8-Step Guide to Using Instagram Ads [2023 Edition]  

Instagram adds are posts that promote a business's products or services. The posts can appear in multiple ways, such as an Instagram feed, stories, or both. They can include images or video along with copy and a link to the web page of the company's choice.

Learn how to create successful Instagram ads by addressing an audience that's ready to shop on the platform.

Table of Contents :

• Introduction

• Advantages of advertising on Instagram

• How much do Instagram ads cost?

• Types of Instagram ads

• How to advertise on Instagram: setting up an ad step-by-step

• 6 Instagram ad tips

• Instagram ad examples

• Conclusion 

• FAQ 

1. Introduction: 

Instagram ads are posts businesses can pay to serve to specific target groups on Instagram. These ads appear in users’ feeds, Stories, and explore pages in the same format as organic content from other Instagram accounts. Instagram ads look similar to normal posts but always contain a Sponsored label to indicate that they are an ad. They also often have more features than a normal post, such as links, CTA buttons, and product tags.

2. Advantages of advertising on Instagram : 

Learning how to make Instagram ads has a lot of potential benefits. Here are some of the advantages of using Instagram advertisements:

• Increase your brand’s following : Running Instagram ads can help boost your brand’s following by making your business easier to discover. When people share your posts or your posts go viral, you can reach a very large audience.

• Easily communicate with followers : Because people tend to check their social media accounts often, Instagram can be a good way to communicate with your followers. You can use different types of Instagram ads to let people know about new products, new services, or any significant changes you’re making to your brand.

• Inexpensive advertising option : While learning how to run Instagram ads has a bit of a learning curve, these ads are relatively cheap. Advertising on Instagram can be a good way to get more bang for your buck when it comes to marketing.

• Smart targeting : You can use smart targeting to target specific groups of customers. Smart targeting can be effective if you have a specific target audience who may be interested in a product or service .

3. How much do Instagram ads cost : 

The cost of Instagram ads depends on the total budget, duration, and objectives you’ve set for your ad or campaign. You can set a daily or lifetime budget for your Instagram ads, so it’s up to you how much you want to spend. Note that there is no best practice for how much to spend, but Meta recommends starting with at least $5.00 per day.

4. Types of Instagram ads :

 There are many different types of advertising formats on Instagram, including:

• Image ads

• Story ads

• Video ads

• Carousel ads

• Collection ads

• Explore ads

• Shopping ads

• Reels ads

The wide range means that you can choose the best ad type that matches your specific business goals. Instagram ads now support six simplified campaign objectives. Call-to-action options will vary based on the ad type and objective you choose .

5. How to advertise on Instagram: 

There are two routes for creating Instagram ads campaigns: boosting an existing post and creating a new ad in the Meta Ads Manager . Promoting an existing post only takes a few taps and can be done right from the Instagram app, but lacks the customization options available in Instagram Ads Manager. 

Below, we’ll walk you through most wanted method. 

Using Instagram Boost

The easiest way to start advertising on Instagram is to promote one of your existing posts. This is similar to Facebook's boosts post option . If you have a post that is performing well in terms of engagement, promoting it within the app is a quick and easy method to scale up the post’s success—and show it to new people who aren’t following you yet. 
You’ll need a business or creator account on Instagram to do this. You’ll also need to have a Facebook Business Page connected to your Instagram account (here’s how to connect your Facebook and Instagram account in Facebook Business Manager).
Then, it’s as simple as clicking Boost post on the post you wish to turn into an ad.

Next, choose your goal. You’ll have three options: more profile visits, more website visits, or more messages (this includes more WhatsApp messages).

Then, define your audience. You can either choose to let Instagram automatically determine your audience (based on your follower data). Or, you can create your own audience by manually entering your targeting options.

Now choose your daily budget and the duration of time you want the ad to run. You can either choose a set number of days or let it run infinitely until you manually pause it.

Finally, review your ad and click Boost post when you’re ready to go live.

6. 6 Instagram ad tips : 

Now you have everything you need to know about setting up and launching Instagram ads. The next step is designing effective visual assets for your ads.
Here are some tips for how to design attention-grabbing creative for Instagram ads:

1. Design mobile-first ads

More than 4.08 billion users access social media via a mobile device, so it's vital to design your creative for mobile viewing, not desktop.
Here are a few tips for designing mobile-first ads:
• When capturing video content, make sure to film in vertical (9×16) as this is easier to crop to 4×5 than from landscape
• Minimize the amount of text in your ads
• If you do add text, choose large font sizes that are easy to read on mobile screens
• Add animations and motion graphics to videos to quickly engage viewers

• Keep videos short (15 seconds or less)

2. Keep branding and messaging upfront

The first few seconds of your ad will determine whether a viewer will stop scrolling and watch The whole thing. That's why it's important to start your ad with the key message and showcase your branding within the first 3 seconds.

