What Is the Best Way To Advertise on Instagram? Learn How!

Profile photo of Karen Lin, author

Karen Lin

Instagram 101 | Oct 17, 2024

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All over Instagram, creators are promoting products through sponsored posts, shimmying to the latest dance trend, and posting hot selfies. Everyone wants to crack the code on what it takes to get more fans fast on the platform. But at the end of the day, it’s classic digital advertising that can get the job done. But what is the best way to advertise on Instagram?

There are many creative, ingenious ways to put yourself on the map on social media. You can do influencer collabs, run giveaways, and join viral challenges to put the spotlight on your page. But there’s one promotional strategy, one investment that is a cut above the rest. Keep scrolling to discover what it is!

Two women and a man promoting their product in front of a phone camera and tripod.

Let’s Cut to the Chase—What Is the Best Way To Advertise on Instagram?

Allow us to set the record straight. Sure, there are fun, creative, inventive ways to promote yourself and catch the attention of potential fans online. However, the best way to advertise on Instagram will always be to launch paid ads.

Instagram ads are content you pay for to promote a certain page to a specific target audience on the platform. They come in many forms, from video ads while watching Instagram Stories to photos with clickable call-to-action buttons.

More and more brands are running ads on Instagram to reach potential fans and customers. And with a user base of over two billion active users on the platform per month, can you blame them? According to Statista, Instagram’s ad revenue is pegged to reach 71 billion USD by the end of 2024. That’s almost 20 billion more than in 2022!

Running paid ads is the most strategic, efficient, and accurate way to promote your content to Instagram users. Here are just some of their many benefits and features:

  •  They use advanced targeting so you can reach your target market accurately every time.
  •  Ads appear on the feed, Reels, and Stories, blending seamlessly into the fabric of the platform.
  • You can choose from a variety of creative formats, from photo to video content.
  •  They help you reach your goals, whether it’s brand awareness or driving traffic to your website.
  • They give you a boost in following since more people discover your page for the first time.
  • You can easily measure your ad campaign’s results through Instagram’s in-app analytics features.

Can Anyone Run Ads on Instagram?

Sadly, no. Not everyone can run ads on the platform. To become an advertiser, you need to have a professional account. That means switching from a personal page to a business or creator account.

Oh, and another thing. You must also have a Facebook business page you can link to your Instagram. Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta. Instagram’s advertising tools are integrated with Facebook’s, allowing brands and creators to promote ads across the Meta network.

If you’re running ads for someone else, ask them to give you an admin or advertiser role on their page. This gives you access to their ad account, allowing you to smoothly set up and run Instagram ads.

A brand’s Facebook business page displayed on a smartphone next to men’s grooming products.

Where Can You Create an Advertising Campaign on Instagram?

You can launch your Instagram ad campaign through Meta’s Ads Manager. This is where brands kick off their ads anywhere on the Meta network, including Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and more.

All you have to do is tap “Create” on the Ads Manager dashboard, and you’re ready to build your campaign. From there, the site will walk you through all the parameters you need to set to ensure your ads’ success.

By launching ad campaigns through Ads Manager, you can extend the placement of your ads to run across the Meta network. That means your ads won’t be limited to Instagram alone. You can choose to have them delivered to Facebook, Messenger, and more!

The Ads Manager is also where you can—obviously—manage your Instagram ads. You’ll be able to see how each asset in your campaign is faring through real-time performance metrics. You can also adjust your ads as you deem fit, whether it’s editing your budget or tweaking the creative material. Essentially, it’s your one-stop shop for all your Instagram ad needs!

The 9 Elements of an Instagram Ad Campaign

A major aspect of learning how to advertise on Instagram is understanding the different elements that make up a campaign. You don’t just upload an ad and hit the launch button. There are many strategic details you need to brainstorm and fill out to ensure your campaign hits its goals. Here are the nine key elements of an Instagram ad campaign.

1. Your Creative Materials

Of course, an ad always starts with a good creative asset. This is the image or video that will run as your ad. You’ll upload these at the tail end of the campaign set-up, but it’s good to have them on file already. That way, uploading your content will be easier and faster.

Every other parameter we’ll discuss in the list is on the back end of the ad planning process. But your creative material is what your audience will remember. So, you have to make it impressionable and it must stand out. Use high-quality visuals, captivating in-image copy, and videos with exquisite storytelling to catch your target market’s attention with your ads.

A woman taking a photo of a flower arrangement with her smartphone.

2. Campaign Objective

When you create a campaign on Ads Manager, the first thing you need to do is choose your campaign objective.

