Kaitlyn Hammond — April 26, 2018 If you have explored advertising on any social media platform, you have likely focused your attention on Facebook. However, a rising star in this space is Instagram, which has grown from 90 to 800 million since 2013!
Although Instagram gives owners the potential to connect to a large group of users, cutting through the online clutter is difficult for small businesses that are trying to increase their brand recognition… Simply posting content and waiting to grow your following organically can take months, if not years.
A better strategy to reach a mass audience instantly may be to pay for Instagram Ads. The ads would be featured as “sponsored posts” that would come up on users’ feeds as they browse. The goals of utilizing Instagram ads would be to “grow brand exposure, website traffic, generate new leads, and move current leads down the funnel (and hopefully towards converting).”
Are Instagram Ads Effective?
Is investing in Instagram ads effective? The results speak for themselves. “In March 2017, over 120 million Instagrammers visited a website, got directions, called, emailed, or direct messaged to learn about a business based on an Instagram ad,” according to a source.
Why are Instagram Ads Effective?
Unlike advertising on a website or on television, where you can choose the channel, but not who sees your ads, Instagram allows you to target your audience base. This means that you have the ability for your ads to be shown to selected individuals, based on factors such as gender, age, location, interests, etc.
Plus, you can create groups for each ad, choosing between:
“Saved Audiences – interest-based targeting
Custom Audiences – retargeting audiences and customers
Lookalike Audiences – people similar to your other audiences”
How to Set up an Instagram Account to Create Ads
Using Instagram is very easy, and a business can set up an account within an hour to get started with the following steps.
- Because Facebook bought Instagram, you can use your Facebook account or create a personal Instagram account to get started.
- Sign up for a Business Manager account.
- Create a Business Page.
- Enter all the required information, such as your business name and details and your contact information.
- Create your ad.
- Choose an ad objective, which includes goals like brand recognition, engagement, reach, traffic, app installs, lead generation, etc.
- Choose who the ad will target, decide on your budget, create a schedule and narrow down on the creative aspect of your ad.
- Start advertising!
Examples of Inspiring Instagram Ads
If you are not extremely creative, there are a multitude of examples online of Instagram ads that can inspire you, such as:
84 Best Instagram Ad Examples in 2018
You do not require a large budget to get started with advertising on Instagram. AdEspresso’s research has found that the average price of a pay-per-click Instagram ad is around $ 0.80. Although, to reach a substantial amount of people, you may want to hit the ground running!
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