How to advertise on Instagram

Have you ever advertised yourself on Instagram or are you thinking of doing so? Do you have doubts about whether it really has value for your company and if the results are measurable?

In this article we will show How to advertise on Instagram, and we'll also look at the different configuration options. In addition, we'll learn how to optimize our existing ads.

Why advertise on Instagram?

45% of Spaniards are on Instagram and it is the third most used social network in Spain (according to the 2018 IAB social media study). It doesn't seem that this social network is going to stagnate or go backwards, at least for now, since the numbers indicate that it is an optimal social network for reaching a large number of users.

Start using Instagram

Facebook is the owner of Instagram, which means that when we want to advertise on Instagram, we must do so through Facebook Ads Manager. This also involves having a page of Facebook to be able to advertise us on Instagram.

On the contrary, it is not a necessary requirement to have an Instagram account to be able to advertise on this social network, but if you have an account, we recommend that you link it to your ads. This way, you'll be able to review and respond to comments on your ads.

If you use Facebook Business Manager, in the “business settings” section, you can claim your Instagram account. You can then associate an Instagram account with an advertising account with Business Manager. Keep in mind that the advertising account and the Instagram handle must be in the same Business Manager to associate them. You can't associate advertising accounts with another Business Manager's Instagram accounts.

You don't need a Business Manager account to create ads on Instagram, but as we mentioned, if you want to review and respond to comments about your ads, you'll need to add an Instagram account to your Business Manager or page settings.

Create an Instagram ad

Instagram ads are created from the “ad manager”, there are two creation processes: guided creation (if you need guidance) and quick creation (if you have more experience). Once you've created your ad, you'll need to make sure that you've selected Instagram in the “Ad preview” section for it to be eligible to appear on Instagram.

The first thing we should do is choose an advertising objective that is compatible with Instagram. Here are the different objectives you can choose from:

• Brand recognition
• Scope
• Traffic (for clicks to your website or app store)
• Downloading applications
• Interaction (only for interactions with posts)
• Video plays
• Conversions (for conversions on your website or app)
• Generating leads

You'll also see other objectives, such as: “Attention to Page” and “event Response” while creating an Instagram ad. It's a goal that can only be used on Facebook to get more followers on a page.

Once you've chosen the objective of your campaign, you'll need to decide your budget, your audience, the location, the type of ad, and the design and optimization of the ad.

On Instagram, you can choose to advertise in news or stories. If you want to advertise yourself in stories, the campaign objective “storage interaction”, “messages” and “conversations” cannot be used either.

Instagram ad format

On Instagram, you can choose between 4 different ad formats:

1. Image ads
2. Video ads
3. Carousel ads
4. Ads in stories

It's relatively new that we can make ads in Instagram Stories, and it's also one of the most interesting ad formats we can currently see because you can really achieve great engagement with good material. In addition, competition for ads in Instagram stories remains low, so you get maximum visibility with a relatively small budget.

How much does it cost to advertise on Instagram?

It's the million-dollar question. We are often asked this question and it's not that simple to answer, but let's try:

We could summarize it as follows: advertising on Instagram is like an auction in which you bid to show your ad within the selected audience. The greater the competition among the public, the higher the cost of a click or a visit.

When creating an ad, you choose whether you want to pay per impression or per click for your website. If you have a relatively large audience with low competition, the price is lower, but you also run the risk of getting a lot of irrelevant clicks.

The issue of price goes hand in hand with the concept of the business. Investing in a local store that you want to be visited is not the same as promoting a product online. So we will not go into prices because this has too many nuances and each case is different.

Define the type of audience you want to reach on Instagram

When you select the audience you want to target your ads, you get an estimate of the size of the volume of people we can reach. If you don't know if your audience is on Instagram, or you're wondering how much audience you can have, then it's a good idea to sign up and check first.

Below is Instagram's reach for the target audience of:

• Men and women
• 18 to 25 years old
• In a relationship

“Instagram Shopping” news

Relatively recently, Instagram announced a new feature, Instagram Shopping. You can now label products and link them directly to the page where they can be purchased. Instagram Shopping allows your customers to see the information of a product in your photos when they touch it.

You can tag up to five products per image or up to 20 products per carousel, add filters or titles.

Get approved for Instagram Shopping

If your company wants to use the Instagram Shooping functionality, it must meet the following requirements:

• Selling physical products
• Have a company profile
• Your business profile on Instagram must be associated with a Facebook directory and managed from Business Manager.

Company profile on Instagram

Instagram has made it possible to create company profiles, which have been in demand for a long time.

Unlike a personal profile, a company profile has the following characteristics:

• A button that allows followers to contact the company directly by phone, email and text or see directions to the nearest store.
• An analysis tool that provides information about the followers and the posts that work best. It provides an overview of maximum cost, reach, impressions and engagement, as well as data about followers, such as gender, age and location.
• The ability to create ads from the same application. For example, you can choose the publication that works best, add a “call to action” button, and then launch it as an advertisement.

How do I switch to a business account?

Do you use Instagram for your business but don't have a business account?

To switch from a personal account to a business account, go to “options” (it's a gear icon), and within this section, select the option “switch to company profile.

Definitely, if you have a company and you're still using a personal account, we recommend that you switch to a business account and make use of the new features, and you'll see how you'll get new opportunities and benefits.

Do you want a guide to optimizing your business account on Instagram?

Optimize and get more out of your brand on Instagram with this Whitepaper.

Instagram for Business Whitepaper

How can we help you?

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us.