How to Create Instagram Ads That Boost Your Brand and Sales

By Cepy 8/04/2023 Post a Comment

Hi Online Friends,

If you're looking for a way to reach more customers, grow your audience and increase your sales, you might want to consider advertising on Instagram. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 1.4 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily stories users. It's also a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes and industries, as it offers inspiring and engaging ways to showcase your products, services and brand personality.

But how do you create Instagram ads that stand out, capture attention and drive action? In this article, I'll share with you everything you need to know about how to create Instagram ads, from choosing your objective and format, to setting up your audience and budget, to measuring your results and optimizing your performance. I'll also show you some examples of successful Instagram ads from different businesses, and give you some tips and best practices to help you create your own.

Choose your objective

The first step to create Instagram ads is to choose your objective. Your objective is what you want people to do when they see your ads, such as visiting your website, downloading your app, or buying your product. Choosing the right objective will help you align your ads with your business goals, and optimize them for the best results.

To start, go to Ads Manager and click +Create. There are two different types of workflows: Guided Creation and Quick Creation. Guided Creation will walk you through each step of creating an ad campaign, while Quick Creation will let you set up the basic elements of your campaign in any order. For beginners, I recommend using Guided Creation.

There are 11 objectives available for Instagram ads, but not all of them are compatible with every ad format or placement. Here are the objectives that will allow you to create ads that will be eligible to appear on Instagram:

Brand awareness: Increase awareness of your brand by reaching people who are more likely to be interested in it.
Reach: Show your ad to the maximum number of people in your audience.
Traffic: Drive more people to a destination on or off Instagram, such as your website, app or Messenger conversation.
App installs: Get more people to install your app.
Engagement: Get more people to see and engage with your post or Page. Engagement can include comments, shares, likes, event responses and offer claims.
Video views: Get more people to watch your video content.
Lead generation: Collect lead information from people who are interested in your business.
Messages: Get more people to send messages to your business in Messenger or Instagram Direct.
Conversions: Get more people to take a valuable action on your website or app, such as adding payment information or making a purchase. To track and measure conversions, you'll need to use the Facebook pixel or app events.
Catalog sales: Show products from your catalog based on your target audience.
Store traffic: Drive more people nearby your physical store locations.

Select the objective that best suits your goal, and click Continue.

Identify your audience

The next step is to decide who you want to target with your ad. You can create a custom audience based on criteria such as age, gender, location, interests, behaviors and more. You can also use a lookalike audience to reach new people who are similar to your existing customers or followers. Or you can use an automatic audience that Facebook will generate for you based on your Page or profile information.

In the Audience section, you can either create a new audience or use a saved audience that you've created before. You can also click Suggestions to get some ideas from Facebook on how to refine your audience. For example, if you choose Traffic as your objective, Facebook might suggest expanding your age range or adding more interests.

To create a new audience, enter the following information:

Audience name: Give your audience a name that you can easily recognize later.
Locations: Choose the geographic areas where you want to show your ads. You can select countries, regions, states, cities or zip codes. You can also exclude locations if you want.
Age: Choose the minimum and maximum age of the people who will see your ads. The age range is 13-65+.
Gender: Choose whether you want to show your ads to all genders, men or women.
Languages: Choose the languages that your audience speaks. This is optional, but it can help you reach people who speak a specific language in a multilingual area.
Detailed targeting: Choose the interests, behaviors or demographics that best describe your audience. You can browse through different categories, or type in keywords to search for specific options. You can also exclude people based on these criteria.
Connections: Choose whether you want to show your ads to anyone, only to people who have a connection to your Page, app or event, or only to people who don't have a connection to them. You can also exclude people who have a specific connection.

As you enter your audience details, you'll see an estimate of the potential reach and audience size on the right side of the screen. This shows you how many people you can expect to see your ads on Facebook and Instagram. You'll also see a dial that indicates whether your audience is too broad, too specific or just right. Try to aim for the green area of the dial, as this will help you reach the most relevant people for your ads.

When you're done creating your audience, click Save This Audience, and then click Next.

Select your ad placements

In the Placements section, you can decide where your ads will appear on Facebook and Instagram. You have two options: Automatic Placements and Manual Placements. Automatic Placements will let Facebook choose the most effective placements for your ads based on your objective and audience. Manual Placements will let you choose the placements yourself.

For beginners, I recommend using Automatic Placements, as this will give you the best value and results for your budget. However, if you want more control over where your ads show up, you can use Manual Placements and select the ones that you prefer.

To use Manual Placements, select Edit Placements, and then check or uncheck the boxes next to each placement option. You'll see a preview of how your ad will look like on each placement on the right side of the screen. You can also click View More Options to see more details and settings for each placement.

