Complete Guide How to Run Ads on Instagram

 

What are Instagram Ads?

If you've just started your journey in the world of social media advertising, you may still be confused about how to place an ad on Instagram. Or maybe you are not too familiar with what is called Instagram Ads or Instagram Ads.

Instagram ads are ads that appear in the Feed, Stories, and Reels section of Instagram. If you've ever seen a post with the words “Sponsored,” then that's an Instagram ad.

With 91 million Instagram users as of July 2021, advertising on Instagram is also one of the skills that must be mastered to grow a business. By advertising on Instagram, you can reach many new potential customers based on location, interests, gender, age, and other attributes.

Instagram ads are widely used by advertisers and businesses to promote their products/services to potential buyers or increase awareness of their brand. However, it is not uncommon for Instagram ads to be used to build a community of followers for an account.

An ongoing ad campaign can be displayed in Instagram users' Feeds and Stories (if you choose both placements). Those who see the ad can interact with your ad and be directed to the destination page you have set (Whether it's a website, Instagram profile, or even send a message).

Preparing to Advertise on Instagram

Creating ads on Instagram is not difficult. You can easily create an account, enter the products/services offered, and then advertise them right away. However, if you want your ads to be more effective, you should follow the recommended best practices:

1.     1. Complete your business profile, starting with your name, address, contact (Email and phone number), website, and others. Make it easy for visitors to contact available contacts when they reach your Instagram profile. In addition, also convey why visitors should become followers on your Instagram account.

The following sections can be optimized to tell more about your business:

• Profile name: 30 characters, appears in search.
• Username: 30 characters, appears in search.
• Website: Clickable and can be changed at any time.
• Categories: Use this section to describe your business and save space in the bio section.
• Contact info: How people can contact you.
• Call-to-action button: What action do you want someone to take after they read about your business, product, or service?

2. Put your business logo in the profile photo. The ideal profile photo size is 320 x 320 pixels. Instagram will display this profile photo in a circle, so if your logo is square, you'll need to zoom out when you post it so you can see it in its entirety.

3. Post content regularly, and balance consistency with frequency. It's better for you to consistently post content once a day than posting 3x a day, then the next day once, then the next day not at all for 2 days, then the next day 5x. However, the frequency should not be too far away like once a month.

Consistent posting will help increase Brand Awareness. Your brand will easily appear in the minds of visitors when they have a need that can be met by the product or service you offer.

4. Define your promotional goals on IG or Instagram. You can use the acronym SMART to help define goals. Your goal should be:

Specific

For example, do you want to advertise to increase IG followers to increase the number of website visitors, or so that more people contact your CS? How many Instagram followers, website visitors or prospects do you want to get? Specify the amount.

Measurable

Set criteria to determine whether your target has been achieved or not, or to measure how far you have achieved. For example, by setting the amount of turnover you want to achieve, you can find out how far you are from the target. Whether the target has been exceeded or not.

Similar to Specific above, we are talking about using numbers that make measurement easier.

Achievable (Reasonable and achievable)

Your goals should be high but not grandiose. Past data is very useful for planning the ideal target.

But if you don't have past data you can still set a target that you can divide into several stages. Evaluate each stage and make improvements in order to achieve the target of each stage.

Relevant (Relevant to your needs)

If your goal of advertising using Instagram is to increase the number of interactions, then you must understand what the relationship between the increasing number of interactions and the growth of your business is.

Every business is unique, and not necessarily a successful advertising objective for someone else's business is suitable for your business.

Time-bound (There is a deadline)

If there is no deadline for advertising on Instagram, it will tend to run away without evaluation and improvement. This of course will waste a lot of time and resources.

5. Map out potential customers for your product or service. When you create an ad, you can target a specific audience. Choose your audience carefully and Ads will be shown to the people who are most likely to use your product or service. These questions can help define your audience:

• Who do you want to reach?
• What would your ideal customer look like?
• What are they interested in?
• What businesses are they interested in?

How to Advertise on Instagram

According to the official guide, there are 3 ways you can use to place ads on Instagram:

1. From within the Instagram application, which is to promote posts that you have published on Instagram.

2. Using Facebook Ads Manager. You can create more specific Instagram ad campaigns there such as targeting or selecting ad placements.

