Here are our top picks for tools to use based on which type of ad you are trying to create. Best tool for photo editing: VSCO If you want your photos to stand out, it’s best to use a program outside of Instagram to edit your images. VSCO uses subtle filters to enhance the natural beauty of a photo. You can also do manual adjustments to fine-tune your image in various ways, including exposure, color, sharpening, cropping and perspective. Learn more with this in-depth guide to using VSCO for shooting and editing your images. Honorable mentions: Layout from Instagram: With this app, you can quickly create a collage from multiple photographs. Canva: This tool is a quick and easy way to resize your images so that they are the ideal size for an Instagram post (600 x 600 px). You can also use the site to add text overlay. Best for slideshow videos: Flipagram Flipagram is a free app where you can easily piece together photos. You can add text, music or other visual effects to help your slideshow stand out. It’s a great way to take your photos to the next level by creating a moving presentation. Honorable mention: PicPlayPost: This app combines collages with video. You can have up to six different sections of your Instagram post displaying different videos and/or images. Best for creating and editing videos: Spark Video With this free software, Spark Video from Adobe, you simply choose one of their story templates, add your photos/videos and record a voiceover. You can also use the software to edit existing video. The platform allows you to clip the video, add overlay text or images and add background music. Honorable mention: Hyperlapse: This app helps you create polished time lapse videos. Best for fun videos: Boomerang Boomerang is a simple way to make a video more interesting. It plays your video first, and then plays it backwards. This goes on loop. It may not sound like much, but when done right, this can be quite entertaining. Note: Instagram advertising should be treated differently than Facebook When creating your social media advertisements, remember that Facebook and Instagram serve different purposes. Therefore it’s likely that a post that has worked well for your Facebook page may not do as well on Instagram. Users come to Facebook for multiple reasons (read interesting articles, connect with friends and family and see funny/interesting posts in their newsfeed). Instagram is more straightforward. People use the site to see visually pleasing photographs. There’s also a difference between the amount of space you have for text. How much does advertising on Instagram cost? According to a report by Nanigans, an advertising automation software, the average Cost Per Click (CPC) for Instagram advertisers is between $1-$2. This mean that if 100 people click on your ad, you will pay between $100-$200. However, the costs vary widely depending on the quality of your ad, your industry and the size of your audience. Cost does not vary based on your ad type, so the cost to run a photo ad is the same as running a video ad (if all other factors remain the same). If you are familiar with Facebook advertising, you’ll be happy to know that the way Instagram charges you to run ads is exactly the same as Facebook. This is because Facebook acquired Instagram back in 2012. The basics are that you choose what you spend each day, or during the set time that your ad will run. You can then choose whether to be charged based on how many users click on your ad, or how many people see your ad. View this guide to learn more about Instagram ad costs. How to set up Instagram advertising: step-by-step guide Since Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, you set up your Instagram ads using Facebook’s platform. All you need to start running Instagram ads is a Facebook page for your business. If you don’t already have one, learn how to create a Facebook business page in seven steps with our how-to guide. Related: 10 Instagram Accounts Every Entrepreneur Should Follow Here are the seven steps to getting your Instagram ads set up: Step 1: Choose your objective Navigate to the top left of your Facebook page and hit the “Create Ads” button. This will take you to a page where you can choose your marketing objective. Common objectives include: Boosting brand awareness: Increasing brand awareness is about telling people what makes your business valuable. Go with this option if your business is unfamiliar to the people you are targeting, and you need to get across what your brand is about in your ad. Driving traffic to your website or app: If your goal is to drive more traffic to your page, you will want to give people a reason to click on your ad. By giving an enticing offer, you can increase the chances that someone will visit your website. Lead generation: This is a good option if you want to get more email addresses and/or phone numbers to add to your marketing or sales list. This objective works well with digital advertising since you’re not asking the user to fully commit to purchasing, just to give their contact information. Think about what goal you want to achieve before you start running a campaign. This is an important step because your ad copy and landing page all hinge on your marketing objective. Step 2: Create an audience After you choose your marketing objective, you’ll need to choose the audience that you want your ad to show to. Create your audience based on your ideal customer. You can use filters such as location, demographics, education level, buying history and more. Read our article on how to create a customer profile to learn more. Step 3: Choose ad placement Technically, you can run the same exact ad on Facebook and Instagram at the same time. However, this is not advised since they are different platforms, and therefore different types of ads will be successful on each account. You will need to edit your ad placements to ensure that your ads only show to Instagram users, and not Instagram and Facebook users. To do this, simply uncheck all of the boxes except for the Instagram box. Step 4: Set your budget Set a budget that you are comfortable with. You can start small ($5/day) and then increase this once you have more information on which ads and audiences perform the best. Increasing your daily budget will increase the number of people who see your ad. Step 5: Connect your Instagram account You will want to link your Instagram account to your Facebook page. This is easy to do, you just need to click the “Add an Account” button and enter your Instagram login information. Though you can run Instagram ads without an Instagram account, I strongly advise against it. If someone who see your ad wants to learn more about your business, they won’t be able to click on your name to learn more. Plus, you won’t be able to respond to comments on your ad. Learn how to set up your free Instagram account here. Step 6: Create your ad Now it’s time to create your ads. Simply choose whether you want to run photo, video, slideshow or carousel ads and then upload your image(s) or video. After that, you will need to fill out the following information: Choose your call to action: Examples include Book Now, Contact Us, Learn More, Shop Now, Free Trial and Sign Up. Enter the website URL: Make sure this page is optimized for mobile, and that it corresponds to your ad. If you are promoting a specific part of your website or a specific landing page, send people to that page, and not the homepage. Put in a description: There’s no limit to the number of characters you can put here, but only the first 150 will show and then there will be a “more” button. People don’t typically read long descriptions. So keep it short if possible. Step 7: Start running your ad It’s time to place your order! Once you do this, you will be able to make edits to the post at any time. Let the ad run for a few days, but keep a close eye on it to track performance. You will be able to do this through Instagram’s reporting dashboard which is located in Facebook’s Ads Manager. You will want to keep tabs on the following metrics: Reach: Also known as impressions. This is the number of people that your ad is shown to. Click through rate (CTR): This metric is the number of clicks on your ad divided by the reach (number of people your ad is shown to). The higher your CTR, the better your ads are performing. Cost per click (CPC): This is the amount you are paying for a user to click on your ad. If your CPC seems high (more than $5), consider changing your ad copy to make it more relevant to your target market. Unless you set a lifetime budget for your campaign, your ad will show continuously until you pause it. So make sure to check up on it, or else you may spend more money than you intended to on your Instagram ads. Bottom line Instagram advertising is a great way to get your business in front of new prospects. Though it’s not always easy when you’re just starting out, it can also be fun. Get creative with your photo and video ads to engage more users with your content. Adding a strong call to action and enticing offer to your creative will increase the chances that your prospective customers will take the desired action. (By Maggie Aland)
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