Instagram Ads for SMM

Hello Friends, welcome to LearnVern.

In the last topic we learnt about Facebook Ads, how they work, why are Facebook Ads important to any business and we also saw in what all formats can you run a facebook ad.

In this topic, we will understand about Instagram Ads. We will also learn about the available formats that you can use for your business or for your personal brands and also how these ads function.

Towards the end of this unit I shall share a live video of my instagram account, how i can set up my ads and how i can run those ads.

Let us begin with the different formats available in Instagram Ads. The very first format is “Photo”

We all know that Instagram is a very popular social media platform.

We also know that instagram is a very sensational social media platform for  teenagers, college goers and the young working population.

Brands also understand this. Brands are very well aware that people are spending most of their time on Instagram. So definitely brands wish to be present there and display their ads on Instagram.

So now brands have different sets of advertising units and different types of advertising formats are also available.

Out of this, the very first format available is “Photo”

Right?

You would have seen that as soon as you open Instagram, a lot of photos get displayed. When you scroll your news feed, the photos and videos will keep getting displayed on your feed.

You would have also seen that whenever you are scrolling through your news feed, an ad pops up in between with the label “Sponsored”.

All these “Sponsored ads” are the “paid ads”.

Brands have paid for that Ad so that they can reach out to you. So the very first advertising unit is Photo. A photo appears as a single form on your Instagram’s news feed.

The next advertising unit available with us is called “Carousel”.

 Carousel is basically a group of different photos

You would have seen a lot of people posting multiple photos together.

So as the option of swiping right is available with the user where they can upload a group of photos, similarly brands also have this option available with them too.

Brands can also post images upto 10 and prepare a carousel post and can boost this carousel post to their audience.

They can ensure this carousel reaches their target audience.

So far we have looked at 2 ad units.

One is Photo

And the other is Carousel

Carousel is basically a group of photos put together. Can also be called a “Cluster of Photos”

Here, I would like to give you a “pro tip”. I have included this in the interview questions section too. You can look at it when we reach that section.

These are the interviewer’s favourite questions. Do you know what they ask in an interview?

How many maximum photos can be uploaded in a Carousel on Instagram?

As of Dec 2021, the maximum photos that can be uploaded in a Carousel post are 10 and the minimum is 2.

So anything between 2 and 10.

If an interviewer questions you on this, then your answer should be:

One can upload anything between 2 to 10 pictures on Instagram.

Right, Got it?

Let us now move on to our 3rd Ad unit,

The 3rd ad unit is Video.

I recall when TikTok was launched in India, suddenly short videos became sensational.

Right.

They gained a lot of people, millions of subscribers and followers. Tiktok started generating a lot of engagements.

Now fortunately or unfortunately, Tiktok was banned in India. And the other players like Instagram and Youtube created a short video platform and pushed it to the audience.

So the Instagram’s short video platform is called Reels

And Youtube’s short video platform is called Shorts

So with this you can create video ads on Instagram, you can create Reels and the maximum time duration of Reels is 60 seconds.

Again this is an important interview question. Interviewer can question you on this.

So you can upload your video on your Instagram channel and run it as an Ad. Thus make it available to your audience for viewing.

Let us talk about our next ad unit “Shop”

If you recall, I had introduced this term “Shop” when we were learning how to create an instagram profile.

You can add shoppable tags in it too. When you upload a photo you can add shoppable tags along with it. Now what happens in shoppable tags?

For example a user liked one product very much. So what will the user do now?

The user will click on it and the user will be directed to that particular webpage.

Once the user is on that particular webpage, he can shop that product, he can buy that product.

The extensive use of Shop has been seen in the ecommerce industry.

Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, Jabong - these websites majorly make use of Shop tags.

Not only they, but even others like the medium and small enterprises that run on ecommerce, they too make use of Shoppable tags.

What happens by using this?

Using this saves the efforts of the users.

Got it.

For example- On Instagram I have liked a tshirt and if I wish to buy that.   If the shoppable tag isn't attached to it, then I will have to visit that particular website, I will then have to search for that tshirt,I also might have to look at multiple pages for that tshirt. And with this I may end up losing the motivation and inclination to buy it.

But if the shoppable tag is available then with a single click I will land up on that product page and if I genuinely like that product then I shall buy it too.

So this feature “Shop”, this sponsored unit on Instagram is a powerful tool for ecommerce companies, for ecommerce agencies. So you should definitely explore this as well.

Let us now move to our last ad unit “Creators”.

I had recently come across a post of “Virat Kohli” where he had mentioned:

“Paid partnership with Puma India”

I am sure you too would have come across such posts of famous celebrities and influencers where they explicitly mention that this particular post is actually a paid partnership with so and so brand.

So the creators on instagram, those who create content, the celebrities or the influencers can directly partner with brands. And for the brands they will have to specifically mention as a label that this particular post or video reel that they are uploading on their personal instagram account is a paid partnership.