3. Use the services of an advertising agency that will help you create advertisements and their materials.

Details of each method above can follow below. Please note that the methods listed here are only a guide and do not have to be followed exactly every time you create an ad.

If you've never advertised on Instagram, it's a good idea to follow it exactly first, and then after you get used to advertising on Instagram and get to know more about its features you can adjust the steps according to your needs.

Via the Instagram App (Creating Direct Ads from Posts or Stories)

Follow the steps below to start creating ads directly from the Instagram app:

1. Select the post or story you want to promote. In selecting the posts or stories you want to advertise, consider which photos or videos best represent the purpose of your ad. Some of these things might help you choose the best creative:

a. Choose posts or stories that contain popular products or your product benefits or customer testimonials.

b. Use posts and stories that are likely to attract the attention of those who see your ad and support the advertising objectives you are trying to achieve.

c. Simple photos and videos that look like regular posts are the best at grabbing your audience's attention.

d. If you use stories to advertise make sure they are less than 15 seconds long. Ads longer than 15 seconds will be divided into separate segments.

e. If you share a video story ad that is longer than 15 seconds, make sure the video is suitable for dividing into separate sections where each section is 15 seconds long. Instagram will divide the segments automatically.

2. Tap Boost Post below the post or Boost if you select stories

3. Set the page to go when people click on your ad. Is:

a. Your Instagram profile containing photos of your products, services, or portfolio

b. Your website if you have an online store or if you present a much more complete product/service description on your website.

c. They can directly message you either to ask for more information about the goods or services you are selling, to make an appointment for a product demo, or any questions a potential customer may have.

4. Define your audience. Map out the right people to see your ad. For your campaign to be successful your advertising must reach the right people. One group of people who might be interested in your product or service are those who are already your followers. You can take advantage of the presence of your followers to automatically form an audience that will be used in your ads (select Automatic in the Audience section).

But if you want to create your own audience then you have to specify the location, gender, age, and interests of the people who are most likely to be interested in your business. For example, if you wanted to advertise your store selling children's toys then you might want to direct your ad to be seen by adults within 10 kilometers of your store, who are interested in parenting, toys, and shopping topics.

5. Set the ad budget and duration. You can then decide how much money you want to spend and how long your ad will run. To get maximum results you are advised to allow sufficient time to run ads (at least 7 days).

If you want to use advertising to promote an upcoming event such as a sale or a new product launch then you need to take into account the time lag between the ad starting and the date of your event.

6. Set the payment method. The final and next step is to choose your payment method.

  

Using Facebook Ads Manager

You must have a page or be an admin of a page on Facebook that is linked to an Instagram profile to be able to advertise on Instagram using Facebook Ads Manager.

Choosing an Instagram Ad Destination

Visit https://business.facebook.com/adsmanager/ then log in. You will arrive at a page like this:

Click the “Create” button to start creating ads. Next, you need to select your ad objective.

Facebook will use your choices to determine ad formats, bid options, and optimization of ad placement accordingly. The destination options offered are:

• Brand Awareness: Increase awareness of the brand, product, or service that you offer.
• Reach: Show your ad to as many people as possible within the target you have set.
• Traffic (Visits): Directs Facebook or Instagram users to the URL you have chosen, such as your website's landing page, blog article, app, etc.
• Engagement: Reach people who are most likely to interact with your ad.
• App Installs (Install App): Directs users to the App Store or Google Play Store to download your app.
• Video Views: Show your ad to people in your audience who are most likely to be interested in watching your video ad.
• Lead Generation (Gathering Prospects): To collect lead data (email addresses and phone numbers of people) for sales and marketing purposes.
• Messages: Connect and communicate using Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp.
• Conversions: Reach people who are most likely ready to take certain actions, such as shopping, signing up, and so on.
• Catalog Sales: To promote products that are in the product catalog of your e-commerce site.
• Store Traffic: To get people to visit your physical store location.

If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you should choose “Brand awareness.”

