How Instagram advertising works
Beginning in late 2015, anyone can learn to create Instagram ads through Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform. With it, you have complete control over your ads, how they appear and who sees them. And unlike sponsored posts and paid partnerships, your ads are displayed directly from your own account. Benefits of this Instagram advertising method include:
- Scalable prices.
- Self-service and prompt.
- Robust reporting keeps you in control.
- Highly sophisticated audience targeting.
Plus, with Instagram moving away from a chronological feed in favor of a curated feed, you never know how many of your followers will see your posts.
Types of Instagram ads
You can run five different types of Instagram ads:
1. Photo Ads
2. Video Ads
3. Carousel Ads
4. Slideshow Ads
5. Stories Ads
1. Photo Ads
A photo ad is a single photo in landscape or square format. These are the simplest in terms of visual asset needs, as you only need a single image. Here’s an example of a photo ad for outdoor e-commerce brand Fimbulvetr Snowshoes, which takes users to the snowshoe product page displayed in the ad creative.
2. Video Ads
Instagram used to have a 15-second limit on videos but has since removed that rule. Videos can now be up to 60 seconds long and can be shot in landscape or square format. Dollar Shave Club uses the video ad format in its Instagram ad to promote the new membership offer, highlighting the various products included in the offer.
3. Carousel Ads
An Instagram carousel ad can contain two to ten images and/or videos that users can view with a swipe. West Elm uses Carousel Ads to highlight its product category for its Instagram advertising campaigns.
4. Slideshow Ads
Slideshow ads are similar to video ads in that they appear as videos in users’ feeds. However, these ads are made up of a series of still images that play like a video, such as a slideshow. You can add text and audio to your slideshow ads.
5. Stories Ads
Instagram Stories advertising is one of the latest ad types available to businesses on the platform. Instagram Stories are similar to Snapchat in that they allow users and brands to share self-destructing photos and videos. Brands can also advertise on Instagram Stories with a photo or video content. Online fashion brand ASOS has very successfully used Instagram Stories ads to drive brand awareness and advertising reminders.
How to create Instagram ads
Step 1: Connect your Instagram account with your Facebook page
Step 1 in creating an Instagram ad is to link your Instagram account to your Facebook Page. You have to do this only one time.
Go to your Facebook page settings and click on the “Instagram Ads”.
Next step to click “Log In” and fill in your Instagram login credentials. If you do not already have an Instagram account, you can create an account first.
Step 2: Create an Instagram ad campaign
Once you’ve linked your Instagram account to your Facebook Page, it’s time to go to Ads Manager and create your first campaign. If you’re more comfortable using Power Editor, you can create Instagram ads there as well. If you’re already creating Facebook ads, you’ll know a lot about the process.
In Ads Manager, click the “Campaigns” tab, then click “+ Create” near the top left corner of the screen.
Next, choose the objective of your campaign. Remember, not all goals are compatible with Instagram Stories ads.
Step 3: Create your Instagram ad set
On the Ad Sets page, you’ll be able to choose “Buy” as the conversion type you want to optimize for.
You can also choose to add an offer, which will help drive even more conversions on your ad.
Next, define who you need to see your ads & how much money you need to spend. All the similar targeting options are available for Instagram ads as for Facebook ads.
If you’ve already created a Custom Audience, you can select them to target with your Instagram ad at this time.
Next, choose your ad placements. You will watch the option to run your campaign on Instagram, as well as Facebook and Messenger.
When you figure out how much you want to spend when advertising on Instagram, start small. If your ad is performing well then you can increase your budget anytime later.
When you’ve chosen who to target and how much to spend, click “Continue” in the bottom right.
On the next screen, you will watch an option to select your Instagram ad format. Please note that the canvas structure is not supported by Instagram. Once you have decided, scroll down to upload your images or videos.
After uploading your images, scroll down and you will see an option on the left side to add text to your ad.
Finally, on the right side of the text editor, you’ll be able to preview how your ad will look on Instagram. An example ad would look like this. You can also see how your ad will look in any other selected format.
Once everything looks right, click “Place Order.” Otherwise, go back & make changes.
Step 4: Analyze & optimize your Instagram ads
Her work isn’t done after launching her first Instagram ad campaign. After it’s up and running, you’ll want to monitor its performance and test measures to find the most effective messaging, creativity and targeting. Within Ads Manager, you can edit your Instagram ad to include split testing, change targeting parameters, and see an analysis of the performance of your ads.