Instagram Sponsored Ads: How to Create and Optimize Them for Your Business

By Cepy 9/03/2023 Post a Comment

Hi Online Friends,

If you're looking for a way to reach more potential customers, grow your brand awareness, and increase your sales, you might want to consider Instagram sponsored ads. Instagram sponsored ads are a type of paid advertising that allows you to promote your posts or stories to a wider audience on the platform. You can also partner with Instagram influencers who can create sponsored posts for your brand and share them with their followers.

In this article, I'll share with you everything you need to know about Instagram sponsored ads, including what they are, how they work, how much they cost, and how to create and optimize them for your business. I have experience with Instagram sponsored ads, and I'll show you some examples and best practices that you can use for your own campaigns. Let's get started!

What are Instagram sponsored ads?

Instagram sponsored ads are a type of ad that you can create and run on Instagram using the same tools as Facebook ads. You can set up, manage, and track your Instagram ads in Ads Manager, or you can use the Instagram app to boost your existing posts or stories.

There are two main types of Instagram sponsored ads:

Brand-sponsored posts

These posts are ones that Instagram users post about a brand and a brand “sponsors” by paying a fee for the post. Instagram influencers with excellent engagement can make hundreds to thousands of dollars by partnering with brands on sponsored posts. These posts look like regular organic posts, but they have a "Paid partnership with [brand name]" label at the top. They also have a "Sponsored" label at the bottom right corner.

Brand-sponsored posts are a great way to leverage the trust and influence of popular Instagram users who have a large and loyal following. They can help you reach new audiences, increase your brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website or landing page. However, they also require careful planning, negotiation, and monitoring to ensure that they align with your brand values, goals, and guidelines.

Paid advertisements

Brands can also pay to promote existing organic content to expand a post’s reach and engagement. These posts look like regular organic posts, but they have a "Sponsored" label at the bottom right corner. They also have a call-to-action button that encourages users to take a specific action, such as visiting a website, downloading an app, or shopping for a product.

Paid advertisements are a more direct and flexible way to advertise on Instagram. You can choose from different ad formats, such as photo, video, carousel, stories, reels, or explore ads. You can also target your ads based on various criteria, such as location, age, gender, interests, behaviors, or custom audiences. You can also set your budget, schedule, and bidding strategy for your ads.

How much do Instagram sponsored ads cost?

The cost of Instagram sponsored ads depends on several factors, such as the type of ad, the ad format, the target audience, the competition, the time of day, and the campaign objective. There is no fixed price for Instagram ads; instead, you pay based on the results that you want to achieve.

For brand-sponsored posts, the cost is determined by the influencer's rate and the scope of the collaboration. Influencers typically charge based on their follower count, engagement rate, niche, and content quality. According to Influencer Marketing Hub's 2020 report[^4^], the average cost per post for influencers with 10k-100k followers is $172; for influencers with 100k-1M followers is $763; and for influencers with over 1M followers is $1,405.

For paid advertisements, the cost is determined by the bidding system that Facebook uses for its ads. You can choose between two types of bidding: automatic or manual. Automatic bidding lets Facebook set the bid amount for you based on your budget and campaign objective. Manual bidding lets you set the maximum amount that you're willing to pay for each result (such as impression or click).

The average cost per result for Instagram ads varies depending on the industry and the campaign objective. According to WordStream's 2020 report[^5^], the average cost per click (CPC) for Instagram ads across all industries is $0.97; the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is $7.91; and the average cost per action (CPA) is $5.68.

How to create and optimize Instagram sponsored ads?

Creating and optimizing Instagram sponsored ads is not a one-size-fits-all process. It depends on your goals, budget, audience, and creative strategy. However, there are some general steps that you can follow to get started:

Define your goal and objective

The first step is to define what you want to achieve with your Instagram sponsored ads. Do you want to increase your brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic, or boost sales? Your goal will determine your campaign objective, which is the action that you want users to take when they see your ad.

Instagram offers different campaign objectives for different goals, such as:

Brand awareness: To increase the number of people who are aware of your brand or product.
Reach: To show your ad to as many people as possible in your target audience.
Traffic: To send people to a destination on or off Instagram, such as your website, app, or Messenger.
Engagement: To get more people to see and interact with your post or story, such as liking, commenting, or sharing.
App installs: To get more people to download and open your app.
Video views: To get more people to watch your video content.
Lead generation: To collect information from people who are interested in your product or service, such as their name, email, or phone number.
Conversions: To get more people to take a specific action on your website or app, such as making a purchase, signing up, or adding to cart.
Catalog sales: To show products from your catalog to people who are most likely to buy them.
Store traffic: To drive more people to visit your physical store locations.

