, then Ads. From there you can create a campaign, ad set and ad.

TIP: The first thing you’ll want to do is select your objective. This can be something like driving traffic to your website, directing users to download an app or getting them to engage with a piece of content (like a video).

Once you’ve selected your objective, you’ll need to choose your business profile and audience. To get started, simply tap “Create Ad” and select either “Website Traffic” or “App Installs.”

For the latter, you’ll need to choose the business profile associated with your app in order to access this option.

Next, you’ll begin building your audience by tapping “Edit.”

At this point, Instagram will ask that you connect your Facebook Pixel so it can pull in conversion data from your website (if you’re running retargeting ads), or allow you to use advanced targeting controls (if you’re using other tools like Facebook’s Audience Network).

In addition, you’ll be able to connect a number of different data points from Facebook here as well — including age, gender, location, and language.

How To Create Instagram Ads Using Facebook Ads Manager

Instagram is one of Facebook’s best-performing ad platforms. With a new interface and the addition of video and carousel ads, it’seven more effective for advertisers. 

But there’s one problem: Instagram isn’t an ad platform per se.

I’m going to show you how to run Instagram ads through Facebook Ads Manager, so you can take advantage of its superior targeting tools and analytics.

If you’re creating an ad in Facebook Ads Manager, you’ll have a few options in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Click on the down arrow next to the “select objective” option and choose “Create an ad with a link.”

This will take you to a template that includes a website banner and a text field. You can change both of these. Now, we’re ready to add our first image!

Facebook gives us two options for our first image: Post Titles & Image or Photo Link (URL). We select Photo Link (URL) because we want to use the URL from our Instagram page instead of an image from our website or blog.