Right

So creators can also at an individual level, promote products by which the end users can purchase the product.

Influencer marketing generates a lot of trust among the audience.

For example, there is an expert whom I follow a lot and I also follow stock markets a lot . So If the expert shares his opinion about it, then automatically a lot of trust gets built up for that particular product or service.

Right?

So for influence marketing creators or for instagramers, I think it is a very very good tool. And if you are managing a brand or doing a job then definitely you should consider Instagram’s influencer marketing and explore it.

So far we have understood the formats, now let us understand how you will create ads on Instagram.

Here, I have provided you with a step by step guide with the help of which you can create Instagram ads. And towards the end of this session I shall show a live video on how to create instagram ads step by step.

So let us move on to our first step, Step 1 is:

“How to create ads on Instagram?”

So the first thing you need to do is to select a post or a story that you want to promote.

Your instagram account might have a lot of different types of posts, so in this first step you will understand, you will decide, you will select which particular post you want to promote.

Right?

To enable you to make that decision, I have mentioned a few step to help you in this.

Let us understand them one by one.

The very first step is to select the popular product you wish to promote

Their benefits, customer reviews should also be taken into consideration.

Look for such posts or select such stories that you think will appeal to your customers or audience.

If you run a small ecommerce store, then you should start with promoting your best selling items or products.

Right?

This you can easily do because you already have the insights of those products that the end users or the audience are buying.

Thus you can start with the best sellers too.

Make simple photos or videos that don't look like an ad.

Keep Normal simple photos, as genuine as possible

Why should we keep it as genuine as possible?

Because the user is scrolling the feed to his own tune, and while doing so if he feels that this is full of ads, a lot of ads then he is sure to skip those ads.

But if you make one such ad which looks less as an ad and more as a post, then the user will feel that this is something i must check out and so he will watch your post.

So keep photos as simple as possible by which you can grab the attention of your audience and thus you can ensure and expect that they spend some time on the photos or your videos.

So far you have selected the best post, now what next?

Next step, Step 2 is:

“Identify Destination”

Where do you want the user to land at?

You need to specify a destination link for this on Instagram that if a user clicks on your ad, where exactly will he be taken to.

You have a few options here, let me show them to you

The first option is “Instagram Profile”

Right?

You can divert your user to your instagram profile too. So you can showcase your products, your services, your portfolios.

I'm sure you have seen a highlight section at the bottom of Instagram, you also have a description section.

So as soon as a user visits your profile, all of these will also be visible to him.

Got it.

So the very first option is your own “Instagram profile”, you can land your user here.

The second option is “Business Website”

Say you have a website called xyz.com; you can get your users to land there too.

You can divert them to your online shop where they can browse through your products or they can sign up for a mailing list, and can sign up for a special offer too.

These days brands have started creating a separate landing page as well. So what happens on this landing page?

This landing page is like a web page and is created in a manner that it looks a little different than normal pages.

For example, recently I was running a campaign where I was generating leads for a client.

Right?

So for generating leads, I had created a separate landing page where when a user clicks, the ad will get displayed there. I showcased their products and their usp’s and besides that i had added a “Contact Us” form. So when the user checks out the USP’s of the products that i had mentioned, and after checking if he is interested in that product then he can simply fill the form of “Request a call back”. And the team will ensure a call back within 24 to 48 hours.

So this is how I had created a landing page.

Thus you can divert them to your business website or to a specific landing page too.

Got it?

The third option that we have is “Direct Messages”

If you feel that you want to have a conversation based ad with the user, then you can get your user to land on the direct message too thus encouraging them to message you directly.

We shall now move on to our third step, and the step 3 is:

“Determining your Audience”

You will need to give this input to Instagram about who your audience is.

Are they males?

Are they females?

Where do they live?

Which country do they live in?

What are their interests?

So here Instagram will throw a lot of questions about your audience and will provide you with a lot of filters and metrics using which you can define your audience.

Again, this entire process is Iterative.

Now, what does the Iterative process mean?

You defined an audience, then you analysed whether this audience is able to help you in your business objective or not.

If you feel that out of this defined audience there is a set of audience that doesn't react to my ad or doesn't respond to my ads then you can remove that set of audience from your overall ad. And for them you can run a separate and a different communication.

Let me help you understand this with the help of a practical example.

We run an ad for 18 to 35 years of age group.

Ok

And according to the client this was a perfect audience pool available for that particular product.

So after a few days of runnin that ad, we started receiving a few insights. Usually insights are received on a daily basis but only if you have sufficient data you can make a meaningful decision.

Got it?

So the analytics started coming in, insights started coming in. So what did we realise?

We realised that 32 to 35 years of age group people were not responding much to our ads.

