Entering the world of digital advertising can seem overwhelming, especially when you start seeing your competitors on the main social networks with perfectly designed ads.
If you’re here, it’s because you’re considering taking the plunge and launching your first Instagram ads campaign, and that’s already a decisive first step: you want to grow, you want to reach more people, and you know that social networks can help you achieve it.
Although it seems like a complex world, Instagram ads are not the exclusive territory of big brands or giant agencies; small and medium-sized businesses can also achieve very powerful results if they understand how the ecosystem works, as well as content creators who want to multiply the impact of their campaigns.
Why Bet on Instagram Ads?
Instagram is not just a pretty social network where people upload brunch photos or looping carousels; it’s a platform with more than 1 billion active users, where people discover products, interact with brands, and, most importantly, buy.
Instagram ads, like LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, or YouTube Ads, allow you to reach people who don’t know your brand yet, but who could fall in love with it. How? By showing your products or services in the place where they are already spending time, in a format that adapts to their way of consuming content.
And here’s the interesting part: Instagram is part of the Meta (formerly Facebook) ecosystem, which means you have access to a brutal segmentation system and retargeting strategies. You can show your Instagram ad only to women aged 30 who live in Madrid, like natural cosmetics, and have visited your website in the last 7 days. It’s that precise.
Does Instagram Ads Work for all Businesses?
The quick answer: yes, but with nuances. Not all businesses are going to sell from the first ad, and that’s fine. Social media advertising is not magic: it’s strategy, trial, and constant learning.
If you have a visual product, such as clothing, decoration, food, or travel, Instagram can be your star channel. But even if you sell less “instagrameable” services, such as financial advice, online training, or renovations, you can also generate impact if you know how to tell your value proposition.
Instagram Ads for Content Managers: Boost your Reach
If you’re a content manager, you do it as part of a marketing team, and you already have an active community on Instagram, you’ve probably asked yourself at some point: what if I invest in promoting my content?
You can also use ads to reach new followers, improve your conversion funnel, or even promote your own product or service.
One of the advantages of using ads on Instagram is that you can amplify the content that has already worked organically. That is, if you’ve uploaded a reel or a post that has had good engagement, you can turn it into an ad and have it reach thousands of people with profiles similar to those of your current audience.
In addition, you can segment by interests (fashion, fitness, travel, etc.), ages, locations, or even digital behaviors. Is your community in Barcelona, between 25 and 35 years old, and loves sustainable brands? You can create a specific ad just for them.
The Biggest Mistake when Launching your First Campaign
Here’s a key tip: don’t rush into investing without being clear about who you’re talking to or what goal you’re pursuing.
Many companies think that putting up a nice post and investing is enough, but without a strategy, that budget is most likely to be lost in the sea of content. Before launching your Instagram ad, take a moment to answer:
- What do I want to achieve with this ad? (visits, followers, sales, contacts…)
- Who am I talking to?
- What differentiates me from my competition?
- Do I have a landing page, website, or profile prepared to receive that traffic?
If you don’t have a clear answer to these questions, it’s better to wait a few days to create ads on Instagram and work on your base. This will help you create a series of KPIs and clear objectives that will help you measure the results.
In short, a campaign without direction is like launching a message in a bottle into the ocean… without knowing if anyone is going to read it.
The most Effective Types of Ads on Instagram Ads
Instagram offers several formats that allow you to adapt the message to different audiences; the most effective are the following.
- Feed ads: images or videos that appear between organic posts. They are ideal for showing products, services, or visual testimonials. The key is to generate native-looking content without losing commercial strength.
- Stories Ads: take up the entire screen, last 15 seconds, and disappear after 24 hours. Perfect for promotions, launches, or quick calls to action. They incorporate interactive elements such as surveys or sliders that increase engagement, provided that the content is interesting.
- Reels Ads: an excellent way to impact young audiences with creative and dynamic videos. This format allows you to experiment with trends and effects, while still measuring conversions.
