A 6-Step Guide To Instagram Ads [For Beginners]

Instagram seems to be the pinnacle of advertisement in today’s world and every brand & individuals seem to be advertising themselves on Instagram. 

But why Instagram?

Well, because of its absolutely massive user base, Instagram over the years has garnered over 1 billion users. This means if you effectively market your brand/product or service on Instagram then you can reach hundreds and thousands of people. 

Just like Facebook ads, Instagram ads pop up everywhere in the apps, from stories to reels, they may seem like any other regular post, but every Instagram Ad shows the word “sponsored”. 

Additionally, Instagram ad posts come with a slew of extra features, like CTAs, catalogs, and much more. But as you know, these ads are paid for, so how much will it cost you?

That depends on a number of factors. Without further ado, let’s get right into it. 

Instagram Ads - How Much Will It [Cost](https://instasell.io/blog/11-ways-to-reduce-e-commerce-rtos-in-india-in-2022-cl0jqd49i258131jrrzsa54a9l) You?

As mentioned in the above section, the cost of Instagram ads depends on a lot of varying factors. For example, here are a few important factors that affect the pricing of Instagram ads:

• Number of audiences you want to reach out to
• Target demographic 
• What time of the year do you advertise (typically, costs go up during holidays)
• Placement of ads

These are just some of the many factors that come into play. Furthermore, if you want to determine if your expenditure will be adequate to attract the targeted audiences within the specified period of time, then you need to create create a draft campaign in Ads Manager and check for the "Audience Definition" and "Estimated Daily Results modules", it will give you a fair idea of how much it will cost you.

There is no ideal budget or anything similar to that, it all depends on what you want and what you can afford. 

What Are The Different Types Of Instagram ADs?

Before you start reading the step-by-step guide to Instagram ads, you should know the different types of ads that Instagram has. 

Here’s a list of different types of Instagram ads you can choose:

• Image ads
• [Video](https://instasell.io/blog/shoppable-video) ads
• [Collection](https://instasell.io/blog/best-products-to-sell) ads
• Carousel ads
• IGTV ads (Instagram TV)
• [Shopping](https://instasell.io/blog/shopping-hashtags-for-instagram-in-india-2022-cl159w6fl108611nnvwm714zej) advertisements 
• Stories ad
• Reels ads

Basically, these are different types of posts you can upload on Instagram. You should always choose the type of post that works best for you. 

A Step-By-Step Guide To Instagram Ads

Now that you know what Instagram ads are, we’re sure that you’re eager to try them out. But before you start, remember you need to have a Facebook page for your business and that should be linked to your Instagram account, this makes it easier to put up ads and comes with a lot more features and tools. 

Let’s get right into it, the very first thing you must do is log into your Facebook account and start a new campaign, you will find this option in the Ads Manager section.

Step #1 - Select The Goal of The Ad Campaign 

Instagram gives you 3 options for the same 

• Awareness
  • Reach 
  • Increase brand awareness
• Consideration 
  • Increase engagement 
  • Traffic
  • Views
  • Lead generation
  • Messages
• Conversion 
  • Store traffic
  • Conversion

Choose one of the three goals/objectives and each subcategory under them represents the action or end goal. 

Step #2 - Naming Your Advertisement Campaign

After you choose your campaign objective, you should name your ad campaign. You will get the option for the same after you choose your objective. 

But why name it?

It will make tracking and monitoring your campaign easy. 

You can determine whether or not to optimize your expenditure throughout ad sets, start a split-test campaign, and test out various versions. This test basically tests out the various ad campaigns and allocates the highest budget to the campaign that shows the most potential.

Even though this is pretty much automated, you can also do this manually, if you wish to do so. 

Step #3 - Placement Of Your Advertisements

Choosing your target demographic (audience) is pretty much done in the first step. But we would suggest you skip that section in the first step and select Instagram-only placements. 

Choosing this option will enable you to choose different types of ad placements. Just ensure, you uncheck Audience Network and Facebook from there, this way you can make sure that the ds run only on Instagram. 

Step #4 - Targeting Your Audience 

This step is actually where you find your target audience. 

You cannot go around advertising your products to just about anybody, you need to find people who are interested in your brand, product, or service. For example, if your brand is into making trendy skateboards, you cannot advertise that to a crowd of old people, you need to find young people, as they are more likely to be interested in skateboards. 

Ads manager gives multiple criteria that you set and adjusts to find your target audience. 

Here are the categories included in the ads manager:

• Age - select the appropriate age category 
• Location - choose the location you want to advertise your brand at
• Gender - choose which gender you want to advertise to 
• Languages - you can even choose to target people speaking a specific language.
• Connections - helps you choose viewers who are already using your app
• Detailed Targeting:
  • Interests - you choose a group of audience who share the same interest
  • Demographics - refers to the audience you choose
  • Behaviors - this refers to targeted ads. They target customers based on their purchasing patterns. 

These are the options provided, you can use this and create custom audiences to further stand out and get more traction. Custom audiences are basically people who have visited your site before or it can also be individuals who have similar interests and behavior patterns. 

Step #5 - Budget and Schedule 

You have 100% control over the money your spend and the schedule of your ads. 

You can choose to have a lifetime budget or a daily budget. 

Here’s the difference between the two:

• Lifetime Budget - you pay and your ad will run for a set specific duration of time. 
• Daily Budget - here you allocate a dedicated amount of money to spend on ads on daily basis. This too has a start and end date.

When you select a lifetime budget, you also get the option to customize it. You can advertise only on weekdays or weekends. 

Step #6 - Selecting The Advertising Format

In the final step, you will basically choose the type of ad format to post. This refers to choosing a type of Instagram ad. 

Based on your final objective and target audience you should choose the best-suited format for your ads.

Here are the different types of ad formats:

• Stories Ads - Showcase ads on Instagram stories
• Carousel Ads - lets you upload up to 10 pictures in the same ad post
• Photo Ads - lets you post one picture
• Video Ads - Video clips (anywhere between 3 and 60 seconds)
• Collection Ads - lets viewers buy products directly from Instagram posts

Alternate Method

This method is good too but not as good and specific as the one mentioned above.

This method is basically Instagram’s version of Facebook’s Boost Post. this works on already existing posts. This is a quick way to promote posts on Instagram only. To do this, you will need a professional Instagram account (just go to settings and you’ll find this option) and your account should be linked to your brand's Facebook page as well. 

That’s All Folks!

These are a few simple steps you must follow if you want to advertise your brand, product, or service on Instagram. If you do things in a careful manner, then you can be sure to significantly boost your brand's identity, after all, Instagram does have a billion people using it. 

So don’t wait for too long, start advertising your brand on Instagram now!