For Instagram ads, you have four placement options:

Instagram Feed: Your ads will appear in the main feed of Instagram users as they scroll through their home tab.
Instagram Stories: Your ads will appear in between the stories of Instagram users as they tap through them.
Instagram Explore: Your ads will appear in the Explore tab of Instagram users as they browse for new content and accounts.
Instagram Reels: Your ads will appear in between the short-form videos of Instagram users as they watch Reels.

You can choose one or more of these placements for your Instagram ads, depending on your objective and format. For example, if you choose Video views as your objective, you can use all four placements. But if you choose Lead generation as your objective, you can only use Instagram Feed and Stories.

When you're done selecting your placements, click Next.

Choose your budget and schedule

This section determines how much you want to spend on your promotion—and for how long. You can choose between a daily budget and a lifetime budget. A daily budget is the average amount that you're willing to spend on your ads per day. A lifetime budget is the total amount that you're willing to spend on your ads for the entire duration of your campaign.

You can also choose when you want your ads to start and end. You can either run them continuously until you manually stop them, or set a start and end date for them. You can also choose whether you want your ads to run all day, or only during certain hours of the day or days of the week.

In addition, you can choose how you want Facebook to optimize your ad delivery. This means how Facebook will show your ads to people who are more likely to take the action that you want. For example, if you choose Link clicks as your optimization option, Facebook will show your ads to people who are more likely to click on them.

You can also choose how much you're willing to pay for each result from your ad, such as an impression, a click or a conversion. This is called your bid strategy. You have two options: Lowest cost and Cost cap. Lowest cost will let Facebook automatically bid for results at the lowest possible cost within your budget. Cost cap will let you set a maximum amount that you're willing to pay for each result from your ad.

For beginners, I recommend using Lowest cost as your bid strategy, as this will help you get the most results for your budget withoutspending more than necessary. However, if you have a specific goal or limit for your cost per result, you can use Cost cap and enter the amount that you want.

As you enter your budget and schedule details, you'll see an estimate of the results and reach that you can expect from your ads on the right side of the screen. This shows you how many people will likely see your ads, and how many will likely take the action that you want. You'll also see a dial that indicates whether your budget is too low, too high or just right. Try to aim for the green area of the dial, as this will help you get the most value and results for your money.

When you're done choosing your budget and schedule, click Next.

Create your ad

The final step is to create your ad. This is where you choose the format, media and text for your ad. You can either use an existing post that you've shared on Instagram or Facebook, or create a new one from scratch.

To use an existing post, select Use Existing Post, and then choose the post that you want to promote from the drop-down menu. You can also click Preview on Instagram to see how your ad will look like on Instagram.

To create a new ad, select Create Ad, and then choose the format that you want to use. You have five format options for Instagram ads:

Single image: Show one image in your ad.
Single video: Show one video in your ad.
Carousel: Show two or more images or videos in your ad that people can swipe through.
Collection: Show a cover image or video along with several product images in your ad that people can tap to open a fullscreen shopping experience.
Instant Experience: Show a fullscreen interactive ad that loads instantly and works with any other format.

Select the format that best suits your objective and message, and then upload or select the media that you want to use. You can also use free stock images from Facebook's library if you don't have your own images or videos.

Next, enter the text for your ad. You have four fields to fill out:

Primary text: This is the main text that will appear above your image or video on Instagram Feed, or below your image or video on Instagram Stories. You can write up to 2,200 characters, but only 125 characters are guaranteed to display without being cut off.
Headline: This is the text that will appear below your image or video on Instagram Feed, or above your image or video on Instagram Stories. You can write up to 40 characters, but only 25 characters are recommended to display without being truncated.
Description: This is the text that will appear below your headline on Instagram Feed. You can write up to 30 characters, but only 20 characters are recommended to display without being truncated.
Website URL: This is the link that people will go to when they click on your ad. Enter the URL of the destination that you want to drive traffic to, such as your website, app or Messenger conversation.

As you enter the text for your ad, you'll see a preview of how it will look like on different placements on the right side of the screen. You can also click View More Options to see more settings and features for your ad, such as adding a call-to-action button, tracking conversions with the Facebook pixel or app events, or adding interactive polls or stickers to your stories ads.

When you're done creating your ad, click Confirm. You'll get a notification when your ads are approved and ready to run.