Select your audience and budget

The next step is to select who you want to see your Instagram sponsored ads and how much you want to spend on them. You can use the audience network tool in Ads Manager to create and save custom audiences based on various criteria, such as:

Location: You can target people based on their country, state, city, zip code, or address.
Demographics: You can target people based on their age, gender, language, education, relationship status, or life events.
Interests: You can target people based on their hobbies, preferences, behaviors, or activities on Instagram or Facebook.
Behaviors: You can target people based on their device usage, purchase history, travel habits, or online actions.
Connections: You can target people who have a specific relationship with your page, app, or event, such as your followers, friends of followers, or attendees.
Custom audiences: You can target people who have already interacted with your business on or off Instagram, such as your website visitors, app users, email subscribers, or customers.
Lookalike audiences: You can target people who are similar to your existing customers or prospects based on their demographics, interests, or behaviors.

You can also set your budget and schedule for your Instagram sponsored ads. You can choose between two types of budget: daily or lifetime. Daily budget is the average amount that you're willing to spend per day on your ads. Lifetime budget is the total amount that you're willing to spend for the duration of your campaign. You can also set the start and end date for your campaign and the time of day when you want your ads to run.

Create your ad creative and copy

The final step is to create the visual and textual elements of your Instagram sponsored ads. You can choose from different ad formats depending on your campaign objective and audience network. The most common ad formats are:

Photo ads: These are single-image ads that showcase your product or service in a simple and elegant way. You can use square (1:1), landscape (1.91:1), or portrait (4:5) aspect ratios for photo ads.
Video ads: These are single-video ads that capture attention and convey emotion with sight, sound, and motion. You can use square (1:1), landscape (1.91:1), vertical (4:5), or full-screen (9:16) aspect ratios for video ads. You can also use up to 60 seconds of video content for video ads.
Carousel ads: These are multi-image or multi-video ads that allow users to swipe through different photos or videos in a single ad. You can use up to 10 images or videos for carousel ads. You can also use square (1:1) or vertical (4:5)aspect ratios for carousel ads.
Stories ads: These are full-screen vertical ads that appear between users' stories. You can use up to 15 seconds of video content or a single image for stories ads. You can also use stickers, filters, or effects to make your stories ads more engaging.
Reels ads: These are full-screen vertical ads that appear between users' reels. You can use up to 30 seconds of video content for reels ads. You can also use music, text, filters, or effects to make your reels ads more creative.
Explore ads: These are photo, video, or carousel ads that appear in the Explore tab, where users discover new content and accounts. You can use the same aspect ratios and content length as feed ads for explore ads.

When creating your ad creative and copy, you should follow some best practices to make your Instagram sponsored ads more effective and appealing. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Use high-quality images or videos that showcase your brand personality, value proposition, and unique selling point.
Use bright colors, contrast, and clear focal points to make your ads stand out from the rest of the feed.
Use text sparingly and avoid covering more than 20% of your image or video with text. Use simple, concise, and catchy headlines and captions that communicate your message and call to action.
Use hashtags, emojis, and mentions to add context, emotion, and engagement to your ads.
Test different ad formats, images, videos, texts, and audiences to see what works best for your campaign and optimize accordingly.

A detailed table breakdown related to the topic

To give you a better idea of how Instagram sponsored ads work and what results you can expect from them, here is a detailed table breakdown that compares the different ad formats, objectives, metrics, and costs related to the topic:

Ad Format	Campaign Objective	Performance Metric	Average Cost
Photo	Traffic	CPC	$0.96
Photo	Engagement	CPE	$0.08
Photo	Conversions	CPA	$6.70
Video	Video views	CPV	$0.02
Video	Traffic	CPC	$1.01
Video	Conversions	CPA	$3.56
Carousel	Traffic	CPC$1.08
Carousel	Engagement	CPE	$0.10
Carousel	Conversions	CPA	$5.60
Stories	Reach	CPM	$4.52
Stories	Traffic	CPC	$0.85
Stories	Conversions	CPA$3.51
Reels	Reach	CPM	$5.68
Reels	Traffic	CPC	$0.91
Reels	Conversions	CPA$4.29
Explore	Reach	CPM	$6.23
Explore	Traffic	CPC$0.98
Explore	Conversions	CPA	$6.01

FAQs about Instagram sponsored ads

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about Instagram sponsored ads and their answers:

How do I create an Instagram sponsored ad?

