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How to gain the advantage by using Instagram advertising

Joris De Groot

Joris De Groot

Business advisor & MP

Today, social media is increasingly used to generate leads. Instagram is also seen by more and more companies as an online tool for reaching out to their target group. The use of Instagram will only increase so it is important to respond to this as a company.

On Instagram you can reach your target group in 2 ways. Either you only do this in an organic (= non paying) way or you do this by means of organic posts and advertisements. You have to decide for your own company whether this extra effort in advertisements is worth it. Will this generate extra conversions?

Advertising via Instagram is clearly becoming more and more important. Did you know that 80% of Instagram users follow a business on Instagram and 75% of Instagram users click on an ad? That's why around 2 million advertisers advertise on Instagram every month. So you can certainly take advantage of this platform through advertising, provided you know how to spend your budget optimally. In this blog post, we'll give you some tips and tricks on how to get your ad to perform optimally on Instagram.

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Advertise via Facebook ad management

Advertising on Instagram is done through the ad management of Facebook. This tool allows you to create your own ads that you can display on Facebook and Instagram. You can advertise the same ad on Facebook and on Instagram, but since both channels have different formats, it's better to create separate ads for Facebook and Instagram.

In the ad management of Facebook you can determine the objective, target group, placement, budget, schedule and content of your ad. So 1 address to create your ad!

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What your ad goal, and who is your audience?

Before you start advertising, it is also important to know why you are creating an ad. Do you want to increase brand awareness with your ad? Or are you looking for people who will respond to your ad, click or convert? Lead generation can also be an option as an objective and when you advertise a video it is advisable to choose the objective to achieve more video views. Other goals are also possible and can be found in the Facebook ad management.

First of all, it is important to know if your target audience is actually present on Instagram. Do you have absolutely no idea if your target audience is present on this social media channel? Then just ask them. Are you active on Instagram yourself? Then start looking for potential customers or search for hashtags that could mean something for your business!

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How do I target the right audience?

In the Facebook ad management, you can set up your target audience based on location, gender, age, language, functions, behavior and interests. It is recommended to have a target audience between 10,000 and 40,000 people. If you have an audience of more than this number, you will need to add additional options to limit this audience somewhat. This guideline is given because it seems a bit unreal that one ad fits a target audience of, say, 600,000 people. Will every individual feel attracted to this one ad? In addition, an audience that is too small can also cause undesired results from the ad.

For an ad to be successful, it is best to start small. By this is meant that it is best to test a segment of your audience first. So, take a part of the target group that you want to target and show your ad to this group first. Do you get good results with this? Then show your ad to the rest of your target group and increase the budget. Are you getting poor results? Then adjust your target group or test a different type of ad. The advantage of taking a smaller segment first is to better allocate your budget and avoid any lost budget.

A useful tool of Facebook ad management is that you can see how many people you can reach with your ad and how many results it can generate.

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Where do I advertise on Instagram?

There are several opportunities on Instagram to advertise. Just think of Instagram stories, which are generating more and more popularity. In addition, you can also just advertise a normal post in the form of an image or video. You can also use ads in Instagram Explore, where your ad will be shown to people who are searching for something and thus see different images or videos. Each option has its own features and it's a matter of testing what works best with your target audience. So see which type of ad works best with the least cost per result!

Did you know?

Notice! Facebook ad management itself recommends clicking automatic placements. However, it is better to edit the placements yourself so you can decide where people can see your ad.

When is it best to post?

If you are already active on Instagram, it is best to look in the statistics when your followers are most online and most responding to your posts. If you are not active yet, it is best to do some testing here first. Post and advertise at different times and analyze when you get the best results.

Watch out with the 20/80 rule

The 20/80 rule is about the amount of text you can put on an image. If there is too much text on an image, Facebook may start showing it less to your target audience. According to Facebook, too much text on an image is not done because it takes too much attention away from what is actually being displayed. Make sure that a maximum of 20% of the image contains text and that at least 80% of the image is visible.

How do you make your ad stand out?

Content that does not stand out and is not specific to your business will not rank well. The continuous flow of photos and text on our screen ensures that we only pay attention to something that stands out. It is therefore important for a company to ensure that your image attracts attention among the crowd. You can do this by advertising a unique and striking image or video. Think out of the box! Make sure you do not copy-paste from other advertisers but come up with your own creative ideas.

For the person who sees the ad, it should be clear what the next step is that they should follow. Communicate this in a clear and simple way. Instagram allows you to add a button to your ad that serves as a CTA. This can also make your ad stand out so be sure to make the most of this!

Budget & planning

How much budget should I invest?

Do you have no idea what budget you should choose for your ad(s)? Facebook's ad management itself sets 20 euro per day as an example, but of course you can still adjust this yourself. Does this sound like a good starting budget? Then keep it at 20 euro per day to start. Are you getting good results? Then increase your budget if this fits into your investment budget. Do you think 20 euro is too much? Then start with 10 euro per day and see how it turns out.

Testing is key and dive into those statistics!

Test out for your own business what works best and what doesn't! This is different for every business so it is important to try out many things especially in the beginning and analyze what resonates with your target audience.

In Facebook's ad management there is a handy tool to test ads, namely a/b-testing! You can test the target group, the placement, the ad text and the events (views, clicks, ...). What is important here is that you invest enough budget and do not create an ad that is too short so that the results can be measured as accurately as possible.

Are you not satisfied with the results of your ads? Then investigate what the points for improvement could be. Is the ad not appealing enough? Have you tried a different ad format (e.g., carousel, video, slideshow, etc.)? Are you not advertising at the right time? And so on. Check your statistics so that you can create (even) better ads in the future!