Placing Ads on Instagram

Instagram isn’t just a popular and well-established social network with a huge user base; it’s not tied to any specific type of business format. That’s why it's the ideal platform for both large and small entrepreneurs in any industry, and one of the most effective channels for promoting your business online.

Identifying the Key Features of Promoting Business on Instagram

In the vast Insta-world, just like in life, we assess things visually first. We immediately notice an appealing image.

That’s why Instagram = Visuals.

The main focus isn’t on large, well-written text, but rather on high-quality content—photos and videos that can engage and attract customers. To make sure this reaches your target audience, you’ll need well-planned and structured Instagram advertising.

The primary audience on this platform is between 18 and 35 years old, so it’s particularly effective for promoting youth brands, the beauty industry, education, and more. Even if your target audience includes a smaller percentage (like those 60+), it’s always possible to target ads to a specific group.

On Instagram, there are two types of ads you can use: targeted ads and influencer marketing.

Targeted Ads on Instagram: How to Launch Ads Within the Social Network

Official advertising on Instagram is managed through Facebook’s AdsManager. With this tool, you set user criteria (gender, age, region, interests) to show your ads. It’s very convenient for launching your business, especially when you’re not yet ready to advertise through influencers. A key advantage is the ability to fully control and evaluate the statistics of each promotion.

Types of Targeted Ads on Instagram:

You can promote content in both the feed and stories.

• Photo/Video Ads:

Photo Ads: A simple format that allows you to showcase a specific product.
Video Ads: These enhance engagement through sound/music and dynamic visuals. If you use stories, there’s an added \"swipe\" feature that allows automatic redirection to a product, page, or website.

• Carousel Ads: This format allows you to display multiple photos or videos, giving more opportunities to engage consumers.

Since 2018, Instagram has allowed carousel ads in both posts (up to 10 media files) and stories (up to 3 media files).

• Collection Ads: This format allows you to generate more interest by visually showcasing product benefits.

Feed Ads | Stories | Explore

Feed Ads: You choose the price for the promotion → Set the parameters for your audience → Select one of the suggested reach options (more expensive for wider reach, less expensive for narrower reach) from Facebook. You can also set your own budget.

How to Promote a Post on Instagram:

• Switch your account to \"Business\" status and link it to your Facebook brand account.
• A “Promote” button will appear under your posts. If it’s unavailable, the post violates advertising rules. Adjust it or create a new one. Click \"Promote,\" set your targeting parameters, choose the ad price and duration.
• To remove the ad, click “View Promotion,” then the three dots at the top, and “Remove.”

How to Promote Stories on Instagram:

Similar to the feed, use Ads Manager:

• Click \"Edit Placements\" → Select \"Platforms\" → \"Instagram\" → \"Stories.\"
• Set the necessary ad parameters.
• Upload vertically oriented photos or videos (up to 15 seconds long with a 9:16 aspect ratio).

Did you know Instagram Stories has a quick promotion button? In just 5 minutes, you can launch a Story promotion by following these steps:

• Open Instagram – log into your business account.
• Go to the feed – choose which Story posts you want to promote.
• Click the three dots at the bottom – select the Promote function.
• A screen will appear for further audience, placement, duration, and budget choices.

Explore Ads:

For each user, the \"Explore\" section is unique, where they discover new posts, and thus, new brands/stores. The process of placing an ad in Explore is the same as for the regular feed.

Instagram Ad Placement Rules

Like any platform, Instagram has specific rules for advertising that you must follow. To avoid errors and ensure your marketing content reaches users correctly, let’s go over the basic rules:

• You need to manage a Facebook account linked to your Instagram profile.
• You can only publish Instagram ads through Facebook by creating a business profile.
• The maximum length for text content in a post is 300 characters.
• Size limits for graphic content depend on the format:

Square: minimum 600x600 pixels, maximum 1936x1936 pixels.
Landscape: minimum 600x315 pixels, maximum 1936x1936 pixels.
Portrait: minimum 600x750 pixels, maximum 1936x1936 pixels.
• Video ads can be up to 4 GB in size.
• Video aspect ratios:
Square: 1:1
Landscape: 1.91:1
Portrait: 4:5

It’s prohibited to advertise products like prescription drugs, tobacco, adult products, or “before and after” images.

