Targeted ads on Instagram
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks, with a total audience of over a billion people. In recent years, the number of active users of the app in Ukraine has grown many times over. This shows that Instagram advertising is becoming perhaps the main tool for promoting products and services to an audience aged 18–35. Today the network is used by people of all income levels, so you can promote not only affordable products and services but also more expensive, premium ones.
Targeted Instagram advertising is a marketing tool that shows a promoted post only to a specific audience. Ad settings include several dozen parameters, such as age, gender, region, interests, ad schedule and much more.
Instagram advertising has several features:
- a relatively low cost — targeting is several times cheaper than advertising with Instagram bloggers;
- the ability to monitor conversions and change targeting settings at any time;
- no human factor, as the network's algorithm does all the work;
- you don't need an active Instagram profile to promote products or services.
The advantages of this promotion method lie in how Instagram advertising works. Targeting means the ad is shown only to a defined target audience, filtering out "blind" impressions of posts and stories to people who aren't interested. Why, for example, advertise an expensive Kyiv dry cleaner to a student in Zaporizhzhia? It's simpler to set up the ad so that only middle-aged people in the area of Kyiv where the dry cleaner is located see it. That's just one example of using this tool correctly.
Features of targeted posts on Instagram
Targeted Instagram ads come in two formats:
- Stories;
- feed posts.
The first format is more affordable yet effective. Sponsored stories appear while users browse the stories of accounts they follow; one of them will be an ad, as a short video or a photo with text and a direct link. Conveniently, this lets you promote any website, service, product, person or brand, and any link can be attached. Story ads often complement sponsored posts. In the feed, targeted posts look like regular posts with a "Sponsored" label. You can add any image that complies with the rules and a caption. You can promote an existing post from your own account or, if you don't have an active profile, a post created specifically with a link to your website, Telegram channel and so on.
Official Instagram ads are set up only through Facebook Ads Manager — an advertising platform where you configure posts, set parameters, track statistics and control the budget. Instagram itself only allows quick boosts. That's why SMM marketers mostly work in Facebook Ads Manager.
Is targeted Instagram advertising right for everyone?
Instagram advertising via Facebook has over 30 different settings. First, the post type and content are chosen: creative copywriters write a catchy headline and caption, and designers prepare the visuals. Then the target audience parameters are set for the feed or story ads. The final step is scheduling. The wide choice of parameters lets you get the best price for the client and makes it easier to target a specific group of users. That's why targeted ads on this network suit almost all products, services and public figures.
What is NOT recommended to advertise this way on Instagram:
- expensive equipment;
- highly specialised products;
- non-unique mass-market goods.
Quality advertising on this network requires a unique selling proposition, such as a great price or better service. Keep in mind that the platform's core audience is aged 18–35. Given the cost of targeting, it also makes little sense to sell cheap, low-margin mass-market goods. This format is most often used to promote IT products and services, shops and salons, brands and public figures.
Guaranteed promotion results
The CYBORG web studio provides comprehensive advertising on Instagram and other social networks. Our managers can tell you how much Instagram advertising costs. These figures are approximate until a marketing strategy is drawn up and the promotion goal is clearly defined. Experience shows that Facebook and Instagram ads can be effective with any budget — the only difference is the maximum reach. And the conversion rate always reaches the planned result.
CYBORG's SMM marketers never set impossible targets, as they are all based on many years of real experience.
