If you’re anything like me, you’re very susceptible to advertisements you see on social media platforms. I constantly see promotions of various products on Instagram. I am prone to clicking on the account and viewing more of these products. On the other hand, plenty of people scroll right past these advertisements and pay them no mind. So, are social media ads worth it? Yes. Instagram provides the perfect storm with their targeted advertising and millions of active users. When utilized correctly, there are many benefits to promoting your products on Instagram.

How Instagram Ads Work

Instagram advertisements are paid ads that target a specific group of people who would be most interested in the product promoted. This audience is defined by the company running the ad to get the most interactive customers. Instagram ads can cost can range from $0.20 to $6.70 depending on the bidding model. Cost-per-click advertising can cost $0.20-$2 per click. For cost-per-impressions marketing, companies can expect to pay $6.70 per 1,000 impressions. Additionally, Instagram offers a variety of ways to display your products. The versatility of advertising on Instagram provides businesses the ability to select the most effective ad style. The different types are as follows:

• Carousel Ads: As seen above, carousal ads are a single post composed of up to 10 pictures or videos.
• Stories Ads: These appear in the story feature available on Instagram. Often, they feature a link to “swipe up” on to give viewers a quick way to access their website.
• Photo/ Video Ads: These are the simplest and most common form of advertising. Viewers will simply see one picture or video promoting a brand or product.
• Explore Ads: As you can infer from the name, these ads appear in the explore tab of Instagram.

Advantages to Advertising on Instagram

Targeted Advertisements

Companies have seen great success promoting their products on Instagram. One of the main reasons why Instagram ads are so successful is because companies are able to target based on age, gender, location, interests, and more. This feature ensures your products will be seen by the demographic you are trying to reach. For example, if Sephora was not able to select the target audience to women, 50% of the people viewing the ad would not be interested in their products.

Millions of Active Users

Additionally, Instagram has about 800 million active monthly users. Research revealed 63% of Americans use Instagram daily. Also, 65% of worldwide users are aged between 18 and 34 years old. This large range allows for many businesses to be able to reach their desired audience. Through their extensive platform and the ability to specifically target their audience, Instagram advertisements can be extremely effective.

Tips to Running Successful Ads

1. Get creative! To attract and engage your audience, ensure your posts are attention grabbing. This might include using fun, colorful and interactive ads.
2. Research your audience. As mentioned before, the ability to target your audience is a huge advantage to using Instagram to promote your products. To assure you are looking into who is most likely to engage in the ads and buy your products. Also, consider what time you post. Make sure that the time you select will be when your audience is on the app.
3. Use pictures and text wisely. Because many people don’t stop to read a long Instagram caption, it is crucial that your images speak for themselves. Include key information in the beginning of the caption since only two rows of text will be displayed.
4. Keep an eye on your advertisements. Once you launch the ad, your job is not over. It is essential to view the performance of your ads. See if many people are interacting with the post. If not, tweak your posts, or try a different audience to maximize your views.