Instagram’s advertising is done through Facebook’s existing ad platforms. This is because Instagram was bought by Facebook in April 2012 and they thought it best if Instagram ads were integrated with their platforms (Facebook Ad panel, Power Editor).
Creating Instagram Ads is basically the same as creating Facebook Ads with just a few changes when it comes to placement and creatives.
Set up a Facebook ad account
Firstly, you need to have a Facebook ad account. A Facebook Business Manager account isn’t required, but we advise you to get one, as it gives you more options.
Set your advertising objective
Objectives are the goals of your campaigns. Depending on what you select, you will have different ad options and Instagram’s algorithm will work towards that objective.
You can choose from the following objectives:
- Brand awareness.
- Reach.
- Traffic (For clicks to your website or to the app store for your app).
- App installs.
- Engagement (For post engagement only).
- Video views.
- Conversions (For conversions on your website or app).
Targeting
Describe the audience that you want to reach with many different variables. With Custom Audience and Lookalike Audience options, you can also use your own group of leads and clients.
You can choose from the following targeting options:
- Locations
- Age
- Gender
- Languages
- Interests
Placement
When you’re making your ad, you can select where your ads appear on Instagram. This is where it gets a little different from creating Facebook ads.
Budget
Once you know who you’re targeting the campaign at, you can take care of the budget. You can decide if you want to use daily or total amounts – these settings will tell Facebook how to spread your budget across the day and total campaign time.
Creation
Lastly comes the preparation of creatives. Every social media platform has different purposes and audiences. Therefore, you should adjust your content to fit the platform. For example, Instagram is the preferred choice for influencer marketing, so you might consider including an influencer in your ads in some way.
Remember that Instagram is all about enticing pictures and videos. Your ads should be well made and stand out in user feeds.
On Instagram, you can use the following: Photo Ads, Video Ads and Carousel Ads (multiple images within one ad spot). Ads can also have a call-to-action button with a link to an external website or app.
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