- Ads in the Explore tab: they are very useful for impacting users who do not yet follow the account. They allow you to increase reach in brand awareness campaigns.
- Collections and carousels: show several products in a single ad. They combine image, video, and text effectively to facilitate comparison or first contact with a brand.
- Ads with integrated store (Shopping Ads): if your catalog is linked to Meta, you can allow direct purchase from Instagram.
Tips for Achieving more Effectiveness in Instagram Ads
Investing in Instagram Ads does not guarantee results by itself. Performance marketing strategies and accumulated learnings are important concepts that brands must work on every day. These tips will help you reinforce the results of your campaigns.
- Creatives adapted to the format: do not reuse pieces designed for other networks. Instagram has its own rhythm, aesthetics, and visual code. Always think of scroll-stoppers: the first second counts.
- Intelligent segmentation: combine custom audiences, similar audiences, and interests to fine-tune your targeting. Don’t underestimate the power of testing small audiences before scaling.
- Optimize with data, not hunches: use performance statistics to fine-tune texts, calls to action, and schedules. What worked in January may not work in April.
- Take care of the frequency: impacting the same person many times without varying the message can be counterproductive. Use ad sequences or change creatives regularly.
- Align the objective with the content: if you are looking for traffic, optimize for clicks; if you are looking for leads, make sure that the landing page is adapted to mobile. It seems obvious, but many brands fail here.
- Integrate remarketing as part of the journey: re-impacting with different messages depending on the stage of the funnel is key to closing conversions.
How to Make an Instagram Ads Campaign Step by Step?
Whether it’s your first campaign as a company or you’re optimizing for a client with several active campaigns, these steps will guide you to improve the campaign creation process.
- Define the objective: Instagram Ads is managed from the Meta Ads Manager. Choose between objectives such as traffic, conversions, reach, interaction, or sales.
- Segment your audience: create audiences based on customer data, visits to your website, interaction with the profile, or specific interests. You can save segments for future campaigns.
- Choose the appropriate format: reels for awareness, carousel for catalog, stories for flash promotions… The format should be aligned with the phase of the funnel and the content.
- Create the ad: use vertical videos, concise texts, a clear call to action, and, if possible, interactive elements. Don’t forget to test several versions as well.
- Define budget and duration: you can opt for daily or total budget. We recommend campaigns of at least 7 days to obtain solid learnings.
- Activate and monitor: monitor from day one. Adjust according to real data: cost per click, conversion rate, CTR, and frequency.
- Optimize and scale: the initial performance will indicate which creatives and audiences work best. Invest more where there is a return and pause what does not contribute.
In addition, remember that you can always apply an influencer marketing strategy in your ads, partnering with content creators related to your market niche. For example, gastronomic influencers, fashion creators, or cultural influencers.
How much to Invest in your First Campaign?
The million-dollar question. And the answer is: it depends. You can start with very small budgets, even €5 a day, to test what works. The key is not how much you invest at the beginning, but how you learn from each campaign. The Meta algorithm needs time to learn, so give it a margin of at least 5-7 days per ad set before drawing conclusions.
Ideally, start with a simple Instagram Ads campaign, focused on brand recognition or traffic, and then scale. If you see that an ad works well, you can increase the budget. If it doesn’t give results, analyze the data and adjust: sometimes it’s not the product, but the message, the design, or the segmentation.
Do You Need Help Starting your Instagram Ads Strategy?
If all this sounds interesting but also overwhelming, it’s okay, you’re just starting, and it’s totally normal to feel like you’re missing pieces. At 2btube, as a social ads agency, we have been helping brands and content creators grow on social networks for years.
We know how to connect with audiences, how to structure an ads campaign on Instagram from scratch, and, above all, how to make sure that your investment in Instagram ads is not lost among clicks without return.
Surely your story deserves to be told. We’ll take care of getting it to the people who need to hear it! Contact us and we will be happy to help.