Getting started with Instagram advertising can feel a little daunting, especially for companies that are new to social media marketing. While social media marketing can be highly beneficial to organizations that use it to expand their customer reach, developing an ad and establishing your target audience isn’t always straightforward or easy process.
In this article, we’ll break down how to create and run a successful Instagram ad in 2023.
Why Instagram Is Essential to Any Digital Marketing Strategy
Instagram is attractive to advertisers thanks to its focus on visuals. All Instagram posts consist of photos or videos, and you won’t find much text beyond short descriptions below a post and, of course, users’ subsequent comments. All this makes Instagram the ideal channel for organizations that want to visually show off their merchandise and directly communicate with customers.
With Instagram, you can target your audience based on their behaviors, demographics, and interests. You can even set an ad to run at certain parts of the day or reappear in your audience’s feed at a later time, improving awareness of your brand. The sheer number of parameters available for advertising ensures that companies receive a far more substantial ROI for their spend than other traditional forms of marketing.
Types of Instagram Ads
You can choose from three types of Instagram ads: photo, video, or carousel ads.
A photo ad is a simple picture you want to show your audience. For instance, if you run an e-commerce retail store, you might provide a photo of a woman wearing a sweater or a pair of shoes you sell. Beneath the photo, you can implement a call-to-action button, such as a link to the page where consumers can purchase the product shown.
In a video ad, you provide content for your audience that is either relevant to their interests or showcases your merchandise or services. For instance, if you offer piano lessons, you could create a video showcasing your skills and explaining your teaching methods. Similar to photo ads, you’d provide a link to where interested audience members can learn more about your services.
Carousel ads allow you to include up to ten photos or videos in a single post. These ads are beneficial for companies that want to display several products that viewers can scroll through. For example, an e-bike manufacturer might show several pictures of their product along with a short video of someone riding the bike through city streets or over terrain.
With all of this being said, though, you’ll want to ensure you comply with Instagram ad size requirements. Photos must have a minimum resolution of 1080 x 1080 pixels, and videos uploaded to Instagram have a file size limit of 250MB and a length limit of 60 seconds.
How to Set Up Your Ad’s Audience
Once your ad’s content is ready, you can set your target audience. Aside from basic parameters, such as demographics, location, interests, and hobbies, Instagram provides additional powerful tools. For instance, you can set your ads to run only to people who’ve visited your website or are part of your email subscriber list.
If your goal is to reach new customers, you can create a lookalike audience that reflects your current audience. Instagram will automatically show your ad to people whose characteristics align with your existing customers, allowing you to reach a curated list of people likely to be interested in your brand.
Setting up your Instagram audience does take a bit of trial and error, so if you’re new to the game, you might be better off starting with a few initial advertisements with small budgets until you retain a firmer grasp of Instagram’s powerful audience tools.
Measuring the Results of Your Instagram Ad Campaign
You’ll want to examine your results each time you run an advertising campaign to determine its effectiveness, and there are various ways to do so.
On Instagram, you can check your ad’s performance through your profile page. Simply click on the Insights bar graph, and you’ll see when people viewed your ad. You can obtain additional insights as well, such as the number of people who clicked on your link, your impressions, and total engagements with your post.
You should compare the results of your Instagram posts with other ads you run to determine the content that is most likely to attract viewers. Using that information, you can adjust your campaigns to reach more potential clients and obtain more conversions.
Instagram Is a Great Way to Reach Your Customers
With Instagram video marketing, you have a robust tool that’s effective for reaching an audience likely to interact with your advertisements. Learn how to harness its technology to reach your customers better and grow your company’s revenue.
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