Meta used to have almost a dozen super-specific objectives, like reach, video views, and product catalog sales. But in 2024, they announced these would be consolidated into six objectives: awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales.

It’s important to choose which among these objectives aligns most with what you’re trying to achieve with your ads. It will help Instagram fine-tune your ads’ delivery strategy to help you meet your goals. For example, if you choose app promotion, Instagram will push out your ads to those most likely to download apps. If the objective is traffic, they’ll serve it to people likely to click links, and so on.

3. Target Audience

It’s vital that your ad reaches the right people. If your ad is served to users to whom your ads aren’t relevant, it won’t drive meaningful interactions and conversions.

So, you must define your target audience, aka the people you want your ad to reach. You can be as detailed as you want, setting parameters for age, gender, location, interests, social media behavior, and more. You can even target people based on the pages they like and other ads they’ve clicked on in the past.

Do you have an existing database of customers for your business? You can create a custom audience for your targeting strategy. This allows you to push out your ad to people from your customer lists, lead forms, Instagram engagement, and more.

Lastly, we have lookalike audiences or people with profiles similar to your existing fans. The idea is that these users will also likely find your content relevant if others like them do. Smart, right?

A diverse group of men and women looking at their phones.

4. Daily or Lifetime Budget

Then, you set your budget for the campaign. What’s fantastic about budgets for Instagram ads is that there’s no fixed rate for running campaigns. You can set whatever amount of money you’re willing to spend. Then, the Instagram algorithm will adjust its ad delivery strategy depending on your budget.

You can either set a daily or lifetime budget for your campaign. A daily budget is the amount you’re willing to spend for each individual day of your campaign. Meanwhile, a lifetime budget is your pool of money for the entire duration of when your ad runs.

Instagram’s flexible budget feature makes ads accessible even to creators with a limited digital marketing budget. If you can only shell out a hundred bucks or so, you can absolutely do that. Just note that Meta recommends that brands set aside at least $5 per day to see great ad results.

A woman with glasses and a high bun looking at her phone while holding money.

5. Campaign Duration

Then, you choose how long you want your ad to run, aka its campaign duration. You have two options here. You can have it run continuously until you manually choose to pause it. Or, you can determine a start and end date for the ad.

A campaign’s duration depends heavily on what it’s advertising. Limited-time promotions like holiday sales and events should be set for a short duration only. Meanwhile, evergreen, product-centric content that is relevant year-round might be more suited for a long-term, continuous campaign. Just do what you think is right for your campaign specifically.

A woman writing notes on a monthly calendar.

6. Creative Formats

Then, it’s time to select what content formats you want to advertise. There are four types of content you can upload as an ad:

  • Photo: A single-image ad that is straightforward and speaks for itself
  • Video: Your personal brand captured in sound and motion
  • Carousel: People can swipe across 10 different photos or videos in one ad. It’s perfect if you want to showcase multiple products or key messages in a single ad
  • Collection ads: Highlights products from your Instagram Shop’s catalog 

Each of these has its own specs and required formats. Make sure to check the Meta Ads Guide for those!

7. Ad Placements

You also get to choose where your ads appear on Instagram. These are known as ad placements. They include high-traffic parts of the platform, including the main feed, Instagram Stories, the Explore tab, Reels, and Instagram Shops.

When choosing your ad placements, consider the parts of the platform your creative assets will fit into seamlessly. Square images, for example, might work better on the main feed and Explore tab than Stories. Meanwhile, vertical videos will probably perform better in video-first features, like the Reels tab.

Not sure where to place your ad? Don’t worry. You can choose Advantage+ placements, which automatically puts your ad in the optimal parts of Instagram to maximize your budget.

8. Call-to-Action Buttons

Worried that the people who see your ad won’t interact with it and swipe past your content in mere seconds? Encourage action from your target market by adding a call-to-action button to your ad.

Call-to-action buttons are exactly what they sound like. They “call” users to do a specific action with a short CTA, such as “Book now!” or “Learn more!” They’re perfect not just for driving engagement but also getting people to do exactly what you want them to. It’s a huge help in meeting your campaign objectives with your ads.

Here are just some of the many call-to-action buttons you can add to your promotional content:

  • Apply now
  • Buy tickets
  • Call now
  • Donate now
  • Get directions
  • Get quote
  • Like page
  • Install now
  • Order now
  • Play game
  • Send message
  • Sign up
  • Watch more

9. Pixel Tracking

Now, this feature is optional, but Meta allows you to put pixel tracking in your ads. They’ll put a piece of code in your ad that helps track the actions people take when they see it. That way, you can easily measure how often people click on your ad, visit your website, or purchase your product. It’s the perfect addition to any conversion-driving ad to see exactly how it performs!

