Instagram has turned into one of the most lucrative and profitable platforms for advertising and marketing. With a unique range of features such as ‘Insights’, ‘Promote’ and cross-platform promotional tools, Instagram is the right online platform to make use of if you’re looking to boost your company’s growth and give a much needed push for engagement for your products!
But it all sounds complex doesn’t it?
Well, look no further. We are here today with a simple step-by-step guide with illustrations to help you figure out how to use Instagram Ads to get your shop the attention and love it rightfully deserves.
The Essentials- Before You Get Started
To use Instagram Ads in your advertising campaign, the first thing you’ll need is an Instagram account. Normally, Instagram allows users to create either a personal or a business account, and you can always switch from a personal account to a business account later if you wish, and vice versa.
To change your personal account to a business/professional account, all you need to do is:
1. Tap on your profile icon on the bottom right corner of your Instagram Home Screen (on your Instagram app).
2. Next, tap the burger bar icon on the top right corner. Then, tap on ‘Settings’. And then, select ‘Account’.
3. Under ‘Account’, scroll to the bottom and select ‘Switch to Professional Account’ if you want to convert an existing personal account to a professional account. If you want to add a new professional account, select ‘Add New Professional Account’.
There are some perks to using an existing account as your professional account, since Instagram lets you use your existing posts as promotional material. Read on to find out how you can Create Ads directly on Instagram, without needing to download other apps or creating a new professional account on Instagram.
A Step-by-Step Guide To Create Ads Directly On Instagram
Once you’ve successfully created your professional account on Instagram (or switched your personal one to a professional account), follow the steps below to create ads!
1. Go to your profile and go to Promotions
Click on the bottom right profile icon on your Instagram App. You will see three options below the Bio area of your account. This is the area that appears below your profile picture and contains information about your account. Select ‘Promotions’.
2. Choosing a post to promote
From the new page that opens on selecting ‘Promotions’, select ‘Choose A Post’. Note: Instagram also displays which one of your posts is your ‘Top Post’, or your most popular post, and gives you the option of choosing that post to promote your page. It is, however, your choice to decide which post you want to promote from your page.
3. Using Filters
Now, choose a post that you would like to promote. One of the filters Instagram has indicates which of your posts are eligible for promotion, and which aren’t. You can filter out and search through your posts using the filters provided. You can use the filters to view and select either:
● Carousel Posts/Photos/Videos, or
● Posts from a particular time period: right from posts from the last 7 days to posts from all the years you have posted on your account, or
● Stories that you have posted on your Instagram Stories section that you would like to promote.
4. Connecting your page to Facebook
Now click on the ‘→’ on the top right corner of your Instagram Android App, or ‘Next’ on the iOS app. When you create your professional account/ convert your personal account to a professional one, Instagram gives you the option of connecting a Facebook Page to your account. If you haven’t linked a Facebook Page yet, you will be prompted to connect a page. However, you can choose to skip this by selecting ‘Skip’.
Note: On selecting ‘Skip’, you won’t be prompted to connect a Facebook Page every time you promote future posts. You can, however, link a Facebook Page to your account at any time in the future.
5. Setting Promotion Details
Instagram will now prompt you to fill in the details of your promotion such as:
● Goal: this refers to the results you’d like to see from the promotion of this post.
● Audience: this refers to the Target Audience who you want your post to reach.
● Budget: this is the financing concept of your promotions and refers to how much you want to spend daily on promoting your post.
● Duration: this refers to how long you want your post to run.
Once you’re done filling in these details, tap ‘→’ (for Android) or ‘Next’ (for iOS)
6. Selecting your Mode of Payment
To set up your payment method, select ‘Payment’. Add in the details of your Location, Currency, Business and Tax Information (where applicable) and add a payment method from the options available. Then select ‘Next’. Fill in the required details for your Payment and select ‘Save’. For future promotions, you will be using the same payment method without having to fill in all these details again.
7. Finishing your Promotion submission
To complete your promotion, select ‘Create Promotion’ on the ‘Review’ page.
Once you complete this process, your ad will be submitted to Instagram for review in order to ensure it meets Instagram’s ad policies. Once review and approval is done, your ad begins to run.
What Do I Do After My Promotion Submission Process Is Complete?
Once you submit your ad for review, you will get notifications in your Activity Feed for every update regarding your ad: submission of ad for review, review of the ad, approval/disapproval of the ad, and when your promotion campaign ends.
You can also use the ‘Promotions’ button to view the insights from your Ad.
Instagram Ads makes it very convenient and affordable to run the type of ads that you would like, and catered to your preferences of post. Thus, Instagram is one of most popular ad-services today, and we encourage you to make full use of it! Get Advertising with Instagram Ads today!
Information compiled with reference from this article on Instagram Help Center.
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