Setting up targeted ads properly
Almost every business needs targeted advertising to grow. It's time to look at how to set it up correctly.
When preparing to launch, pay attention to a few things:
- Content quality, if you plan to drive people to Instagram. If users like your content, they may follow you and see new posts in their feed. The better your posts, the higher the chance of a purchase. Don't post only sales content: make your page interesting and informative.
- Whether your Instagram and Facebook pages are linked. Ads are set up through Facebook.
- How your profile looks. A consistent style is very important, but it shouldn't be boring. For example, create a distinct design for each content category.
- Follow more successful companies promoting similar products and keep an eye on competitors, without forgetting to stay unique.
Instagram ads are set up in Facebook's built-in tool, Ads Manager. With it, you can set campaign objectives. By contrast, Instagram's single "Promote" button only lets you boost engagement on a post.
How to set up targeted ads
Now that the preparation is done, let's talk about how to set up targeted ads. First, campaign objectives — there are currently 11. The most common are conversions, messages, video views, engagement, lead generation and traffic.
Your choice determines how the network selects your target audience. So first decide which of these is most important at your current stage of business growth.
The targeting setup is fairly simple:
- Click "Create campaign".
- In the window that opens, choose an objective.
- Name the campaign, the ad and the ad set.
- Save the draft.
- Choose the budget you're ready to spend.
- Set the start date. It's usually set automatically to the same day, but you can change it. You can also set an end date — this is optional.
- Define the audience based on your target audience research. "Detailed targeting" lets you set parameters more precisely.
- Set the parameters the system will use to select the target audience.
- Edit how users will see your ad.
Instagram targeting, like targeting on any other network, is one of the most effective promotion methods. The only difficulty is that you can never guess your target audience 100% right. So make sure you do a detailed analysis.