A woman with curly hair holding a magnifying glass to her eye.

Don’t Have Time To Set Up a Campaign? Boost an Existing Post Instead!

Don’t feel like going through the tedious task of setting up all those parameters just to run one ad? You don’t have to! There’s an easier route for creators who want to promote content quickly: boosting an existing organic post.

Boosting a post on Instagram basically means turning an organic post on your feed into a paid ad. When you have a creator account, you will see a blue “Boost post” button under each of your posts. Just click that button, and Instagram will let you set up a few parameters, like your target market and budget. After that, your then-organic content will start running as an ad!

This is fantastic for creators who want to run ads but don’t have the time or patience to launch campaigns. It’s way more user-friendly than building a campaign from scratch on the Ads Manager.

The strategy here is to choose a post that has historically performed well. Find content that drove high engagement rates or gave you the most video views. Because your followers responded well to these posts, you know they’re high-quality and relevant to your target market. That makes them awesome candidates for boosted content.

And the cherry on top is that boosting a post is super cost-efficient. You won’t have to spend extra dollars to produce new creative content for your ads. Instead, you pick one out that’s already performing well and then give it a boost with paid promotion!

A phone displaying an Instagram post with the “Boost post” button underneath it.

Creative Best Practices for Instagram Ads

Although setting the parameters above is crucial for perfecting your campaign, it’s your creatives that will grab your audience’s attention. Strategy is important, but how your visual content sticks to the landing will seal your fate when people see your ads.

Here are some best practices to consider incorporating into your creative assets for ads:

  • Use high-quality photos and videos. Blurry, pixelated visuals will make your brand seem unprofessional and untrustworthy. Always go for content with a crisp, clear definition.
  • Put your branding up front to increase recall. Make sure your logo is seen as soon as someone looks at your ad.
  • Optimize your content for mobile viewing. Design your ads with the mindset that people will see it on their phone’s tiny screen. So, make your photos and videos vertical to fill up the screen space. Use close-up shots of your product and large text for easy reading.
  • Make sure video ads have a hook in the first few seconds. People skip ads they don’t find interesting in mere seconds. Pique their interest with an intriguing, exciting opening so they watch the whole thing.
  • Conduct A/B testing between two creative assets with minimal differences, like their colors or the layout of the ads. See which one your audience responds to more and optimize your creative content moving forward with that info.

Someone creating a graphic with big text on their phone using the Canva app.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best format to advertise on Instagram?

It depends on your goals and what you want to showcase in your ads. If you want to feature just one straightforward product or promo, a single-image ad would be fine. For extra storytelling, you might want to consider a carousel ad. And if you want a more dynamic experience for those seeing your content, video ads will be awesome.

How can I promote my Instagram fast?

The quickest way to promote your Instagram through ads is by boosting an already existing post. Just tap the “Boost post” button under your content. From there, you choose details like your budget, duration, target audience, and more to set it up as an ad.

What is the best time to run ads on Instagram?

The best time to run ads (and any type of content) on Instagram is when your audience is online. That means peak times of the day for social media activity, like early in the morning, lunchtime, and evenings. Of course, this will always depend on your target market’s social media behaviors. So, always research their internet habits first!

How much do Instagram ads cost?

There’s no fixed cost for running ad campaigns on Instagram. Instead, you set your own budget for your ads, whether it’s $5 or thousands of dollars. Choose a budget that is comfortable and feasible for you.

Which social media platform is best for advertising?

The best platform for ads depends on what content you want to promote and who you want to reach. For example, when it comes to aesthetic visual content, Instagram will always be king. Meanwhile, meme-inspired vertical videos for Gen Z are suited for TikTok. That said, it’s always best to advertise on the most popular platforms, namely Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Simultaneously Run Ads and Work With Path Social for Maximum IG Growth!

So, what is the best way to advertise on Instagram? Through ads, of course. That said, they’re just one part of a successful growth strategy. To open even more doors for growth, work with Path Social.

We handle the heavy lifting for you. You tell your target audience, and we use organic promotional strategies to get your pots on their screen. In no time, you’ll see an influx of new followers and more engagement on your content. We’ve doubled follower counts for brands like Modern Fit, and we’ll do it for you, too! 

Get more Instagram followers with Path Social today.