7 Ways to Improve Your Instagram Advertising Campaign

Instagram has over two billion monthly active users, and with that many people on the social media platform, your target audience is most certainly present. Not utilizing it for your business means missing out on numerous opportunities, as the trend of using Instagram for business gains immense popularity, cementing it as one of the most widely used social media platforms.

In recent times, Instagram has transformed from a photo-sharing app popular among young people to a potent marketing tool for businesses. By leveraging its potential effectively, Instagram presents an incredible opportunity to raise brand awareness, generate new leads, and drive prospective clients to your brand’s website.

Benefits of Using Instagram Advertising for Your Business

Here are some advantages of Instagram advertising that will help you decide if it is something your business should explore.

Visually Portray Your Brand’s Uniqueness

• Customers grasp images quickly since the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual. This makes Instagram your go-to option as it is the best platform to portray your brand’s uniqueness visually with pictures, videos, and reels, thereby giving a face to your brand.

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• While running a business, it is important to keep the customers engaged by forming a personal connection with them, which can be achieved through a highly visual platform like Instagram.

Create Ads Quickly and Easily Without Relying on Anyone Else

• Even if you do not have any technical expertise, you can easily and quickly design an Instagram ad yourself since there are few complex features.
• You don’t need to hire professional graphic designers, since Instagram ads allow you to create ads quickly using their platform. This will help you save your hard-earned money and allow you to run successful campaigns by simply uploading images or videos onto the social media platform.
• The Ads Manager page gives you access to several functions to not only help you create your ad campaigns but also tweak your ads if needed.
• Instagram allows you to deliver your content using multiple ad formats such as Instagram Reels Ads, Photo Ads, Stories Ads, Collection Ads, Carousel Ads, and so on.

Expand Your Reach Using Facebook Ads Manager

• Since Facebook owns Instagram, Instagram ads and Facebook Ads Manager work seamlessly together, and if you already have an existing Facebook page for your business, Facebook Ads Manager allows you to expand your reach on Instagram.  
• Some businesses advertise on Instagram without using Facebook Ads Manager. They probably don’t realize that using this tool can help them analyze and manage their ads and create more manageable ones. It gives them multiple options as it allows them to make their ads appear on both Instagram and Facebook or only one of them. They can also choose whether the ads will appear on the user’s mobile or desktop feed, or both.

Find Your Desired Market

• One of the toughest challenges that marketers face today is targeting an ideal audience. Instagram allows marketers to target specific demographics. You can specifically target people who have the best potential of engaging with your products or services. For example, if you are into the business of preparing and selling food items, you can target interested individuals by simply choosing the “Food and drink” interest. In this case, Instagram will show your business’ ads only to those who have that interest selected on their profiles.
• You also have other targeting options such as location, gender, age, purchase behavior, and so on.
• Being audience-specific is the best way of getting conversions with the highest potential and the targeting tool Instagram makes it easier for marketers to find their desired users.

Drive Traffic to Your Website at a Lower Price Point

• Advertising costs on Instagram are affordable and every dollar you spend on Instagram Ads will probably go further than it would if you were advertising elsewhere, which is why marketers rely on them for brand exposure.
• Based on a study conducted in 2020, Instagram Ads generate an average click-through rate (CTR) of 0.58%, which is higher than the average CTR of good advertising campaigns on other platforms, estimated at 0.35%.
• Instagram allows you to run ads for as low as $1 per day (charged only for impressions) and you don’t need to shell out thousands of dollars to pay for advertising companies or marketing campaigns. You should allocate at least $5 per day if you want Instagram ads that are charged for likes, post engagements, video views, and clicks.
• Compared to other advertising methods, the costs of Instagram Ads are quite affordable, making the platform one of the most cost-efficient ways to increase the exposure of your brand.

Easily Track Your Results

• Tracking results is crucial, as it gives you an idea of where you stand. It helps you find out if there is room for improvement and what you need to do about it. Instagram runs analytics that allows you to see how many people saw your ad and how many of them clicked through to your website or the product page.
• Instagram metrics will not only help you measure specific campaign success but will also help you find out which content your audience prefers.
• Beyond easily tracking your results, with Instagram Insights, you can easily find out how much money you made by running an Instagram Ad campaign. For more in-depth analytics, you can use your Facebook Ads Manager.

7 Ways to Improve Your Instagram Advertising Campaign

Here are a few techniques that will help you unleash the power of Instagram and start building your brand.

