If your business reaches younger crowds (mainly 25-34-year-olds), one of the best websites you can use to market your business is Instagram. For over 12 years, Instagram has been an app to share photos and videos and humanize your business.
As such, Instagram has since had a robust ad program. You can pay to create your own advertising campaign and reach your audience. But how do you do so effectively? Customizing paid ads is as important as, for instance, to buy organic Instagram followers. All those points influence the account’s development in general. This article is here to help you with that challenge.
Why Advertise on Instagram?
Instagram ads have mass appeal. Since billions of people use Instagram, you can reach your audience if they use the platform. Not only that, but Instagram ads are accessible to people of any budget and need. You don’t need to be worth millions for an effective ad campaign.
Finally, Instagram ads can be a crucial part of your brand identity. Sometimes, your account can go beyond your brand and have its respective fanbase. For example, if your brand tells a story or makes interesting posts, many will follow your account without realizing they’re being advertised.
How Do You Advertise?
First, explain how you advertise on Instagram. You can promote your posts in the app by clicking the “Promote” option. When you promote a post, it boosts it in the algorithm and shows it to more people. As a result, people who would not find your post organically will not see it, meaning you can gain new followers.
Promoting your posts is only doable by creating an Instagram Business account. To do that, you can visit their Getting Started page.
The ideal promoted post is something that’s already doing well organically. Do not boost an underperforming post; you may not get the expected results.
You can also create ads via the Facebook Ads Manager. As you may know, Facebook, known nowadays as Meta, owns Instagram. As such, your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns are connected.
Remember, Know Your Target Audience
With any ad campaign, you don’t want to cast the widest net possible. Instead, you want to do research into who your target audience is. How old are they? Where do they frequent? Can you use hashtags relevant to your business and learn more about your audience?
By having an idea of your audience, you can create an ad campaign that will resonate with them.
Consider Your Budget
With many social media ad campaigns, there is no definitive amount of money you need to spend. Instead, Instagram Ads’ cost can depend on several factors. Who you’re targeting can change the price. How competitive your industry is can affect costs. If you’re running a campaign during a busy holiday season, that can affect the cost as well.
Luckily, Instagram lets you draft your campaign to see how much it will cost and know how big of an audience you can reach with the money you want to spend.
Know What Type of Ads to Use
Instagram has several formats to choose from, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s break them down.
Images
A picture is indeed worth a thousand words with Instagram’s image ads. These ads are excellent if you’re a photographer, want to create a compelling infographic, or know graphic design in general. With image ads, you must think of an image that will get your customers’ attention while maintaining your brand identity.
Stories
Stories are photos or video that goes away after 24 hours. Story ads go between different Stories. Since many on Instagram surf Stories, putting an ad here can work. In addition, users can swipe up to visit your website, which is helpful if you want a powerful CTA.
The best technique for creating a Story ad is to make something that feels like another post. However, if you make it feel too ad-like, it may annoy your viewers, and they will be trying to figure out how to skip your ad as fast as possible.
Video
Video ads can showcase your brand, what products you offer, or even tell a story. Videos can be up to an hour long, but not many are willing to watch an ad that long. So making your video ad short and entertaining is the ideal strategy.
Also, add captions to your videos. When someone scrolls by your video, it will autoplay. Captions help the audience see your video before they even correctly watch it. It can also be helpful for those who are hard of hearing.
Carousel Ads
Carousel ads are multiple images and videos. You can use them to show multiple products, tell a story, or lead customers to a call to action.
Shopping Ads
These ads showcase all your products, and your customers can click on them and purchase them through the Instant Experience Storefront. These ads are excellent for an audience wanting to purchase your products.
Explore Ads
This is not a separately designed ad but a place to include your ads. Your customers will click on the Explore tab, which recommends new content. They will then see your ad. Since over 50% of users will click on the Explore tab, this is a brilliant place to advertise.
Reels Ads
Reels are short-form videos similar to TikTok. Over two billion interact with Reels, meaning they’re where you want your ads to be. Since they’re short videos, you want your video to be short and entertaining and entice viewers to learn more about what you offer.
Which Format Should I Choose?
Choosing a format for your Instagram ads can be challenging, but you can make it happen with careful planning. As mentioned, you must have an idea of your target audience, but you must also think about your goal.
