Instagram Advertising: Frequently Asked Questions

Picture this: You're scrolling through Instagram, double-tapping all of the posts you see, when you stumble across a post from an account you don't follow. Why is it there? Why is it on your feed? And most importantly… Why do you want to buy the product in the post so badly? There's an easy answer to all of these questions: Instagram advertising.

Why is Instagram advertising so important?

As far as social media platforms go, Instagram is booming. Approximately 1 billion people are using Instagram per month, and the app gets 500 million users per day. It's a platform that people use to become influencers and become influenced. After all, people come to Instagram to discover new things, so why not discover your brand?

Why should I use Instagram Advertising for my brand?

Because it could be the perfect move for your business to increase sales. Advertising gives you the opportunity to create brand exposure and awareness (in other words, it'll get the word out on your company), it can gain new followers that otherwise would have never seen your brand or content, and it can drive more traffic (and possibly more sales) to your website.

Will this cost me a lot of money?

Let's face it, we all want to get the best bang-for-your-buck advertising, so let's get real about the numbers. Instagram ad costs focus on two categories: CPC (cost per click) and CPM (cost per mille, or cost per thousand). The average CPC for Instagram varies according to many sources, but the average can range between $0.20 and $0.80 CPC and can even go up to $5 CPM if your ad receives a lot of attention.

Do I get to have control over my ad?

Yes! Instagram advertising makes it easy for you to make your ad as targeted and detailed as possible. You get control over the amount you spend (and deciding how much you want to spend per day, or how much you want to spend in the lifetime of the ad or boosted post), the extra extensions (like link clicks on the post), your bid method, and even what times of the day you want your ad to be run. This gives you a lot of control over how your ad is seen and engaged with.

This all sounds great, so how do I start?

Before you even think about making an ad, you want to make sure that you have a Facebook business profile, and an Instagram business profile. Make sure they're connected. Already done this step? Great, then let's create your ad! You can build you ad from the ground up and decide all of the specific details such as audience and objective by using your ads manager, but if you already have some posts on your profile you can try promoting your post. To promote your post, simply navigate to your Instagram profile, then click "Promotions" and choose a post you want people to see. Then, you'll be prompted to choose the timeline you want your ad to run, and the amount you want to spend. After all of this, your ad will be reviewed, and you'll get a notification in your Instagram account when the ad is approved and running.

What's the difference between a regular post and a promoted post?

The great thing about promoted posts is that people outside of your followers will see it. Think about it, when you post on your account, only the people that follow you (or that stumble across your profile) will see it, which means not many new eyes will be discovering your brand. How can you grow sales if only the same people are seeing your posts day-in and day-out? With boosted posts and ads, people outside of your followers will be seeing it in their feeds, which means more and more unique eyes will be on your post, which means a much stronger possibility of growing sales for your company.

With promoted posts, you can also add extra extensions to the post which make it easier for the viewer to click straight to your website. If you add a link as an extension, a solid bar that says "Learn More" will appear under the image of the post and above the caption. When people click it, they will be taken straight to your company's website. Now that's an easy way to get a conversion!

How do I know if these ads and promoted posts are working?

What would advertising be without analytics! To view your analytics in Instagram, simply click on "Promotions" from your Instagram profile, and click "Past Promotions," then pick one of your past promoted posts. Here, you'll be able to see how much you spent, what the audience was that saw the post, the number of profile visits due to your post, the interactions, and the website visits. You'll also be able to track how many people that weren't following you saw the post and the impressions the post got.

If you want to look further into the analytics of your ad or boosted post, you can see the audience's gender, age range, and location to determine if the audience was right for your post.

Were you happy with the results of your boosted post? If so, you can promote it again using the same audience and ad spend as before, or you can even try switching it up by changing the audience or ad spend.

I know enough about boosted posts now, but what types of Instagram ads can I make?

Much like creating regular posts, Instagram ads give you the ability to get creative with your style of post.

Image Feed Ad

If you're just interested in posting a static image, that's called an Image Feed Ad - it's the standard format for posts and ads. It's a single image that you can add a caption and Call-To-Action buttons like "Contact Us" and "Shop Now."

Video Feed Ads

A Video Feed Ad is exactly what it sounds like - it's a video! Your video can be up to 60-second-long and can include the same Call-To-Action buttons that the Image Feed Ads have. One thing to keep in mind with Video Feed Ads is that you can't rely on sound. Most people scroll quickly through Instagram and rarely click to enable to sound, so make sure to capture the viewer's attention even when the video is muted!

Carousel Feed Ads

You know the posts that have multiple photos as one post, so you have to scroll left and right to see all of them? That's what a Carousel Feed Ad is. You can pick up to 10 images for one ad, and you can include Call-To-Action buttons. A unique feature of Carousel Feed Ads is that each photo can have its own button. The first image can be "Call Now," the next can be "Contact Us," and so on and so on.

Story Ads

Story Ads are pretty simple - they're ads in Instagram stories. They can include the Call-To-Action buttons mentioned in the previous ads, but instead of clicking a bar at the bottom of the image, the viewer will be prompted to swipe up on their screen to take them to the link. These can be images or videos.

How do I know which ad is right for my brand?

Unfortunately, you won't know until you try. Instagram ads are perfect for trial-and-error scenarios. Try making one of each type of ad and seeing how each one performs. Try boosting posts to different audiences and see which posts get the most engagement. You can even try using different budgets to see what the difference in engagement and impressions is like. Instagram ads give you the perfect opportunity to play around with formatting and ad style to find the best ad for your brand. You'll never know if it works for you until you try it!

Too busy to create Instagram ads and keep an eye on performance? We completely understand. Head over to tryhyperchat.com to schedule a free consultation to learn how we can help you Turn Social Into Sales!