Instagram offers incredible opportunities for businesses of all sizes to reach their target audiences through Instagram Ads Campaign.

I’m sure you’ve heard stories about entrepreneurs running Instagram ads and having massive success.

But as more and more brands join Instagram and the feed becomes more competitive, it can be harder to stand out.

Want to do more with Instagram ads? Wondering how to create an Instagram ad that gives great results?

In this article, you’ll discover the most important things you need to know as you get ready to run your first Instagram ad:

What Are Instagram Ads?

Instagram ads are posts that pop up on a user’s Instagram feed.

The business or person advertising pays to display the content across Instagram, which is often accompanied by a “Sponsored” label.

Post ads typically appear in the form of a carousel, still image, video, or slideshow.

They can also feature a call-to-action button like “Shop Now” or “Learn More”. This depends on the campaign’s objective, i.e. whether you want to get traffic or conversions.

Types of Instagram Ads

Instagram also has many other ad types. The most interesting ones include:

• Stories Ads
• Explore Ads
• Collection Ads
• Shopping Ads

Here’s some information about each type:

Stories ads

Instagram Stories Ads appear between people’s Stories on full screen.

The call-to-action in Stories Ads encourages the audience to “swipe up” from the bottom of the story to shop or learn more. 

Plus, the ads allow you to utilize all capabilities of Instagram Stories, like adding video effects, face filters, and stickers to grab the attention of your audience.

Explore ads

Instagram has an “Explore” section that allows people to discover content linked to their interests.

But Instagram Explore ads don’t appear in that section. Instead, they only display after a user opens an image or video from Explore.

The best thing about Explore ads is that you can run them alongside post ads by choosing Explore as an additional ad placement.

Collection ads

Instagram collection ads enable audiences to view and purchase your products.

When users click on an item within a collection, the platform redirects them to Instant Experience, a type of eCommerce storefront within Instagram.

These creative Instagram ads typically include a collection of product images or videos.

Shopping ads

Instagram also lets you promote shoppable posts as ads. 

Users who tap on these ads are redirected to a product description page within Instagram. They can then buy the featured item from your mobile shop.

If you have an Instagram Shop for your business, you can create these ads on the fly. (To set one up, check out our post: How to set up Instagram Shopping). 

Benefits of Instagram Ads

At its most basic level, running Instagram ads is an effective way to get your products in front of a vast audience. 

In fact, around 500 million people log into Instagram daily, so you have a large consumer base to target.

Also, Instagram’s engagement is on the rise, meaning you can get a better response rate on Instagram compared to other social media platforms. Businesses using Instagram can generate 4x more interactions on the platform compared to Facebook.

This means you have an opportunity to drive sales by putting your business front and center of people’s feeds – courtesy of Instagram ads.

Important Things You Need To Know About Instagram Ads

1. Connect your Facebook page to your Instagram account.

Go to your Facebook page and then click Settings at the top right.

Then click on Instagram, and then on Log In. Follow the instructions there to connect your account.

Note: Make sure your Instagram account is connected to your page before you try to create the ad.

2. You can create your Instagram ads inside Facebook’s Ad Manager interface.

When you’re ready to run Instagram ads, start in Ads Manager and select Instagram as a placement. You don’t need an Instagram account to run ads on Instagram. You can use your Facebook Page or a connected Instagram account (if you have one).

Before you begin

• If you’d like to connect your Instagram account to Ads Manager, you can add it to your Business Manager or connect it through your Page’s settings.
• Prepare images or videos that you’d like to include your ad.
• Determine which Facebook advertising objective aligns with your marketing goal.

How to create Instagram ads in Ads Manager

To select Instagram as a placement for your ads:

1. Go to Ads Manager.
2. Select Create.
3. Choose an objective that supports Instagram as an ad placement.
4. Select Continue.
5. Fill in the details for your ad set.
6. At the placements section, you can select Manual placements and select Instagram to have your ads appear on Instagram. If you select automatic placements, your ad will run across a variety of Facebook placements, including Instagram to give you the best value for your ads.
7. Select Continue.

