Instagram Ads - Custom Campaigns for Every Need

Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms worldwide and has become an effective advertising platform for businesses.
As the 4th most popular social media platform, Instagram boasts around two billion monthly active users sharing nearly 100 million photos and videos daily. With the ability to run ads in Stories and the Feed, Instagram offers businesses the chance to engage their target audiences in a visual and creative way.
But what truly makes Instagram Ads unique, and how can companies best utilize them? In this article, we look at the unique selling points (USPs) of Instagram ads and how businesses can use them to effectively reach their target audiences. From audio-visual storytelling through Story or Feed Ads to seamless integration with Facebook advertising and extensive measurement and optimization options - here you’ll learn everything you need to know about Instagram ads to take your ad campaigns to the next level.

Instagram as an Advertising Platform: Influence, Reach, and Innovation

But with which USPs can Instagram shine as an advertising platform? After all, 71% of American companies are already using the platform to run ads.

Thanks to its high user numbers, Instagram has a significant influence on trends and consumer behavior, like almost no other platform. Influencers can reach hundreds of millions of users in an interest group and thus demand enormous sums for placements, such as Selena Gomez (405 million followers) or Cristiano Ronaldo (568 million followers), who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars with a single post. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Instagram has proven itself as an advertising platform thanks to its easy-to-use interface and the high engagement willingness of its users.
Almost no other platform allows for such effective community building as Instagram, and thanks to features and continuous updates, such as the integrated shopping function, users can now conveniently purchase products marketed by their favorite influencer directly through Instagram. In the USA, users now even have the option to connect their crypto wallets with Instagram and can fully market, sell, and directly monetize their NFTs here. All these features allow businesses or influencers to build strong communities, which in turn generate even more reach through likes and shares.

To leverage these advantages for your business, it’s worth taking a look at the different advertising formats Instagram offers and learning which benefits each format can provide you:

Overview of Instagram Ads

Instagram initially offers Photo Ads (1). They are probably the best-known way to advertise on Instagram, serving to convey strong visual content in just one post to customers. Photo Ads can also help you generate conversions, increase app installations, or boost your overall brand awareness.

Video Ads (2) are another popular way to advertise because they appeal to customers acoustically and visually. The keyword here is visual storytelling. Video Ads are played in the user's feed like Photo Ads and optimally should not be longer than a minute. Video Ads work best when you convey exciting content about your brand at a high-quality level.

The Carousel Ads (3) option allows advertisers to pack up to 10 images or videos in one post and thus move customers to purchase or increase their interest through detailed product images.

Another method is to place ads in theExplore Feed (4) or search field ads. This feed represents the area on Instagram where users can discover new accounts and content not appearing in the feed of the followed accounts. The advantage is that people here are purposefully looking for new posts and thus do not feel disturbed by ads in their personal feed.

The Story Ads (5) are shown to the user between normal Instagram Stories of subscribed accounts, seamlessly integrating into the user experience. They occupy the entire screen and therefore require appealing graphic design. Story Ads also offer the possibility to directly redirect the user via a shortcut to linked products and websites.

In both the Explore Feed and the personal feed, it’s possible to use all content

options like IGTV, Stories, and Reels as advertising space.

But which options are suitable for you, how does the setup work, and what costs should you expect?

Setting Up the Instagram Ads Campaign

The setup of an Instagram Ad campaign is done through the Meta-Ad Manager and can be adjusted or deactivated at any time.
In the following, we explain step by step what you need to pay attention to when setting up.
The setup of an advertising campaign can be divided into a total of 6 steps.

1. Choose campaign objective

2. Set budget

3. Define target audience

4. Choose ad placement

5. Create your ads

6. Measurement and optimization options

1. Choose Campaign Objective

In this step, you can select one of 11 possible campaign objectives, depending on your requirements. The most common choice is “Traffic” since it can help increase website visits, app downloads, or sales.

2. Set Budget

When setting the budget, you have two options: daily budget or lifetime budget. The difference between these two options is whether you want your campaign to run constantly or only until a specific end date.

For constantly active campaigns, the daily budget option is recommended, while for campaigns with a fixed end date, the lifetime budget option proves more effective. With the latter option, you specify a maximum budget when setting up campaigns, which Instagram automatically allocates over the period you define.

3. Define Target Audience

Another important step is to define the target audience for your ad campaign.

If you already have an established target audience, you can use it, or alternatively create a new one. For this, you can use parameters such as location, age, gender, demographics, interests, and language. Based on your choices, Instagram shows you a reach forecast and provides insights on the specific characteristics of your target audience.

4. Choose Ad Placement

In this step, you decide where your ad will be displayed on Instagram. The “Automatic Placement” option takes this decision off your hands and places your ad across the Meta ecosystem to achieve maximum reach. Alternatively, you can choose manual placement and decide for yourself on which platforms and in what form your ad will be displayed.

5. Create Your Ads

The last step involves the actual creation of your ads. Here, you can either get creative, use providers like Canva, or hire creative agencies. As Warriors, we have been creating social ads campaigns for our clients for years and are happy to assist you with advice and action. However, if you choose to create the ads yourself, make sure you adjust the formats depending on the ad placement location. To help you select the appropriate format, we've summarized the most important formats here:

• Stories, Reels, Videos: 1080 x 1920

• Reel Cover: 420 x 654

• Story Cover: 1200 x 1220

• Instagram Image Size in Feed/Carousel: 1080 x 1080 (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)

6. Measurement and Optimization Options

The Meta-Ad-Manager offers you the ability at any time to monitor, regulate, and optimize your campaign. KPIs and performance overviews help you measure both your budget and your current success.

Tools like the
“Advantage+ Creative” can automatically improve your ads if desired. This could include adding a 3D animation or automatically adjusting the brightness of the display.

You want to unleash the full potential of your Instagram Ads but need professional support during the setup? As a full-service online marketing agency, we specialize in assisting you in all aspects related to Instagram Ads. We are happy to advise you and support you in generating new customers and leads via Instagram.

Visit our website and learn more about our extensive services in Instagram ads. Contact our experts and start your successful advertising campaign on Instagram today!