However, if your goal is to increase sales then you can choose “Conversions” or “Catalog sales,” depending on whether you want to sell using your own website or using Facebook (you will need to create a Product Catalog if you want to sell using Facebook).

Scroll down after selecting the objective and proceed with naming the ad campaign, ad set, and ad.

Click Continue or Continue then you will arrive at this screen.

Here you can set the budget you want to spend in the Campaign Budget Optimization section. If you enable Campaign Budget Optimization then we recommend that you choose a daily budget instead of a lifetime budget because the daily budget will be easier to modify if necessary.

If you choose to disable Campaign Budget Optimization then you will be able to set the budget for each adset/ad set later. For now, just activate Campaign Budget Optimization and then click Next.

On the next screen, you will set Ad Set or ad sets. Here you will be able to choose which page to go to if someone clicks on your ad and the audience you want to target.

Depending on the campaign objective or ad campaign you have previously selected, you will be able to select your destination page here. In the image below the selected campaign objective is Traffic or Visits.

Scroll down and you will be able to set the budget and duration of the ad set. If you choose to enable Campaign Budget Optimization in the campaign screen above, you cannot set the ad set budget here.

But if you disable it then here you will be able to set the ad set budget. In addition, you can also set the duration of how long your ad will be displayed.

Choosing a Target Audience for Instagram Ads

Your Instagram target audience is one of the important factors that will determine the performance of your campaign. There are 3 different targeting options that you can use:

1. Saved Audiences
2. Custom Audiences
3. Lookalike Audiences

With Saved Audiences, you can target Facebook and Instagram users based on their location, demographics, interests, and more.

If it's your first time or not a lot of advertising using Instagram, it's a good idea to choose Saved Audience. You can set your audience based on the following demographic choices:

• Location (Location)
• Age (Age)
• Gender (Gender)
• Language (Language)
• Detailed targeting
• Connections

With so many targeting options available, you must set aside time and money to find the optimal “recipe.” Record the results of each of your ads, try other “recipes” and compare the results.

In addition to Saved Audiences, using Custom and Lookalike Audiences you can reach people who have already visited your website or whose profile is similar to your current customers.

After selecting your audience, you can proceed with selecting ad placements. If you use automatic placements, Facebook will show your ads on Facebook, Instagram, and the Audience Network of other ad platforms. Therefore, if you only want your ads to appear only on Instagram then select Manual Placements or Manual Placements and disable other placements besides Instagram. Furthermore, you can choose whether your ad will appear on Instagram (either feed, stories, explore, reels).

Composing Instagram Ads

The final step in advertising on Instagram is uploading the creative, writing the ad copy, and entering the landing page. First, you will choose the type of ad you want. The available options are:

• Single image or video ad
• Carousel ads
• Collection ads

If you have a Collection ad type then you must select the Instant Experience you want to use and set it according to the brand, product, or service you are advertising. Don't forget that in order to use Collection ads you must create a Facebook Product Catalog / Facebook Product Catalog.

If you want to use a single image or video ad then the next step is to upload the creative, write the ad copy, and your desired landing page.

Likewise, with carousel ads, the only difference is that here you can upload more than one image or video.

You can create 50 ads (ads) in one ad set (ad set). Use this space to test different creatives and copy and find the advertising method that works best for your business.

After setting everything from the campaign (campaign), ad set (ad set) and ad (ads) click the green Publish or Publish button on the bottom right. Your ad will be reviewed and if approved will start running

Monitoring Instagram Ad Performance

You will be able to know the results of your Instagram ad after your ad has been running for 48 hours. You can view your ad reports in Facebook Ads Manager where you can filter which ads to show by date, ad objective, and more.

Click the campaign for which you want to view a report. You will be taken to the ad sets (ad set) report. If you click on the ad set then you will be able to see the report of the ad (ads) that are in the ad set.

To see more variables, select the column group you want in the Columns section.

In addition to the various variables that you can select through Columns, you can also view reports in more detail using the Breakdown menu. This menu allows you to filter reports by:

• Views: age, gender, location, platform, device, time of day, etc.
• Actions: conversion device, destination page, video view type, video sound, carousel card, etc.
• Time: day, week, 2 weeks, month

By using the Breakdown or Breakdown menu you can compare the results obtained from one ad placement with another, for example between placements in the Instagram feed and ad placements in stories.