A detailed table breakdown related to the topic

Objective	Format	Placement	Optimization	Bid Strategy
Brand awareness	All	All	Ad recall lift	Lowest cost
Reach	All	All	Reach	Lowest cost or Cost cap
Traffic	All except Collection and Instant Experience	All except Reels	Landing page views or Link clicks	Lowest cost or Cost cap
App installs	All except Collection and Instant Experience	All except Reels	App installs or Link clicks	Lowest cost or Cost cap
Engagement	All except Instant Experience	Feed and Stories	Post engagement, Page likes or Event responses	Lowest cost
Video views	Single video, Carousel or Instant Experience	All	ThruPlay, 10-second video views or 2-second continuous video views	Lowest cost or Cost cap
Lead generation	Single image, Single video or Carousel	Feed and Stories	Leads	Lowest cost or Cost cap
Messages	All except Collection and Instant Experience	Feed and Stories	Replies or New messaging connections	Lowest cost or Cost cap
Conversions	All except Collection and Instant Experience	All except Reels	Conversions, Value or Landing page views	Lowest cost, Cost cap or Target cost
Catalog sales	All except Instant Experience	All except Reels	Catalog sales or Value	Lowest cost, Cost cap or Target cost
Store traffic	All except Collection and Instant Experience	All except Reels and Explore	Daily unique reach or Store visits (beta)	Lowest cost or Cost cap (beta)

FAQs about how to create Instagram ads

How much does it cost to advertise on Instagram?

The cost of advertising on Instagram depends on many factors, such as your objective, audience, placement, format, bid strategy and competition. There is no fixed price for Instagram ads, as they use a bidding system where you compete with other advertisers for the same audience. The more popular and in-demand your audience is, the higher the cost will be.
You can control your spending by setting a budget and a bid for your ads. Your budget is the amount that you're willing to spend on your ads per day or for the entire duration of your campaign. Your bid is the amount that you're willing to pay for each result from your ad, such as an impression, a click or a conversion. You can either let Facebook automatically bid for you at the lowest possible cost within your budget, or set a maximum amount that you're willing to pay for each result.
You can also monitor your spending and performance by checking your results and metrics in Ads Manager. You can see how much you've spent on your ads, how many people have seen them, and how many have taken the action that you want. You can also compare your results across different objectives, audiences, placements and formats, and see which ones are giving you the best return on investment.

How do I measure the effectiveness of my Instagram ads?

To measure the effectiveness of your Instagram ads, you need to track and analyze your results and metrics in Ads Manager. You can see how your ads are performing based on different criteria, such as reach, impressions, frequency, clicks, conversions, cost per result and more. You can also customize your reports by choosing the columns that are most relevant to your goals.
The metrics that you should focus on depend on your objective and what you want to achieve with your ads. For example, if your objective is Brand awareness, you might want to look at metrics such as reach, impressions, frequency and ad recall lift. If your objective is Traffic, you might want to look at metrics such as clicks, click-through rate, landing page views and cost per click. If your objective is Conversions, you might want to look at metrics such as conversions, conversion rate, value and return on ad spend.
You should also compare your results across different variables, such as time period, audience segment, placement option and ad creative. This will help you identify what's working well and what needs improvement. You can also use tools such as split testing and campaign budget optimization to test different versions of your ads and optimize your budget allocation.

How do I optimize my Instagram ads for better results?

To optimize your Instagram ads for better results, you need to test different elements of your ads and make adjustments based on your data and insights. You can use toolssuch as split testing and campaign budget optimization to experiment with different versions of your ads and optimize your budget allocation.
Some of the elements that you can test and optimize are:
Objective: Choose the objective that best aligns with your business goal and what you want people to do when they see your ads.
Audience: Choose the audience that is most relevant and interested in your offer, and refine it based on criteria such as location, age, gender, interests and behaviors.
Placement: Choose the placement that best suits your objective and format, and where your audience is most likely to see and engage with your ads.
Format: Choose the format that best showcases your product, service or brand, and that is compatible with your objective and placement.
Media: Choose the media that best captures attention and conveys your message, and that follows the best practices for each format and placement.
Text: Choose the text that best communicates your value proposition and call to action, and that follows the best practices for each format and placement.
Budget: Choose the budget that matches your spending limit and expected results, and that allows you to reach your audience effectively.
Bid strategy: Choose the bid strategy that matches your cost goal and expected results, and that helps you win the auction for your audience.
You should also monitor your results and metrics regularly in Ads Manager, and make changes based on your data and insights. You can pause or stop underperforming ads, scale up or replicate successful ads, or create new ads with different elements. You can also use tools such as automated rules and performance alerts to automate some of these actions and get notified of any issues or opportunities.

Conclusion

Instagram ads are a great way to reach more customers, grow your audience and increase your sales. By following the steps in this article, you can create Instagram ads that boost your brand and business. You can also use the examples, tips and best practices that I've shared to inspire you and help you create your own.

I hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below. And if you want to learn more about how to use Instagram for business, check out some of my other articles on this website.

Thank you for reading, and happy advertising!

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like this one: How to Add Music to Instagram Post.

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