The Beginners Guide to Instagram Advertising

Woman takes photo for instagram advertising campaign

Ready to give Instagram Advertising a try?

If you are already running Instagram ads, this will be an excellent refresher for you. If you are new to social media ads, here is our step by step guide to get started!

The Beginners Guide to Instagram Advertising

Step 1:

This is your friendly reminder that Facebook owns Instagram and all of your Instagram ads are run through Facebook Ads Manager or Business Manager.

Make sure they are connected through the settings on your Facebook page.

instagram ads

Step 2:

Open Facebook Ads Manager. You’ll find it in the left side menu as Ads Manager, or under the arrow drop down in the top right corner as “Manage Ads”.

instagram ads

Step 3:

Once you are in Ads Manager, click on the green “Create+” button, then select the marketing objective that you want to accomplish. This objective will be your ad type.

Instagram ads are supported by the following objectives:

  • Brand awareness
  • Reach
  • Traffic
  • App installs
  • Engagement
  • Video views
  • Conversions
  • Lead generation

For more information about these objectives within Instagram, open this link in another tab to read: How to Analyze Your Instagram Marketing: Metrics that Matter.

instagram ads

Step 4:

Create a new audience or use a saved audience that you have already created.

If you need a refresher on Instagram’s demographics, read up on Sprout Social’s latest update here. It’s essential to consider Instagram’s users when creating your ad.

To learn how to use custom audiences, open this link in another tab to read next: How to Use Facebook Custom Audiences.

instagram ads

Step 5:

This is the first step to turning this Facebook ad into an Instagram ad.

Click on Edit Placements here.

instagram ads

Then select either Instagram Stories or Instagram Feed (or both).

instagram ads

Step 6: 

Finish setting the parameters of your ad by selecting the budget and time frame.

If you need help with selecting your budget, open this link in another tab to read next: How to Set a Facebook Ad Budget. Even though it’s a blog about Facebook budgets, the same information can apply to Instagram as well.

Instagram ads

Step 7: 

Input your creative elements and text, or you can select from an already published Instagram post.

instagram ads

Instagram ads

Since these are Instagram ads, there are recommended image and video specifications. Plan ahead if you can (find sizes here), but you’ll also receive guidance when you select the ad format.

Step 8:

Publish!

Once your ad is active, you’ll need to check in on it. Never publish and run! Make it a habit of keeping an eye on how the ad is performing.

Now you are ready to get started. We’ll keep an eye out for your new ad in our Instagram feed!