Some of the variables you should pay attention to in your Instagram ad reports are the result, cost-per-result (cost per result), and return on ad spend (revenue on ad spend).

Based on these key metrics, you can understand whether your campaign corresponds to your expectations. If the results are worse than you expected, consider changing your target audience or improving your ad creatives.

Types of Instagram Ads

Single Image Ads (Single Image)

This type of Instagram ad is the first ad format available on Instagram. These ads are widely used to showcase the products and services offered.

This type of ad is suitable for use if you are just starting to learn how to advertise on Instagram because it is easy and simple to set up. In the future, if you are familiar with the Instagram ad platform you can improve your advertising techniques by using video or collection ads which perform better than single-image ads.

Include the following elements if you're using a single image ad:

• Logo
• Products or goods related to your product or service
• Advantages, benefits, advantages you offer

Video Ads

Video ads are widely used to tell a compelling story about a brand, product, or service. This ad has a higher engagement rate than the single image ad format because it attracts more attention.

In addition to engaging stories, you can also use fast-paced video ads to keep viewers watching your ad to the end. This is because people are used to switching videos or images quickly so if your content is slow then it is more likely that users will skip your content.

Instagram video ads are suitable for brands related to lifestyle, beauty, and fashion. You can create video ads on Instagram stories and feeds. But keep in mind that these two placements have different video dimensions.

Collection Ads

The Instagram collection ad displayed in the feed consists of a square image or video as the cover followed by the 3 desired images. Collection ads are widely used by e-commerce sites to promote goods sold on these sites.

In collection ads, users can browse several products and can directly buy products directly from the ad. If this ad is clicked, the visitor will be directed to an Instant Experience that matches your product catalog on Facebook and Instagram.

Although the setup is more complicated, collection ads can deliver better results than other types of ads if managed carefully. One way to maximize the use of collection ads is to use a captivating cover image and use matching color shades.

Carousel Ads

Instagram Carousel Ads allow you to post multiple images or videos in a single post. This type of ad is very helpful if you want to show several views or aspects of your product or service in one post. This ad can also be an alternative if you want to show a series of stories about your brand, product, or service.

Overall, carousel ads are suitable for:

• Showcase multiple products in 1 post
• Compose a story using several pictures or videos
• Showing a product from a different point of view
• Displays product variants that are slightly different from each other

You can choose to have Facebook set the order of the cards to be displayed (the best performing cards appear first) or to set the order of the carousel cards yourself (if your carousel cards tell you something).

Stories Ads

Instagram stories ads appear on the sidelines when visitors browse stories. Due to the story format that fills the mobile screen, the creative dimensions of this type of ad are also different. Stories ads are worth considering because every day there are 500 million Instagram users who view stories.

In addition, with story ads, you can add video effects, face filters, and animations to your videos and amplify stories that can make Instagram users watch your ad to the end and click on the destination page that you have set.

Stories ads also tend to perform better because people are used to seeing video content shared by other accounts using stories. Oh yes, besides videos you can also use images to create Instagram stories ads.

Explore ads

This type of ad appears in the Explore section of Instagram. Explore ads help advertisers reach people who are looking for accounts to follow. You can use your regular Instagram posts (both photos and videos) as material for Explore ads.

Shopping Ads

Instagram shopping ads allow advertisers to tag their sales in their Instagram ads so visitors can tap the tag to see more information about a product and then buy it.

When a visitor taps a product tag, a product description page will be displayed in the Instagram app. After that, they can make purchases through your website.

Shopping ads are a great choice for brand owners of lifestyle products such as fashion and home interiors to showcase their products. With shopping ads you can:

• Expand reach and build brand awareness
• Attract new customers
• Interact with existing customers

IGTV ads

The IGTV commercial made its debut this past March 2020. These ads are shown in between IGTV broadcasts where after a few seconds the visitor can click a button to skip the ad. As the name implies, this ad can only use video as its material.

