DIGITAL MARKETING

Is Instagram Advertising Worth It?

Is Instagram Advertising Worth It?

Find out why advertising on this visual-first platform is important to your business.

What is Instagram advertising?

Instagram advertising lets you visually highlight your products or services to its users. Through Instagram ads, you get to promote your business in an authentic way without seeming like you’re hard-selling to your audience.

In addition, your business may also lead your followers to your business website, encourage them to download your app, and more.

To do this, your ads may be displayed in several formats. The type of format you’ll choose depends on your business goals and call-to-action options available.

Types of Instagram Ads for businesses

1) Image/photo ads
This is the standard ad format for most businesses starting out with Instagram advertising. Image ads (also called photo ads) let you feature your products and services through compelling images.

This type of ads helps with business goals like:
– Enhancing brand awareness.
– Increasing catalog sales.
– Improve conversions.
– Increase engagement.
– Assist lead generation.
– Encourage messages from customers.
– Enhance reach.
– Increase online or physical store traffic.
– Increasing app installs.

2) Video ads
Video ads take a step further by highlighting your products or services within videos up to a minute long. This type of ads may also showcase your brand or business.

Video ads are suitable for business goals like:
– Enhancing brand awareness.
– Improve conversions.
– Increase engagement.
– Assist lead generation.
– Encourage messages from customers.
– Enhance reach.
– Increase online or physical store traffic.
– Increasing app installs.
– Promote video views.

3) Carousel ads
Carousel ads are a series of images or videos that enhance a product or service’s showcase. You can use this compilation of images or videos to provide a deeper look into a single product/service, highlight multiple products/services, or share a multi-part story.

Carousel ads are suitable for business goals like:
– Enhancing brand awareness.
– Increasing catalog sales.
– Improve conversions.
– Assist lead generation.
– Encourage messages from customers.
– Enhance reach.
– Increase online or physical store traffic.
– Increasing app installs.

4) Stories ads
Stories ads appear between your follower’s Stories. They are full-screen image or video ads that are seamlessly woven into their Story-viewing experience. Your business can make your Stories ads more fun and customised to your audience with video effects, face filters, and more.

This type of ads helps with business goals like:
– Enhancing brand awareness.
– Improve conversions.
– Assist lead generation.
– Encourage messages from customers.
– Enhance reach.
– Increase online or physical store traffic.
– Increasing app installs.
– Promote video views.

5) Collection ads
Businesses with their own ecommerce store should consider using Collection ads. Your followers will have the option to purchase your products directly from the ad.

Instagram Collection ads help with business goals like:
– Increasing catalog sales.
– Improve conversions.
– Increase online or physical store traffic.

6) Explore ads
‘Explore’ is the Instagram screen where its users discover new content and accounts. If your target audience likes to try out new products, Instagram Explore ads should be in your advertising plan.

However, ads do not appear in the Explore grid or the topic channels. The ads appear after someone clicks on a photo or video from Explore.

This type of ads helps with business goals like:
– Enhancing brand awareness.
– Improve conversions.
– Increase engagement.
– Assist lead generation.
– Encourage messages from customers.
– Enhance reach.
– Increase online store traffic.
– Increasing app installs.
– Promote video views.

7) Instagram Shopping ads
If you have a business profile with Instagram and have set up with Instagram Shopping, you can use shoppable posts as Instagram ads. This type of ads will take users directly to a product description page within the Instagram app. Then, they can purchase through your mobile website.

Instagram Shopping ads help with business goals like:
– Enhancing brand awareness.
– Improve conversions.
– Promote link clicks.
– Increase post engagement.
– Enhance reach.

Determine your Instagram advertising budget by knowing your campaign objectives, audience, and more.

How much do Instagram Ads cost?

As with most platforms, the cost of advertising on Instagram will depend on various factors. They include:

The campaign objectives
If your advertising campaign aims to increase brand awareness, its cost will be lower than another campaign that aims to convert users. This is because campaigns with higher value action (like buying a product, subscribing to your service, and similar) will cost more.

Your audience size
Advertising campaigns that target a broader audience usually cost less than those that target a narrower audience. This is because competition (and hence, cost) for ad views and clicks are higher as the audience size shrinks.

Your ad relevance score
The Relevance Score is the platform’s way to measure ad quality. The higher your ad quality, the lower your costs and the more people will see your ads. And improving your Relevance Score is as easy as:
● knowing your target audience (so your ads will always be relevant)
● doing split tests (or ‘A|B tests’) on your ads to find the best design that your audiences respond well to
● using high-quality ad images and copy to encourage your audience to click on your ads

Advertising on Instagram is a smart way to showcase your business, products, or services.

Should I try advertising on Instagram?

The short answer? Yes, you should advertise on Instagram. People spend almost as much time on Instagram as they do on Facebook. This means that up to one billion active monthly users are spending their time on the platform, seeing your ads, and possibly interacting with your business.

In addition, up to 130 million Instagram users engage with shopping posts every month. There are people who readily interact with brands on the platform, which may assist your business in increasing product awareness as well as sales.

Furthermore, up to 71% of businesses say that they use Instagram for business. This rate of adoption is due to the handy features that an Instagram Business profile can provide to a brand.

With a Business profile, you can add your business phone number and address to your profile. As well as having access to Instagram analytics which provides data about impressions, reach per post, demographic information, and more.

Important Takeaways

Instagram advertising should be a part of your business’ marketing efforts. The platform not only makes it easy to manage a business profile, it also gives you access to a young user base with higher disposable income and a desire to find their next purchase.

Using sound advertising strategies, reaching out to your target audience on this platform can be an easy way to begin your digital marketing journey.

Get started on your digital marketing campaign now. Contact us at info@pandansocial.com or visit our Facebook page.

Debbie Amboi-Payne
debbie@pandansocial.com


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