It’s long since been known: Those who use social channels to advertise their products, services or for themselves as employers have a good chance of success. Nowhere else can you reach your target group better and more directly than through social channels like Instagram followers. This works via targeted content marketing, but also via paid advertising campaigns. What you need to know about Instagram advertising.
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Advertising via social media: Importance increases
Advertising via social media not only enjoys great popularity. It is also effective. This applies to Facebook, Twitter and especially Instagram. Recent studies prove this. Social media campaigns now have a success rate at least as high as advertising via TV or print.
Exciting: The preferences of Internet users are not so different when it comes to the right advertising channel. When asked which advertising platform is most likely to motivate them to take action – whether it’s buying a product or applying for a job with an employer – users agree that Instagram is the best place to advertise.
In October 2017, the market research platform Appinio surveyed almost 4,000 people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland on this topic. Just under half (47%) of those surveyed were between 14 and 17 years old, 35% between 18 and 24 years old, 12% between 25 and 34 years old and 6% over 35 years old.
Instagram advertising scores best
Quote from the study: “With regard to the Facebook platform, about half of the respondents across all age categories believe that advertising appeals to them little or not at all. On Snapchat, no more than fifteen percent in any category say that advertising appeals to them at least a little”.
It goes on to say: “With Instagram, on the other hand, the advertising effect is better: 31 percent of Instagram users under the age of 25 say that they tend to be attracted by advertising there. Among 25 to 34-year-olds, the figure is 26 percent, and among Instagram users over 35, at least 15 percent find the advertising appealing from time to time.
What is Instagram?
But if you want to understand how advertising on Instagram works, you first need to know exactly what the channel is all about. Instagram is an online social media service reserved for sharing images and videos. It went live in 2010 and has enjoyed growing popularity ever since.
The platform is part of the Facebook family. Messages and hashtags can be added to the shared messages. With more than 500 million people around the world using Instagram every day, the platform offers companies the perfect opportunity to connect with their target audience.
Target your audience with pictures or moving images
If you want to address them with pictures or moving images, you need – logically – an account, the right messages and pictures. In addition, he should actively interact with his followers. Because social media is not a one-way street. Those who express a reaction as followers expect a counter-reaction within a reasonable time. Otherwise the interest will quickly fade. This is exactly where Instagram advertising has its chance: The closer a company is to its target group and the more tangible it is on its account, the higher the probability of attracting a large number of followers.
But until a social media strategy becomes a success and a partially enthusiastic community is built, it can be a tough business. To speed up this process, many companies are turning to Instagram advertising.
Instagram Advertising: How it works
In this way the level of awareness can be increased a little faster. There are various ways of advertising on the social medium. All campaign types can be easily created, tracked and controlled directly via the smartphone app.
There are these possibilities:
Photo Ads are Instagram ads with photos. These appear on Instagram as sponsored post between the other posts in the timeline.
Video Ads are short video ads and, just like Photo Ads, appear in the message stream between unsponsored posts. Video ads on Instagram have a maximum duration of 60 seconds.
Carousel Ads consist of different images that complement each other. Users swip from one image to the next within the ad. Videos can also be integrated. A Carousel Ad contains a maximum of ten pictures or videos. The Carousel Ads also appear between the normal posts on Instagram.
Story Ads consist of full-screen pictures or videos. They include username, a photo or video and a call-to-action if desired. Story Ads have a wide reach.
Instagram Ads to which the target group is played
The advertisements placed can be targeted precisely at the target group. The Instagram Ad Manager provides a number of features that can be used to define the peer group more precisely.
For example:
Location
Demographic data
Interests
Conduct
Different payment options for Instagram advertising
If you want to place an ad, you can choose between different payment options:
Cost per Click (CPC): With this model, costs are incurred for each individual click on an ad. The initiator of the campaign therefore only pays when a user has clicked on the ad. The costs for the click are in the two-digit cent range.
Cost per Mille (CPM): In this model, advertising costs are incurred from 1,000 clicks on. That sounds like a lot, but the brand is quickly reached. Because that only requires that the ad appears on the user’s screen. The costs per 1,000 impressions are in the higher single-digit dollar range.
Cost per action (CPA): Here costs are only incurred if users interact with the ad and, for example, share it.
Cost per like (CPL): There is also the possibility to only pay money if users have clicked the sponsored contribution.
How high should the budget be?
So far, so good. But how much budget do users have to plan for a campaign? There is no clear answer to this question. Users simply specify a period of time during which an advertisement should be placed. The desired maximum budget can also be set. This way, users don’t have to expect any unpleasant surprises after the end of the campaign.
To ensure that Instagram Advertising meets their expectations, users should consider the following aspects:
The brand plays the leading role: advertising works best when all elements of a brand – brand logos, colors, and products – are visible.
Mobile first: As more and more people access content on their mobile devices, it is important to engage mobile users and tailor advertising to a mobile experience.
Setting goals: It is important that all components of an ad harmonize and complement each other. It is recommended to use a Call to Action button that highlights the intent of the campaign.