#1. Get a Business Account

• You must first ensure that you have a business account and not just a regular one. This is important because, with a business profile, you get a set of tools – advertising options, analytics insights, additional contact information fields, and more that aren’t available for standard accounts.
• Once you have set up a business profile, you should take the necessary steps to optimize it. For example, you should understand that through a business profile, you are getting the opportunity to tell your brand story in your bio.
• Another advantage of having a business account is that your followers get to directly contact you with a contact button on your profile. It also allows you to manage the statistics of your posts on your own. 
• A business account allows you to get access to Instagram analytics tools which lets you get insights into the stats, and impressions on each post.

#2. Add Your Website’s URL to Your Instagram Account

• Once you have set up your Instagram account, make sure to link your Instagram account to your e-commerce site by adding the URL of your website.
• Your audience should be able to easily recognize your brand across all social media platforms. Exercising brand consistency is important, so you should choose an Instagram account name that is very similar to your business name. Remember, your username will hyperlink to your profile page where it is displayed.

#3. Grow Your Online Following

• Irrespective of how good your posts are, no one is going to see them if you do not have any followers on Instagram. Therefore, it is important to grow your online following.
• You can get started by using the free tools to search emails and Facebook for current fans who may already be on Instagram. You can also consider using some of the innate growth tools of Instagram to grow your online following.
• Consider offering discounts or other rewards for shoppers and customers who follow you on social media accounts like Instagram.
• Once you have a good number of followers, you can go ahead and either post an image or a short video that explains your product or service.

#4. Create High-Quality Visuals

• Instagram is a highly visual platform. It is an amazing social media marketing tool that allows you to create high-quality visuals to showcase your products and services in a beautiful, interesting, and innovative manner.
• You should make sure to post high-quality photos that capture your brand essence. This allows you to stand out among a sea of other images posted by your competitors.
• Creating high-quality images isn’t a challenging task as Instagram has a range of tools, including filters and collages, that help you turn simple photograph snaps into magnificent images.

#5. Use Popular Hashtags for a Wider Reach

• You should use hashtags in your post to direct your brand to a targeted audience.
• You should use a few hashtags that refer to your product or service. You should try to fit in some popular hashtags as well to expose your brand to a wider audience. However, always be relevant – yes, the Super Bowl might be trending, but if your post isn’t relevant, tagging it #SuperBowl might make you look desperate.
• In today’s competitive world, it is important to find ways to stand out from the crowd. Since several businesses are using Instagram to promote their brand, you can stand out by using hashtags in the description to spread your message. 
• As mentioned earlier, there are more than one billion monthly users on Instagram. So, there could be many people on this platform who are looking for products or services similar to what you have to offer. Therefore, anyone looking for those hashtags will see your posts too.
• You should have a good knowledge of keywords related to your product’s features and you should research what other people in your industry are using.
• If you are running a bakery, you can include ‘cakes’, ‘sweets’, and ‘desserts’ as your hashtags. You should think about seasonality too. If it is the Christmas season, you can use the keyword ‘Christmas cakes’.

#6. Use Advanced Targeting Options

• Advanced targeting options help you find your desired users and your desired market. Instagram ads provide marketers with the same targeting options as Facebook ads,  such as targeting based on location, demographics, interests, behavior, lookalike audiences, and automated targeting options.
• It is important to target those who have already connected with your brand in some way, which could be either by visiting your website, using your app, engaging with your Facebook posts, and so on. The Custom Audience option allows you to target such people.

#7. Align Your Business with Influencers

• Collaborating with influencers who already have a large number of followers can help you expand your reach.
• When an influential person endorses a product and shares it on his or her feed, people are more likely to buy the product, or at least have a look at it.
• It is true that building a healthy relationship with influencers can improve your brand awareness and provide long-term benefits; however, it is important to collaborate only with influencers whose followers are your target audience. You should also ensure that the influencer is someone your customers can trust and relate to.

Final Thoughts

Finding an option to advertise your product isn’t difficult. We are living in a time where there are unlimited options when it comes to marketing and advertising. What can be tricky for a marketer is choosing the right platform. Instagram has proven itself to be an effective tool for businesses that are looking to increase visually oriented followers and improve brand exposure.

A huge advantage of using Instagram is that it is very popular among millennials, who have immense buying power and brand loyalty, and who make up a huge percentage of the consumer market. By implementing the techniques explained in this post, you will be able to unleash the power of Instagram Advertising that will help you enhance your brand and take it to another level.