How to Create Interesting Ads on Instagram

Use flashy creatives

Interesting posts will be able to make Instagram users stop scrolling and listening to your posts. One way that you can do to attract the attention of Instagram users is to create posts that are sized according to the Instagram format. Don't forget to include a logo and use colors that are identical to your brand.

You don't need to use high-end photo or video equipment to create good creatives but your photos and videos should be sharp, well-lit, and in focus. You can also use infographics, vector graphics, or animations for creatives.

Here are some ideas for creatives:

• The atmosphere of your office/factory (of course if it is attractive and instagrammable)

• Beautifully designed aphorisms

• Steps to produce something using your product

• Regrams from customers who are currently/already using your product/service

Make it look natural

Your ad should grab attention but it should also look natural. To do this, use materials that show people who are benefiting from your products and services, not just show them.

Many people, including you, don't like being treated to advertisements that openly sell, but they will be interested if they see the benefits offered can be useful in solving the problems they face.

Write Captions That Attract Attention

Instagram captions can contain 2,200 characters but only 2 lines are displayed in full. The rest is hidden behind the words "More". Therefore it is very important to grab the attention of visitors in the first 125 characters (for ads).

Use the carousel to tell stories

Advertising on Instagram doesn't have to use just one image. You can use the carousel to use more than 1 image at a time. With a carousel, you can assemble these images into a series that tells about your product or service.

Use the carousel not only to tell the advantages of your product or service but also how your product can be part of the daily life of your advertising target.

Things That Affect Instagram Advertising Costs

The cost of creating an ad on Instagram depends on many things from your target audience to the quality of your creativity. However, the 2 things below are the main determinants of how much you will spend:

1. Your ad campaign budget per period and your bid (the amount you're willing to pay) – the higher your bid, the stronger your ad will be. You can use automatic bidding if you're not sure what the right bid is for each click or 1,000 impressions.
2. Your ad quality score – the relevance and engagement of your ad will directly affect the cost of your ad and how high priority your ad gets over other ads.

You should also always pay attention to your ROAS (Return of Ad Spend), i.e. the return on advertising costs you spend. Depending on the objective of your ad, make sure that your ad objective is achieved and that the value of the objective is greater than the cost of the ad.

FAQ

Are Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads the same?

Facebook and Instagram are owned by the same company therefore ads for both platforms can be created using Facebook Ads Manager or Facebook Ads Manager. You can create Facebook and Instagram ads at the same time using this Facebook Ads Manager. Some of the ad formats and dimensions you use on Instagram can use on Facebook and vice versa.

However, advertising activity and advertising results on these two platforms cannot be said to be exactly the same due to certain differences such as demographics and user behavior.

What is Facebook Ads Manager?

Facebook Ads Manager is a platform provided by Facebook to create ads on Facebook and Instagram and review the results.

How much does it cost to advertise on Instagram?

The more budget you have the better because you can reach more people in a long time. However, with IDR 105,000 you can advertise on Instagram for 6 days. This amount is of course not binding depending on the audience and the advertising method you choose.

What is the minimum deposit to do Instagram Ads?

There are no provisions from Instagram. As mentioned above, if IDR 105,000 can be used for 6 days then for a day's advertising you only need IDR 17,500.

Can I place an ad on Instagram without having a Facebook Page?

If you are using Facebook Ads Manager then it is currently not possible to create Instagram ads without having a Facebook Page. You can create Instagram ads directly from the Instagram app if you don't have a Facebook Page. But of course, these ad reports will not be displayed in Facebook Ads Manager.

Can I create Instagram ads without having an Instagram account?

Can! But you need a Facebook Page and there are a few things you need to pay attention to:

• Your Facebook page profile name and photo will be used in your Instagram ads.
• You will not be able to reply to comments on your Instagram ads.
• Your Facebook Page name will be used as if it were your Instagram name. This name will not be clickable and if your page name is longer than 30 characters it will be truncated and replaced with characters (“…”).

Do Instagram ads show on Instagram desktop?

Not. Instagram ads are only shown in the Instagram app on Android and iOS devices. If you want your ads to appear on your desktop you can use Facebook ads.