You have now selected Instagram as a placement. You can complete your ad by adding details for your ad’s identity, format and related links. Once you have filled in these details, you will be able to preview your ad before submitting it for review. Once your ad has been approved, it will appear on Instagram.

3. Your Instagram ads should always go in their own ad set.

Instagram ads follow a simple three-tier structure: Ad campaigns > Ad sets > Ads.

Ad campaign is the highest tier of the structure, where you decide your marketing objective for the campaign. Within each ad campaign, there is one or several ad sets.

Ad set is the second tier of the structure, where you set your audience targeting, placement, budgets, and schedule. Within each ad set, there is one or several ads.

Ad is the final tier of the structure and the “final product” that people see on Facebook.

In a normal Facebook ad campaign, you might run the same ads on both the Desktop News Feed and on the Mobile News Feed. Your ads’ format works well in both of these “placements” as Facebook calls them.

But if you tried to run the same ad on Instagram as you do on Facebook, the image dimensions would make it look rather odd.

Note: Facebook has recently launched a feature that allows you to choose a specific image just for your ads on Instagram. That means you can choose “Automatic Placement” at the ad set level and use the same copy for all your ads. All you need to do is select a different image for Instagram.

4. Track your ad results using the Facebook Pixel and custom conversions. 

If you’re sending people to a page on your site, then you’ll want to be sure the Facebook Pixel is in place and you’ve set up either standard events or custom conversions to track things like opt-ins and purchases.

5. You’ll see the performance of your Instagram ads in Facebook’s Ads Manager.

The results of your Instagram ads and details about important metrics are easy to read in the Ads Manager.

Two things I recommend paying attention to are your CPM, or cost per 1,000 impressions, and your Click-through Rate (CTR) Links. Some people find that it’s cheaper to get their ads shown on Instagram, but you’ll want to see if you’re getting a better or worse click-through rate on the link in your ads compared with your ads on Facebook. 

6. Consider Instagram Story ads. 

Even if you’re a total advertising beginner, Instagram Story ads just might be the way to go. They’re incredibly simple to put together and people are seeing incredible results from them.

Best practices for Instagram ads

Now you have everything you need to know about Instagram ads. The next step is designing effective visual assets for your ads.

Here are some tips for how to design attention-grabbing creative for Instagram ads.

Design mobile-first ads

98.8% of users access social media via a mobile device, so it’s vital to design your creative for mobile viewing, not desktop.

Here are a few tips to design mobile-first ads:

• When capturing video content, make sure to film in vertical (9×16) as this is easier to crop to 4×5 than from landscape
• Minimize the amount of text in your ads
• If you do add text, choose large font sizes that are easy to read on mobile screens
• Add animations and motion graphics to videos to quickly engage viewers
• Keep videos short (15 seconds or less)

Keep branding and messaging upfront

The first few seconds of your ad will determine whether a viewer will stop scrolling and watch the whole thing. That’s why it’s important to start your ad with the key message and showcase your branding within the first 3 seconds.

Use sound to delight

40% of users consume social media with sound off. As such, it’s important to design your ads for sound-off consumption, and to use sound to delight users who do have sound on. Here’s how to do that:

• Use visual elements to tell your story and deliver your key message without sound
• Add captions for any voiceover or scripted audio
• Use text overlay to deliver your key message without sound

Pitch, play, plunge

Facebook recommends designing a combination of creative types that work together to grab attention and reward interest:

• Pitch: Short assets that get the campaign idea across immediately and grab attention
• Play: Assets that allow light exploration and interactivity for interested audiences
• Plunge: Immersive assets that allow people to go in-depth into your campaign idea

Conclusion

Okay, that’s all about Instagram ads.

Now you know more about Instagram ads and it’s benefits. If you have not looked into Instagram ads, I think it’ll be worth checking it out for your business.

Discover our Facebook & Instagram Ads Campaign and find out how we can help you get the best from your social media campaigns, by distributing your products or services across various social media platforms and placing them on the screens of prospective customers.