Continue with the guide to using Instagram Ads…
How to advertise on Instagram
There are a couple of different ways you could go about advertising on Instagram. Certain routes will open more tools and choices than others.
Below, we will walk you through two ways to create Instagram ads:
- With Fb Ads Manager
- With Instagram
Let’s jump in.
How to advertise on Instagram using Fb Ads Manager
Fb Ad Manager permits you to create ads that run on both Fb and Instagram.
You could also customize audiences and other features, and monitor how your adverts are performing.
Here’s how to connect it to the Fb Business Manager:
- Go to business.facebook.com.
- Click on Create Account.
- Enter a name for your business, choose the primary Page and enter your name and work email address.
- Move through the rest of the onboarding flow by entering the rest of the required fields.
- Learn how to add people to Business Manager.
Once that is completed, you could move onto the first step of making your Instagram ads…
Step 1: Link your Instagram account to your Fb Business profile
Go to your Business Manager and click on the hamburger menu at the top left.
Click on Business Settings. You will then be sent to a menu where you could click on Instagram Accounts.
On a new page, you will be able to add your Instagram account. Click on +Add to do so.
Add your username and password, then click on Next.
To authorize one or more of your advert accounts to use the Instagram account, test the box next to each advert account and click on Save Changes.
Congrats! You just linked your Instagram account along with your Fb Adverts Manager. The fun isn’t over yet, though. Now, you will create your Instagram ads—which brings us to…
Step 2: Select your objective
To start, go to Ads Manager and click on +Create.
From here you will have the option to create a marketing campaign through “Guided Creation” or “Quick Creation.”
These are two different kinds of workflows that you could select from to help you create and handle your Fb advert. The differences are as follows:
- Guided Creation walks you through the exact steps you need to take to create a typical Fb advert campaign. Guided Creation could be very useful for newer marketers who would like a little bit more instruction.
- Quick Creation lets you have more control in crafting your Fb advert. When you are more experienced and have created Fb ads before, you could select this one.
For now, click on Select Guided Creation. When you gain more experience and require less hand-holding from Fb, you could use Quick Creation later.
You will now have the option to choose your advert marketing campaign goal. Fb Adverts Supervisor affords an inventory of aims.
For Instagram ads, you could choose from the following:
- Brand awareness. Help spread your brand to users who have not heard of you yet.
- Reach. Shows your advert to as many people as possible.
- Traffic. For clicks to your site or to the app store for your app.
- App installs. Get the users to download your app once they see the advert.
- Engagement. Increases the number of comments, likes, shares, event responses, and offer claims you receive.
- Video views. Increases the number of views a video receives.
- Lead technology. Permits you to collect lead knowledge from customers who click on on the advert.
- Messages. Get users to send a message to your brand.
- Conversions. For sales and sign-up conversions on your site or app.
- Catalog sales. Users see adverts for products on your Fb catalog.
- Store visits. Helps direct users to brick-and-mortar stores you own.
Be sure you also watch this video to learn more about identifying your objective:
When you’ve chosen your goal, you will be prompted to name your marketing campaign.
The default name will just be the objective you have chosen (for example, “Brand Awareness”) however, you might select to give it a detailed name to help you keep track of your campaigns.
Step 3: Identify your audience
The next step is to decide who you want to target along with your advert.
Fb gives a very strong set of targeting options that go far and beyond typical demographic info like age, gender, and location. In fact, you could select to slice your audience by whether they’ve:
- Engaged with your content
- Visited your site
- Follow a particular Fb group or page
- Downloaded your app
- Watched your videos
- Subscribed to your newsletter
This lets you craft copy and messaging that uniquely applies to your potential customer.
Step 4: Select your advert placements
In the Placements section, you could decide where your adverts will appear on Fb and Instagram.
You will have 2 options for this:
- Automatic Placements. Your adverts will be shown to your audience wherever they are likely to perform best. It’s generally recommended to run your adverts on both Facebook and Instagram.
- Edit Placements. You will be able to pick and select where your advert appears. For instance, if you want to limit your adverts to only appearing in Instagram Stories, or only on the Instagram Feed, you might opt to Edit Placements.
Here’s the window where you could edit your placement.
Keep in mind: You could only choose mobile devices when creating an Instagram advert.
When you have chosen where you want your adverts to go, it’s time to choose your budget.
Step 5: Choose your budget and schedule
This section determines how much you want to spend on your promotion—and for how long.
You could select a Daily Budget, which gives a maximum daily spend, or a Lifetime Budget for an advert with a set lifespan. You could also select to run adverts continuously, or only at certain times of day.
A great place to begin when thinking about your finances is the average cost-per-click (CPC) on Instagram, which varies depending on your audience demographics and when you select to run your adverts.
Pro tip: Sundays are the most expensive day to run Instagram ads.
Fb Adverts Manager also contains Optimization and Bid Strategy options, which clarify how your budget will be spent. These may be customizable, depending on your campaign objective.
As you adjust these options, the Estimated Daily Reach scale in the right-hand column will let you know how many people you could expect to reach each day with your adverts.
Step 6: Create your ads
Now it’s time to create the actual advert.
First, you’re going to want to select a Fb page to associate your advert with. Fb will not allow you to create an advert without a page.
When you have done that, you could now select one of 5 formats for how you want your advert to look.
Things get fairly simple from here:
- Select your pictures or videos
- Craft your advert copy
- Pick a payment option
- Review your advert
- Click on Confirm
Fb has a guide to Instagram advert formats with all of the specifications and design requirements you should ensure your advert looks great. The Adverts Manager also shows the technical format requirements as you choose your photos or videos.
You could also select a call-to-action button and the destination URL that people will reach once they click on it.
Click on Show advanced options if you want to track conversions via a Facebook pixel on your site, or an app event. These options will provide you with details about how your audience interacts with your business after clicking on your advert.
When you have clicked Confirm, congrats! You have just created your first Instagram ads.
How to advertise on Instagram using Instagram
Instagram also permits you to market directly on their app.
How? Simple: By promoting an already existing post on your Instagram profile.
When you have a post that’s performing well and getting a lot of engagement, promoting it within the app is a quick, simple way to reach even more users.
Of course, you will need to have a business profile on Instagram set up already to do that. However, when you do, you will be able to easily promote any post on your feed.
To do so, first go to the post you want to promote then click on Promote under the post.
You might be prompted to log in to your Fb account for authentication. Do so if prompted.
From there, choose your purpose.
Do you want to drive more users to your site, or maximize the number of users who see your post?
You could also select to add a call-to-action button, like Shop Now or Sign Up. If selected, it will appear below the picture or video in your post.
Instagram could select a default audience for your advert, or you could create a particular audience for the post by choosing targeted interests, location, and demographics.
Lastly, select your budget and advert duration and hit Create Promotion.
That’s it! You could monitor the outcomes of these in-app promotions in your Fb Adverts Manager, along with all of your other Instagram ads.