Whereas 18 to 30 years of age group people were responding the most, thus the response from this age group was good enough.

So what did we do next?

We suggested to our client that we should create a separate segment for the 30 to 35 years of age group people. And from that segment we started pitching altogether a new communication. And this new communication received a very good interaction rate.

Thus this is entirely an iterative process.

So slowly and gradually who will move in this process.

Starting from creating an ad,

The second step is running that ad or managing that ad

And then slowly and gradually optimising that ad

Hence this is an iterative process.

Hope this is clear.

So what all metrics are a part of it, let us understand.

Location

Gender

Age

Interests

All of these you can use to understand your audience, to create your audience base on Instagram.

OK?

Here is an example for better understanding:

If you own a children’s clothing shop, then you will target your ad towards the adults. Maybe those who are within the radius of 5 miles from your shop location and those who are interested in Parenting, children’s clothing, shopping and childcare.

Did you know that Facebook has a dedicated category to target the parents?  So which are those users who have explicitly let Facebook know that we are parents, the age group of their kids so that we can target that particular audience on Facebook. Along with Facebook we can extend those ads on Instagram too.

Now we have reached to the last step, Step-4

“Set your Budget and Duration”

Here you need to select the Ad’s budget and its duration. If you aren't sure of the budget then you should at least start with Rs. 200 - Rs. 300 per day. This will enable you to analyse the audience and their response on your Ad.

If you are planning an event, then it is advisable to start your Instagram Ads a little ahead of time so as to achieve your business objectives.

Before moving on to the case studies, let me show you a video where all that we have learnt so far in this session will be taught step by step through this video too.

So Instagram Ads are visible only on mobile phones. So here I am sharing a screen recorded video of my mobile. This is my Instagram account - “Online Tech Info”

Here you have 3 options:

“Edit Profile”

“Tools”

“Insights”

We will click on this “Ad Tools” to move ahead and learn more about the options available.

As soon as I clicked on “Ad tools”, I got these 3 options :

“Create Promote top post”

“Choose Post”

“Manage and Past Ads”

So we clicked on “Top Post”. If you recall the first step that I had explained that you will have 3 options whether you want

 More “Profile Visits” or

More “Website Visits” or

More “Messages”

So here you need to select your Goal. So the first step is to set a goal. Right, Got it?

Here, I have selected “more profile visits” as I want more and more people to visit my profile.

If you remember while I was showing a ppt, this was the 2nd option to select the destination. This comes under that. As soon as you do that, you will come to this page which is our third step to “Select the Audience”

As you can see I have already created an audience “Marketing Professionals US”.

I have created this audience as I knew my target audience, but if you aren't sure of your audience then you can select “Automatic '' feature too. Here Instagram gives you this option where Instagram will automatically target those users who have similar characteristics like that of your followers. So you can very well select this option too.

Let us move further to see how it works

Oh but before moving on I also wanted to share one more thing. If you move back a little, you will also see “Special Ad Category”. This option has been showcased here. So if your product or service falls under any of these 4 categories -

may it be “Credit”

May it be “Employment”

Or “Housing”

Or “Social Issues, Politics or Elections”

Then you need to select a special category from any of these. If you don't select this, then Instagram wont let you run your Ad.

Got it?

So if your product or service falls under the “Special Category” section then definitely you need to select that option.

Getting back to the same page, my target audience is “Marketing Professionals US”. The audience here is

“Men and Women”

“Age 22 to 35”

Who live in “United States”

And their interests are “Web Analytics, Conversion Marketing or Pay per click”

There are many such interests that I can see if I click on “Edit”. These are the interests I have selected like

 “Business Marketing”

 “Adwords”

“Facebook Marketing”

And if you see above, it shows us the audience size too

So this is great. According to Instagram this audience size is perfect

“Age Group” is perfect and so are the “Interests”

So in a similar way, you too can create an audience on Instagram Ads for your Business.

Now we are on our last option and that is “Budget” and “Duration”

You need to select your budget and duration here. You can run your Ad for a day too so automatically estimated reach will get calculated and displayed to you.

So here Instagram gives you various option like 100 rupees budget or 200 rupees, etc

So as soon as you select the budget, your ad will be visible like this. You can keep your payment integrated in it.

It also gives you a preview option. You can have a feel of how your Ad will look like.

I have promoted a Carousel Ad, so this way, my Ad will be visible under the section “Feed”.

I also have other sections like “Stories” and “Explore”.

Now in this way I can Save my Ad, Discard the Ad. I can also opt to run my ad a little later.

So Friends, this is how you all can run your Ads on Instagram.

That is all for today.

If you have queries or comments then click the discussion button below the video and post there, this way you can connect to fellow learners and discuss the course. Also our team will try to solve your queries.

In the next session we will see what brands are doing on Instagram. Also which are those case studies that you should be well aware of.

See you soon Friends. Good Bye!