Create an Instagram ad campaign
Create an Instagram ad campaign
1. Determine a goal for your Instagram ad campaign that will help inform the audience, ad design, copy, duration, and budget needed for the campaign.
Begin with a clear SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound – goal. The purpose of your ad campaign might be to promote a specific product or service your business offers, drive traffic to another piece of content on your website, or generate awareness for an upcoming event.
2. Identify the audience you intend to target, based on the goal for the ad campaign.
Narrow down audiences to target based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. For example, you might choose to target an audience that includes a segment of your followers who fall between the ages of 25-40 and live within a 30-mile radius of your business’s location. Choose a retargeting campaign that aims to recapture the attention of users who previously viewed your website to reenter them in your conversion funnel.
3. Select the type of Instagram ad you want to run during your campaign. Consider what type of Instagram content already performs well for your target audience and the objective of this ad campaign.
Available Instagram ads include: Photo ad: A still image ad that appears alongside organic content as users scroll through their feeds. Video ad; A video ad that appears on users’ feeds and can be up to one minute in length. Story ad: A full screen ad that appears between viewers’ Instagram stories. Carousel ad: A series of photos or videos that users can swipe through on their feeds. Shopping ad: An ecommerce ad that directs users to a product page within the app, with the option for the user to click your website to complete a purchase. Collection ad: An ecommerce ad that displays multiple products and allows users to purchase directly from the ad. Explore ad: An ad that appears before another post on the Explore page after a user clicks on it. IGTV ad: A video ad that appears before IGTV content.
4. Design the ad creative and write compelling ad copy that persuades your target audience to follow the CTA for the ad.
Use your copywriting and design skills to create on-brand copy and visual elements for your ad that will be engaging for your viewers. Instagram allows you to add a simple CTA, such as Contact Us, Shop Now, Check Availability, or Download. These add an easy and direct way for your audience to complete the desired action.
5. Promote an existing Instagram post by tapping the Promote button underneath it directly in the app, and fill in the campaign details.
You need to have a business Instagram account and link it to a Facebook business page to access these promotion features. The details you need to provide for the campaign include your target audience, budget, the duration for the ad, and a URL to link to the CTA.
6. Set up a new ad campaign by navigating to Facebook Ads Manager > Campaigns > Create and follow the prompts to fill in your ad objective, target audience, ad placements, budget, schedule, ad format, and CTA.
You need a business Instagram account that is linked to a Facebook business page to access the advertising features. The default view in the Facebook Ads Manager takes you through Guided Creation. This includes helpful information and prompts for those unfamiliar with the platform. To turn this off, select Switch to Quick Creation from the Create a New Campaign page.
7. Determine a budget for your ad campaign that fits within your overall advertising budget, and allows for the most potential reach for the ad's duration.
Select a custom start and end date for your campaign, or you can choose to run the ad continuously with a set, limited daily budget. Choose to set a lifetime budget for the ad, which sets a budget cap on the total campaign.
8. Track and analyze the results of your ad campaign to measure impressions, conversions, and return on ad spend.
Monitoring and analyzing the results of each ad campaign identify valuable information about what tactics work well for your audience, to improve your advertising strategy over time.