Is your goal to drive traffic to your website? To sell your products to your customers? To increase your brand awareness? A little bit of the above? Knowing your goals can help you construct the right ad for you.
Also, research your target audience. Follow people who are your audience on Instagram, and see their habits. For example, do they like pretty photos? Videos? Do they love to shop? Knowing your audience will allow you to make an ad that appeals to them.
Finally, look at the content made by business rivals. What content performs well for them? Look at organic content, as this can help you create an ad that will not only reach many people but your audience will not want to ignore it.
What Makes a Great Ad?
Ultimately, a good ad depends on many factors, such as your branding, your audience, and how you want to present yourself to the audience. With that said, some rules work with most audiences. These are:
Using Text Wisely
Instagram ad captions have a 2,200 character limit or about 300-500 words. However, few people would read that many words. Your ideal ad should communicate the message using as few words as possible. The first two rows are critical, as Instagram will cut off the caption, and the audience must open it to read more. You want to make those first two rows count!
The First Three Seconds Matter
You must capture your audience’s attention within three seconds with video ads. Give them what you’re offering and your brand style, and entice them to watch more. Otherwise, they’ll keep on scrolling or skip your ad.
While it may seem impossible, many advertisers have done it. Check your rival’s videos for ideas.
They Should Not Feel Like Ads
Your audience knows when they are being advertised and will shut off what you have to say if it feels too sales-y. What you need to do is create an entertaining video that has a narrative. You want to excite your audience and follow you for more information.
Sometimes, putting your products in the back seat may be the smartest idea. While your audience may not purchase your product right away, they may want to follow you, thus helping you to grow.
Have Excellent Visuals
Here’s one that’s subjective, but there are some ground rules to follow. One rule is to have imagery and font that goes well with your brand. You need complementary colors that set the mood and text that matches the images, and you want to create something visually stunning.
Put Yourself In the Audience’s Shoes
Another tip is to pretend you’re a potential customer. Look at your ad critically through their point of view. Does the ad entice you to want to learn more about the brand? Or to purchase a product? If not, back to the drawing board.
If you cannot separate yourself from a potential audience member, you can also ask other people for their honest feedback. This can help you make changes as needed.
The CTA is Always Crucial
Your ad needs a call-to-action (CTA) if it wants to succeed. A CTA lets your customers know that they need to do something. CTAs can ask customers to follow them if they want to see more, link them to a product, or perform another action. The CTA needs to be attention-grabby and give customers a sense that they must take action as soon as possible.
Create Ads That Engage
Your ads don’t just need a CTA, but they can have other ways of engagement. For instance, ads can come as a poll, a question that relies on audience answers, or contests. You can also like comments, reply to them, and highlight comments you think are helpful or funny.
In today’s modern advertising world, interacting with your audience is essential. If you keep your distance, you won’t go too far. However, if you make your customers feel they matter, they will return the favor.
It Takes Time
Your ad will not be perfect the first time, and it may not be perfect the second. It takes a good while to find your advertising identity and to create ads that are a homerun. Of course, there are cases of businesses getting it right the first time, but these are the exception rather than the rule.
So if your ad does not work the first time, do not give up. Instead, think about what works and what doesn’t, and try again. Again, Instagram advertising is so good that you can adjust your budget. If you’re running low on funds, you can take a break, change your strategy, and return when you have more money.
Always Adapt
Finally, a good rule is to adapt to new formats and gimmicks Instagram comes out with. Some advertisers fell flat when they did not participate in Reels advertising. Other advertisers kept it safe when they reached their comfort zone, but the audience needs to change.
Even when successful, look to the future, and don’t be afraid to change things. Thinking outside the box with Instagram advertising is vital if you want success.
Conclusion
Instagram Ads are crucial if you want to succeed on the platform. While you can make excellent posts, purchase organic Instagram subscribers, and be consistent with your engagement, advertising can take your campaign above and beyond. Once again, ads are affordable and flexible, and you can stretch your dollar as far as possible by reaching your target audience.
We hope this article was helpful to you. Now that you know about Instagram advertising, we recommend constructing your ad campaign and taking your business to the next level. It can take a while, but you can get your desired audience once you have the perfect ad.