How to Advertise on Instagram (Types and Costs)
With more than 800 million active users, it rises no surprise that 71% of businesses around the globe prefer to run their ads through Instagram. Nearly 2 million advertisements are created on a monthly basis, and about 75% of users take action on these ads, all on Instagram alone. These and the fact that Instagram is a mobile-based application, yield to a higher ROI rate, compared to the parent company (and all other social media). This is why you need to know how to advertise on Instagram.
Back in 2010, when Instagram was first founded, no one thought of it as a platform more than an online photo album. Three years later, in 2013, they decided to try ads on Instagram in a limited manner. However, the idea was welcomed by businesses, hence the expansion of ads services in 2015. To date, Instagram has enabled various types of promotion for businesses of any size and any kind which proves the medium capable of unlimited commercial potentials.
There are five different ways you can advertise on Instagram: photo ads, video ads, story ads, carousal ads, and collection ads, all of which appear in the feed of users, without disturbing them. These ads will be sent to users based on their activity On Instagram, Facebook, and third-party apps. Instagram uses this information to find the right audience for your advertisements and products.
Photo Ads
Photo ads will let you advertise on Instagram by creating imagery of your products. The call to action buttons (Apply Now, Book Now, Call Now, Contact Us, Get Directions, Learn More, Get Show-times and Download) appearing on the photos let your audience shop more conveniently, even right from the post. These photos are reachable on the feed of Instagram users, and even on the feed of those who are not following your page.
Video Ads
Videos ads, like photo ads, will make a rise happen in your sales. The presence of call to action buttons on the videos (Apply Now, Book Now, Call Now, Contact Us and Download), has made it so fun for users to buy from you. A fact you need to consider is that the time spent watching videos on Instagram is increasing at a pace of 80%, every year.
Story Ads
The fact that over 500 million people watch Instagram stories every day reveals the importance of this feature. Since stories are full-screened, they provide a spectacular view to advertise on Instagram. Also, the call to action button on story ads (Apply Now, Book Now, Contact Us, Call Now (video only) and Download) had made the story so effective an advertisement method that tempts the viewers to touch them.
Carousal Ads
This kind of ad is exactly like the Photo ads, but with a series of images. Users can go through images and have the call to action buttons (Apply Now, Book Now, Contact Us, Call Now and Download) accessible through all photos. Carousel Ads let you post more photos of your products, hence an increased exposure to users.
Collection Ads
This type of feature gives you a relatively new way to advertise o Instagram. The mechanism of this advertisement method combines photos/videos and DM response and lets the users purchase from the Ad. That’s a fantastic feature, released only back in 2018 which empowers brands with even more potential to sell. The call to action buttons (Learn more and Purchase) are also present through Collection ads.
The cost of Advertising on Instagram
While there is no absolute price for this end, estimations can still tell you valuable things about the costs of Instagram ads. The evaluations show that the cost for a usual advertisement on Instagram ranges from 60 cents to 1 dollar per click. You should still note that this is an estimated range and your costs might be more or less compared to what I figured.
Another thing to consider about the cost of Instagram Ads is that the closer we get to the end of the year, the more expensive the Ads become. This is due to getting close to the sales season.
Conclusion
Eighty percent of Instagram users follow at least one business account on Instagram. So, to my best reason, it is a must for businesses to advertise on Instagram. Though younger than its parent, Facebook, Instagram has proved to be excellent in terms of coming up with higher ROI for businesses. Then there is no question in whether to use Instagram Ads or not.