You can create an Instagram sponsored ad in two ways: using the Instagram app or using Ads Manager. Using the Instagram app, you can boost your existing posts or stories by tapping on the "Promote" button and following the steps to set up your ad. Using Ads Manager, you can create a new campaign, ad set, and ad by choosing your objective, audience, budget, and creative.

How do I measure the performance of my Instagram sponsored ads?

You can measure the performance of your Instagram sponsored ads using the Insights tool in the Instagram app or the Reporting tool in Ads Manager. You can see various metrics and data related to your ads, such as impressions, reach, clicks, cost, conversions, and more. You can also compare different ads and time periods to see what works best for your campaign.

How do I optimize my Instagram sponsored ads?

You can optimize your Instagram sponsored ads by testing different variables and making adjustments based on your results. You can test different ad formats, images, videos, texts, audiences, and bidding strategies to see what generates the most engagement, traffic, or conversions. You can also use the split testing or dynamic creative features in Ads Manager to automatically test and optimize your ads.

How do I find and work with Instagram influencers for brand-sponsored posts?

You can find and work with Instagram influencers for brand-sponsored posts by using various tools and platforms that connect brands and influencers. You can search for influencers based on their niche, location, follower count, engagement rate, or previous collaborations. You can also contact them directly via email or direct message and negotiate the terms of the partnership.

What are the best practices for creating brand-sponsored posts?

The best practices for creating brand-sponsored posts are:

Choose influencers who have a relevant and engaged audience that matches your target market.
Provide clear guidelines and expectations for the content, such as the tone, style, message, hashtags, mentions, and disclosure.
Allow some creative freedom for the influencer to create authentic and organic content that resonates with their followers.
Monitor and measure the performance of the posts, such as impressions, reach, likes, comments, shares, clicks, or conversions.
Maintain a long-term relationship with the influencer and provide feedback and incentives for future collaborations.

What are the benefits of using Instagram sponsored ads?

The benefits of using Instagram sponsored ads are:

You can reach a large and active audience of over 1.4 billion monthly users who spend an average of 30 minutes per day on the platform.
You can showcase your brand personality, value proposition, and unique selling point through visually appealing and immersive ad formats.
You can leverage the trust and influence of popular Instagram users who can create sponsored posts for your brand and share them with their followers.
You can target your ads based on various criteria, such as location, age, gender, interests, behaviors, or custom audiences.
You can track and measure your ads performance using various metrics and data related to your campaign objective.
You can optimize your ads by testing different variables and making adjustments based on your results.

What are the challenges of using Instagram sponsored ads?

The challenges of using Instagram sponsored ads are:

You have to compete with other brands and organic content for users' attention and engagement.
You have to follow the rules and guidelines of Instagram and Facebook for advertising on their platforms.
You have to deal with potential issues such as ad fatigue, ad blockers, ad fraud, or negative feedback.
You have to invest time and money to create high-quality content and run effective campaigns.
You have to keep up with the changing trends and preferences of users and influencers on Instagram.

How do I get started with Instagram sponsored ads?

To get started with Instagram sponsored ads, you need to:

Convert your profile to a business account. You must set up a business account to run ads on Instagram. It's free and takes just a few steps.
Choose a photo or video for your ad. You can promote a post or story you've already shared, or create a new post or story which can then be promoted.
Set up your promotion. Set up your ad with a Destination, Audience, Budget and Duration. You have options to customize your promotion your way, or you can use Instagram's automatic options to get up and running quickly.
Publish your ad. Now that your ads are ready to go, tap Create Promotion. You'll get a notification when your ads are approved and ready to run.

Conclusion

Instagram sponsored ads are a powerful and effective way to advertise your business on one of the most popular and engaging social media platforms. Whether you want to increase your brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic, or boost sales, you can use Instagram sponsored ads to reach your goals.

However, creating and optimizing Instagram sponsored ads is not a simple task. You need to have a clear goal and objective, a well-defined audience and budget, and a compelling creative and copy. You also need to measure and improve your ads performance and overcome the challenges that come with advertising on Instagram.

If you need help with creating and optimizing Instagram sponsored ads for your business, you can contact me or check out my other articles on this topic. I have experience with Instagram sponsored ads, and I can help you create and run successful campaigns that will grow your business.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you found it useful and informative. If you did, please share it with your friends and colleagues who might benefit from it as well. And don't forget to check out my other articles on Instagram sponsored ads:

How to Create Instagram Ads That Convert

How to Use Instagram Ads Manager to Manage Your Campaigns

How Much Does Instagram Advertising Cost in 2022?

How to Advertise on Instagram: A Complete Guide for Beginners

The Best Instagram Ads Examples and Tips for 2022