Buying Ads Through Facebook Ads Manager

Creating a Business Account

To launch an ad campaign, you'll need a Facebook profile and an Instagram business account. If you don't have a Facebook account yet, you'll need to register one.

Setting Up an Ad Campaign

In Ads Manager, choose your objective, ad format, and target audience. You can also select an existing Instagram post and click \"Promote.\" The system will automatically create an audience of users similar to your followers.

Budget Settings

You'll need to decide how long the ads will run and what budget you're willing to allocate. The ad budget is set at either the ad group or campaign level.

Instagram & Blogger Ads

Currently, one of the most effective promotion methods is influencer marketing. To maximize the effectiveness of a campaign, working with just one blogger is not enough. According to statistics, nearly half of global companies allocate their advertising budget to work with 50-100 influencers simultaneously. Keep in mind that each blogger has a different number of followers and unique audience reach.

Types of Instagram Bloggers by Follower Count:

Nano-influencers (up to 10,000 followers): They have a loyal audience but limited experience with advertising. You can often collaborate through barter, and the blogger is more likely to be interested in the quality of the ad.

Micro-influencers (up to 100,000 followers): They also have a loyal audience and significantly more experience working with advertisers. You can expect collaboration at a lower cost. These bloggers usually have a narrower, more focused audience.

Macro-influencers (up to 1 million followers): They work actively with advertisers and understand their value in promotions. However, their followers are often less engaged and have diverse interests, making them less responsive to ads.

Celebrities (1 million+ followers): They offer wide reach, but engagement is often unstable. Their rates are high and not always justifiable.

Choosing the Right Instagram Blogger for Your Ad

When deciding to place an ad with a blogger, first determine your target audience and whether they would be interested in your product or service.

Focus on three main types of blogs:

Personal – bloggers sharing their life stories;
Expert – professionals in specific fields;
Corporate – business profiles.

You can find a suitable blogger in two ways: by searching yourself or by hiring an SMM professional.

If searching yourself, use keywords and hashtags. Before proposing a collaboration, observe the blogger for a while to ensure they're a good fit for your brand. Pay attention to how they manage their profile, present information, and interact with their followers.

If you prefer not to spend time searching, consider hiring SMM professionals. Intent Solutions, an IT company offering comprehensive internet marketing services since 2013, quickly finds bloggers based on specific criteria. We analyze follower growth and conduct a multi-level profile review. Plus, we have a database of trusted influencers with whom we've worked on various client projects.

The key takeaway here: don’t aim exclusively for celebrity influencers. As we discussed earlier, celebrity costs may not always pay off. A better option could be working with micro-influencers, allowing you to track performance and assess results.

Once you’ve chosen a blogger → make contact → if the offer is acceptable → discuss all terms in detail (agree on the ad cost, create a clear task brief on how you want the ad to be presented. The more detailed your brief, the more likely everything will turn out as planned).

Pros and Cons of Instagram Ads

Pros:

High audience engagement, especially among younger demographics (18-35);
A vast user base;
Precise targeting options based on desired criteria;
Affordable options compared to other advertising platforms.

Cons of Targeted Ads:

Ad costs aren't fixed due to the auction system, so reaching popular audience segments can be significantly more expensive. However, this applies to all platforms that operate with auction-based ad strategies.

Cons of Influencer Marketing:

Influencers may have fake followers, leading to less effective results. To mitigate this, carefully select bloggers for your ads and ideally, work with trusted influencers. “Word of mouth” from other business owners can also be helpful.

Instagram – A Growing Platform for Entrepreneurs

Instagram continues to grow in user numbers each year, along with the number of entrepreneurs interested in effective social media advertising. If you’re still debating whether to use this platform and invest in ads—don’t wait, take action now!