The key is Facebook, the largest social network in the world. It currently has more than 2.740 million active users.
Facebook has not stopped growing and has been acquiring other social networks, chat software, street map software, virtual reality software, dating app, etc.
Surprise! Instagram is part of Facebook and has more than 1,220 million active users. Facebook supports Instagram and you can imagine how is the database that arises from the union of the two social networks. Well now, add the information from Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook Watch, etc.
Facebook knows the importance of Instagram and invests in promoting new tools.
But the questions are:
- What are Instagram ads?
- What’s so great about Instagram ads?
- And how can I use them to grow my brand?
Even today, there are many people who do not understand what Instagram ads can do for them. There will even be people who think that it is a waste of time and money. Many clients even hide behind the fact that their competitors are not investing in social media ads.
Traffic, leads, sales, potential customers, increase in followers, brand recognition, etc. There are many options we have when running ad campaigns on social networks. It will depend on the strategy and the objective we seek.
Today, we’re going to answer these questions about Instagram ads: what are they, why are they important, how much do they cost, where do they fit into your overall digital strategy, etc.
What are Instagram ads?
Instagram ads are posts or stories aimed at a target audience and intended to promote content. They look like normal posts but are actually differentiated by a small endorsement tag.
Most businesses use Instagram ads to reach people who are not their followers. But you can also use them to further strengthen your brand and your followers.
These ads help attract quality users to your content, are a very powerful tool in digital marketing, and do wonders for a small business trying to build brand awareness.
These ads are made up of images, videos and texts created specifically for the intended audience.
Why are Instagram ads important?
There are countless reasons why Instagram ads are important. Depending on the objectives to be achieved, the reasons may be different.
But we can highlight 4 main reasons for any business to use Instagram ads.
Reason # 1: Instagram has a lot of traffic
Users spend more than 50 minutes a day on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
This means that your brand has the possibility to communicate with your followers or potential clients almost every day. The more you communicate with them, the more likely they will become followers or buyers.
Instagram gives your business the possibility to receive more attention and trust from your audience.
Reason # 2: Segmentation on Instagram
We enter into a very important concept “reaching your audience”. Here we begin to identify the main characteristics of your audience.
With Instagram ads, you can narrow your audience by location, demographics, interests, behaviors, people who have already bought from you, people similar to those who have already bought from you, etc. The options are endless.
Instagram and Facebook share the same advertising skills. And as we’ve discussed previously, Facebook is one of the largest data companies in the world. And in digital marketing, data is gold.
Thanks to this data, your company will have access to specific data about your target audience that can help make your ads more effective.
Reason # 3: The results
According to several studies carried out, people remember the ads they see on social networks more than they remember the ads in an article or blog.
Therefore, the ads on Instagram will last longer in people’s minds, making it more likely that they will remember your business in the future.
Reason #4: Instagram growth
The increase in users on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram is continuous. And the more users there are, the greater the audience to whom we can show your ads.
In the same way, these social networks invest more money and develop new functions on their platforms to connect with more people and increase their number of users.
How much do Instagram ads cost?
There is no single or simple answer. Let’s compare Google ads for a moment with social media ads.
We bid on a keyword in SEM, which has a cost. For example, if a keyword such as “digital marketing” costs $1 per click and we want to invest $300, we will have 300 people (approximately, since it is a bid, the cost may vary) who click on our ad.
On social media, we don’t bid on a keyword, we narrow an audience, and depending on its volume, targeting, ad placement, ad format, and competition, especially at certain times of the year, the cost of the campaign may vary. Yes, we can have an estimate of people that our ad will impact.
The best way to focus the cost of an ad campaign is for you to decide your marketing budget and how much you are willing to pay for a result.
The budget can go from $1 a day, to what you want to invest. Depending on the investment you will impact more or less people.
Tips for Instagram Ads
Have a clear objective
Instagram ads are simple and give you the ability to reach many people. Therefore, you have to decide what action you want people to take when they see it.
The biggest mistake we see in our clients when they contact us is that they want a single ad to do many things. As we always say, when you try to go in too many directions at once, you end up going nowhere.
What we always look for is the focus, that clear objective. We must define a strategy and see where the needs are.
Several examples:
- If you are a new company, you have very little traffic and very few customers, it is likely that you should focus on generating more traffic and raising awareness of your brand.
- If you are more established and have a decent amount of traffic (around 10,000 visits / month), then you probably need mre leads.
- And if you have a lot of traffic and a lot of leads, you probably need to focus on more conversions.
Install the Facebook pixel to monitor your audience
The Facebook Pixel or Facebook Tracking Pixel is a piece of code that you should install on your website as soon as possible.
This small code connects your website with Facebook, in the same way that Analytics code connects your website with Google (SEO and SEM). Facebook captures the activity that your website has, compares the data with its database and allows you to create the audiences you need on Facebook and Instagram.
Let’s take a very real example. A person comes to your website, looks at some pages or products and after a while, he leaves. This person did not send any email, did not contact by chat, did not buy anything, but it was 5 or 10 minutes on your website.
In general, this user after a few days will forget your website and you will lose that potential customer. However, if you have the Facebook pixel installed, you can show an Instagram ad to that person. This is called “retargeting” or “remarketing.”
With these types of ads is how you can start to win your audience. But remember, you must first make your brand known and generate traffic to your website.
Your ads must add value
We want to give importance to the value that the ads have to bring to your audience with this advice.
A big mistake is running ad campaigns to sell products or services to uninterested audiences.
Advertising on social media is different from advertising on radio, press or television. The format of the ad or the creatives are different.
The goal of your first few ads, especially when you are in the awareness or nurturing phase of the marketing funnel, should be to try to please people. Obviously, there are exceptions like compulsive buying products or promotions.
But the idea is to create educational content and start creating the need for your product or service. For example, ad campaigns on your blog posts, free downloads of PDF documents / guides, free trials of your software / app / service / product, free consultations, live seminars, etc, there are many options.
Our best tip: Just try to provide value first.
If you only sell and do not contribute anything, you will not generate trust in your audience and in the end you will lose it.
Final Conclusion
Now you have more extensive knowledge on how to create the best Instagram ads for your business.
There is a target audience waiting for you, which you can reach with an ad on Instagram.
If this blog was useful to you but you are not sure how to create and publish your ad, we can help you. Our digital marketing consultants will find your desired audience and create the ad campaign for you.
Are you ready? Contact us!
