Instagram Ads For Businesses.

With 400+ million monthly active users, Instagram has well and truly established itself as one of the most influential social media platforms.

As of September 2015, Instagram opened up its advertising platform to allow all businesses to create Instagram ads on a self-service basis, via Facebook Power Editor. Before this, Instagram ads were only available to brands with large budgets.

Here is our simple guide to setting up Instagram ads for your business.

 What Are Instagram Ads?

As a visual platform, it’s not surprising that the ads come in the form of a photo or video, with the addition of a ‘Sponsored’ tag which sits at the top right-hand corner of the ad. The ads will typically be served from accounts that you don’t already follow.

As a user being advertised to you can then follow the brand’s account and like and/or comment on the ad.

Instagram Ad Formats

There are three different styles of Instagram ads – images, videos and carousel ads.

Image ads – these usually consist of a clear, eye-catching image with a call to action button at the bottom.

Video ads – these can be uploaded in portrait or landscape and allow you to share videos up to 30 seconds.

Carousel ads – the newest of the ad formats, carousel ads allow users to swipe through to see additional images, and can include a call to action button that takes the user to your landing page.

How To Create Instagram Adverts

To create ads on Instagram you’ll need to use the Facebook Power Editor Tool from your Facebook business account. If you’re using or managing more than one Facebook Business Page you can use the Manager Tool to manage multiple business accounts.

You can connect your Facebook Business Page to your Instagram account from the account settings but this isn’t necessary to set up your Instagram ads initially.

Create your campaign in the Facebook Power Editor

Once you’ve logged into the Facebook Power Editor Tool you can select the account you want to use and then select ‘Download to Power Editor’.

Currently there are three options for your Instagram ads – ‘clicks to website’, ‘mobile app installs’, and ‘video clicks’. Select the option that is most appropriate to your goals, and then select ‘Auction’ under ‘Buying Type’ to purchase adverts based on your target audience and duration of the ad.

Select the ad settings

When selecting your campaign settings from the ‘Manage Adverts’ section, select the ‘Advert set’ level by clicking on the middle box in the navigation bar on the left. Tick your campaign and click the edit button located on the right-hand side of the screen to access the settings.

Select your budget, schedule for your ad, optimisation and pricing, advanced delivery and the audience you want to see your ads. Be as specific and granular as you can with your audience section to ensure you’re targeting the best audience.

In the placement section you’ll need to select the Instagram box, and you can then also specify which mobile devices you’d like to target.

Create Instagram Ad

Finally, you’ll need to actually create your ad. Choose the ‘Adverts’ level in the left-hand column, select the current ad and click ‘edit’. Ensure you’ve selected the correct Facebook page with your Instagram account connected to the page.

You’ll then need to enter the text for your ad and input your destination URL for the landing page, choose your image and one of the predefined calls to action.

Available call to actions are:

• Book Now
• Contact Us
• Download
• Learn More
• Shop Now
• Sign Up
• Watch More

And then your ad will be ready to upload. Your ad will need to be reviewed, which can take up to 24 hours to go live. You can view your ad via a permalink in the Power Editor under Advert Links.

Measuring results

To ensure you measure your success with your Instagram ad, ensure you set up Conversion Tracking to see which adverts work the best.

Conclusion

By following this step-by-step guide you should have all of the information you need to set up your Instagram ad. For more help with this or some further advice please feel free to get in touch!