7 steps to create Instagram Ads that will fill your ecommerce with customers

It’s as clear as day that advertising on social media is a fundamental source of traffic for your ecommerce, right?

But you need to invest money that’s not always so easy to earn profits from.

Today we’re going to show you the social network with which you’re going to optimize your campaign’s ROI because it’s the one with the largest reach for the lowest CPC.

Instagram is the new advertising paradise for online shops like yours.

Want to know how and why to use it?

Here’s everything you need to know to fill your shop with customers thanks to Instagram Ads.

What are Instagram Ads and why should you use them for your ecommerce?

Let’s start with the definition:

Instagram Ads are sponsored content posted by brands on the social network that are shown in the feed of the target audience corresponding to the segmentation applied to each campaign.

We’ve talked about the importance of Instagram in your digital marketing strategy. There are more than a billion active users (source), and the truth is that the number continues to grow without any end in sight.

If that wasn’t enough, here you have even more advantages of using ads on Instagram:

• The cost per click is lower than with Facebook campaigns.
• Thank to these ads, you also get qualified followers.
• You generate engagement more easily because users “like” content more than on any other social network.

Advertising on Instagram is still in its infancy and you know that “he who hits first, hits twice”.

Keep reading if you aren’t yet convinced!

How much do Instagram Ads cost?

It’s the same as Facebook.

The cost per ad on Instagram depends on the budget you allocate to the project, its duration, the scope, the audience…

A study by AdEspresso concluded that the average CPC on Instagram was between $0.70 and $1.00.

With numbers like that, how could you resist at least giving it a shot?

How can you create ads on Instagram?

You already know that Instagram belongs to Facebook, don’t you?

Instagram Ads are managed via the Facebook Ads Manager because it doesn’t have its own ads management platform.

Since it’s the same tool, creating ads is the same process we explained in this post about Facebook Ads for ecommerce. However, there are some special features that you should take into account.

Note: Remember that you also have help from the social network itself, which is quite interested in increasing the number of ads bought. 😉

Steps for running an Instagram Ads campaign

We’ll break it down step by step for you!

✅ 0. Make sure that you have the Facebook pixel installed

Before you do anything else, you need to make sure you have the Facebook pixel installed on your website (which is needed to analyze the resulting traffic that Instagram Ads drive to your website).

But, do you even know what the Facebook pixel is?

It’s code that you install on your website to evaluate the efficacy of your ads by measuring the actions carried out by clients in your shop after they see an ad on Facebook – or Instagram, in this case.

In order to get your pixel, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Ads Manager.
2. Select Pixels
3. Click Create Pixel.
4. Enter a name and click Create.
5. Facebook will give you a code (the pixel itself) and an identification number (or ID).
6. Install this code on your ecommerce website.

And now that you’ve got your site prepared, let’s get it some traffic with Instagram Ads!

✅ 1. Link your Instagram account to your Facebook page

Having a Fan Page on Facebook is essential if you’re going to create ads on Instagram because they need to be linked and share the same name and logo.

In order to link them:

• Make sure that your Instagram account is a professional one (if it’s a personal one, you won’t be able to link them).
• Go to your Facebook page and click “Settings” from the top menu.
• Choose Instagram from the menu displayed on the left.
• Connect your Instagram business account.

Important: Each Fan Page can only have one Instagram account linked to it.

✅ 2. Select Instagram as the location

So that your ads are only shown on Instagram, you need to set it up as follows:

• Go back to the Facebook Ads Manager
• Click the “Ad Sets” option.
• Find the “Placements” section.
• Select “Edit Placements”
• Select “Instagram” and choose if you want them to be shown in Stories, the feed, or both.

Instagram Stories are the new craze, so we (really) recommend selecting that as a location for your ads in addition to the feed.

✅ 3. Choose the type of campaign that fits your goal

When you create a new campaign in the Facebook Ads Manager, you’ll be able to see the different types of campaign that are available.

Our preferred ones for Instagram are:

• Reach: Show you ad to the maximum number of people.
• Traffic: Drive people to your ecommerce site outside of Instagram.
• Conversions: Similar to the previous option, but with the aim of getting users to interact with the website (a registration, sale, or download, for example).
• Promote posts: this one is perfect to get the most out of posts that have already had organic interactions.
• Video views: Get more people to watch a video posted on Instagram. Don’t forget that video is the format that has the most impact with social media users.

Choosing one or the other will depend on the objective that you want to achieve with the campaign.

✅ 4. Take time to target your audience

The segmentation options when choosing your target audience are the best advantage of this platform.

The trick to segmenting correctly (and, therefore, to creating more effective and profitable ads) is to know your target audience perfectly.

There are three main sections to create your automatic segmentation:

• Demographic information: location, age, and gender.
• Browse: where the information will appear after having been coded by Facebook.
• Suggestions: that Facebook makes based on the items you select in the previous sections.

You also need to take into account:

• Interests: which ads they click on, the accounts they follow, the apps they use, and so on. That’s all categorized in the Ads Manager.
• Behavior: that’s to say, the activities carried out both inside and outside Instagram (and Facebook).

If your segmentation is correct, your campaign results can be amazing – so take your time to do it properly.

✅ 5. Establish your budget and the campaign duration

The good news is that a campaign for only Instagram is way cheaper (for now) than one on Facebook.

You can establish a daily budget (€5 per day) or a lifetime one. Depending on the duration of the campaign and the segmentation that you’ve made, the budget will dry up in more or less time.

In the section “Optimization for Ad Delivery” (click “Show Advanced Options” if you don’t see it), you can choose the invoicing options:

• Landing Page Views
• Link Clicks
• Impressions
• Daily Unique Reach

Choose the option that best fits the goal you chose for the campaign.

✅ 6. Create your ad (or ad set)

You are creating an ad for the most visual social network out there – don’t forget that Instagram users are used to seeing highquality images.

You need to put some extra effort into selecting the photos and videos that you’ll be using since they are your main strategy.

What you say is also important, so don’t forget about using strong copywriting.

Extra trick: take advantage of the power of hashtags. Now you can follow hashtags like any other user. Create one for your campaign (or for your brand).

There are several styles of ads you can create:

A. Ad with picture

The most common ads on Instagram are those with a photo and a text description. If you also include a CTA, success is nearly guaranteed!!

Have a look at this one from Iroha Nature:

B. Ad with video

You just need to remember that videos can’t be longer than 30 seconds. Configuring it is the same as for an ad with a photo.

Did you see the number of views Kimycostudio’s video received? 😉

C. Ad with sequence

Instead of a single picture, you can display several pictures to showcase various products in the same ad. Have a look at this one from Babau (the 5 little dots at the bottom mean that there are 5 pictures).

The idea is to carry out different A/B tests with different ads and then to compare the results. Remember that the trick is always to optimize.

✅ 7. Analyze the results

To review the results you obtain, we once again return to the Facebook Ads Manager.

Customize the columns in the control panel to fit your campaign’s goals (which you established in the third step) and pay special attention to:

• Impressions: the number of times that your ad has been shown.
• CTR: the number of clicks on the ad (everything that you need to know about CTR is explained on this post).
• CPC: the cost per click on each ad.

Normally, the CPC on Instagram is so cheap that campaigns are almost always profitable, but don’t forget to carefully check the results so you can keep improving them.

You’ll love creating Instagram Ads!

Now you know the path to follow to get the most out of the cheapest and most effective publicity on social media.

Don’t miss out because it’s not completely overrun with ads yet and they are well accepted by users.

We recommend that you read the following article on social commerce for more info.

So, hop on it before your competitors figure it out! 😉