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Why You Should Be Advertising on Instagram and How To Get Started

With 800 million active users on Instagram, how do you make your business stand out?

By Katana HaleyPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Capture your audience where they already are... on Instagram

Marketers that have completed successful Instagram ad campaigns will tell you that this form of advertising definitely works. There are 700 million active users on Instagram, your audience is there. Every smart marketer knows to meet their target audience where they already are. This works far better than attempting to corral like-minded people into one area.

Know your target audience first.

Now that you know your target audience is there, you need to understand how to reach them before you run ads. There have been numerous guides published to help familiarize you with the platform.

Before you get started with Instagram ads, know that the most important part of it all is the selection of your target audience. This will determine how much your ads cost and the overall results of the ad.

Launching Instagram Ads

It’s possible to launch your Instagram ads in a number of different places:

  • Facebook’s Marketing API
  • Facebook’s Ad Manager
  • Instagram app
  • Instagram partners
  • Power Editor
  • Facebook’s API

The API and the Power Editor are meant for those who want to create a lot of ads at scale. If you use the Power Editor, you’ll need a Facebook page for your brand. However, you don’t need an Instagram account to run ads on Instagram. All that is necessary is a Facebook page.

If you’re more comfortable with the Facebook platform or you have run ads on Facebook before, go with what you’re comfortable with. Using the Facebook API gives you flexibility, you can select audiences to target from previous Facebook campaigns. For example, if you ran ads to sell products from your eCommerce store and you received great results, you can use that audience again.

It is recommended to run your ads on Instagram and Facebook simultaneously. Your ads will be optimized for your objective when you choose one type of creative. For example, if your objective is to get the most clicks to your site, optimization will show the ad placement that gets you the most clicks at the lowest cost. The only reason your ads will not be optimized across both platforms is if you choose to have different creative on Instagram and Facebook.

Using Facebook’s API, there are four basic steps to create your Instagram ad:

  • Select the objective of your campaign
  • Create a name for the campaign
  • Determine your target audience, ad placements, and budget
  • Create or use an existing Instagram post as the ad

You get to choose between eight different objectives for Instagram ads:

  • Video views
  • Engagement
  • App installs
  • Traffic
  • Reach
  • Brand Awareness
  • Conversions
  • Lead generation
  • Instagram Partners

This aspect of advertising on the platform is for companies who seek expertise and are ready to scale. The Partners program creates content for your brand, promotes community engagement, provides ad management, and community analytics.

Instagram Promotions

It should be noted that there is a difference between an Instagram promotion and an Instagram ad. With a promotion, you are giving your Instagram post a major visibility boost. You need an Instagram business profile in order to promote posts within the Instagram app. It’s a requirement that you are an admin of the Facebook page associated with the Instagram account.

If you meet these requirements you’ll be able to simply tap ‘Promote’ on any of your posts to get started. You get two call-to-action options for your promotion. Viewers can either "Call or visit your business" or "Visit your website." Decide the audience that you want to reach and select your budget. Lastly, you’ll decide how long the promotion is going to run. Use Facebook ads manager to run A/B split tests.

Measuring Your ROI

How much does it typically cost you to acquire a customer? The average CPC on Instagram as of 2017 is $0.80. However, it can fluctuate between $0.70 and $1.00. Compared to other ad placements, Instagram is actually on the higher end of the scale.

It will only cost you $0.35 CPC on Facebook. Think about the ROI that’s necessary for your business to succeed to determine value in hard dollars. Monitor your campaigns so you can ensure your ROI stays high.

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About the Creator

Katana Haley

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