3. Use sound to delight

Data suggests that 69% of users consume social media with sound off. As such, it's important to design your ads for sound-off consumption and to use sound to delight users who do have sound on. Here's how to do that:

• Use visual elements to tell your story and deliver your key message without sound  

• Add captions for any voiceover or scripted audio

• Use text overlay to deliver your key message without sound

4. Pitch, play, plunge

Facebook recommends designing a combination of creative types that work together to grab attention and reward interest:

• Pitch: Short assets that get the campaign idea across immediately and grab attention
Play: Assets that allow light exploration and interactivity for interested audiences

• Plunge: Immersive assets that allow people to go in-depth into your campaign idea

5. Use a variety of ad types 

With so many Instagram ad types to choose from, you can experiment to find the right combination of visuals and messaging that resonates best with your target audience. Consider incorporating video ads, Story ads, carousel posts, collections, shoppable posts, and more into your advertising approach.
Similarly, get creative with your creative! Why not test out some meme ads, or create custom illustrations, or GIFs to get your message out? Remember, Instagram ads should reflect your brand's overall aesthetic and style. But that said, there's no reason why you shouldn't switch things up to keep your audience engaged.

6. Leverage analytics to see where you stand 

The best way to know if your Instagram ads are performing well is to measure their effectiveness with analytics. Instagram’s native reporting tool offers insights into key metrics such as impressions, clicks, engagement rate, and ROI.

You can also use third-party tools to track your campaign performance in more detail and make data-driven decisions on improving future ad campaigns.

7. Instagram ad examples : 

You can choose a daily or one-time budget for your ads. Once you’ve decided, the ad manager will spend that money to place your ad where the algorithm thinks it’ll be most efficient. 

For example, if the first couple days or weeks of data show your ad performing well during a certain day—or certain time of day—more of the ad money will be allocated to those spots for higher visibility during peak times.

To get inspired, let’s look at some successful Instagram ad campaigns from other brands. As you browse these Instagram ad examples, consider the types of visuals used, where ads are placed within stories, and how businesses use copy to engage their target audiences.

Instagram Reels, Story, and video ads are a great way to showcase how your product works–especially when it’s a technical item like vessi’s new waterproof gloves. Here, Vessi uses an Instagram Reels ad to show the product in action.

8. Conclusion :

Now that you looked at some Instagram ad examples, you’re ready to create engaging and click-worthy Instagram ads! If you want some help creating Instagram ads that drive revenue and customers, We can help. With our Instagram advertising services, we can help you craft engaging ads that help you earn more leads and sales. Our team knows how to drive results .

Contract us online or mail us @saimasadi today at  to speak with an experienced social media strategist!

FAQs :  

1. What are Instagram ad rules ?

Branded content may only be posted by Facebook Pages, Groups, and profiles and Instagram accounts with access to the branded content tool. Creators cannot accept anything of value to post content that does not feature themselves or that they were not involved in creating.

2. How long do Instagram ads last ?

Instagram video ads in Stories are full screen vertical ads that appear between Stories. Most are 15 seconds or less, though Instagram can accommodate videos up to 60 seconds long.

3. How to do Instagram ads step by step? 

To get started creating your first Instagram ad, log into your Facebook Ad Account, head over to your ads manager and start a new campaign.

4. Dose Instagram charge for promotion ?

Promoting your posts on Instagram can cost as little as US$5. Once you've selected the post or Story you want to promote, you can set a budget for how much you'd like to spend and your post will be boosted until this money runs out. You pay for promotion on a CPC (cost per click) basis.

5. What should I write on Instagram ad ? 

Here are five tips for writing Instagram ad copy that will convert your audience into customers.

1. Make it flow. While your image should be the “inspiration” that your audience initially sees, your copy should be the “information” to augment it.

2. Keep it simple. 

3. Engage your audience.

4. Include a CTA.

5. Limit your hashtags.

6. What is the best audience interest for Instagram ads?

One of the highest-engagement Instagram audiences are the people who already like your brand. Being your Instagram followers makes them also more likely to like all your posts and Instagram promotions. When setting up a Saved Audience, you can select to target your Facebook Page fans or the friends of your fans.