Instagram

Advertising
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE

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Table of Contents
Introduction: A History of Instagram 03
CHAPTER ONE 04
Instagram Ads: A Powerful Tool to Complement Your Strategy

CHAPTER TWO 06
Defining Your Instagram Advertising Goals

CHAPTER THREE
13
Setting Up Your Instagram Ads
CHAPTER FOUR 16
Monitoring Instagram Metrics + Engaging with Your Audience

Conclusion + Instagram Ads Checklist 18

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 Instagram Ads: A History
Instagram users have multiplied dramatically since The platform has reinvented the way photos and videos
the platform’s creation in 2010, when it debuted as are shared by way of design updates, search functions,
the top free photo sharing app by attracting more filter choices, and of course, advertising options.
than twenty-five thousand users in its first few hours
As Instagram’s community of users has grown, the social
in the app store. Less than two months after its launch,
platform has evolved to accommodate the ever expanding
Instagram boasted one million users. Now, over a
need for brand advertising. This timeline shows the major
decade later, Instagram is still an industry leader—in
milestones that Instagram has seen over the years when it
part because they never stop innovating. From the
comes to Ads and the number of active users on the platform.
launch of the network right up until now, numerous
Sources: Social Media Today, Instapage, and Statista
new features and evolutions have been introduced.

March 2015 May 2016

January 2017 February 2018
CAROUSEL ADS CAROUSEL VIDEO
PLATFORM INSIGHTS FOR CANVAS ADS LAUNCHED
LAUNCHED LAUNCHED
BUSINESSES LAUNCHED
October 6, 2010
INSTAGRAM LAUNCHES
September 2015 February 2017 April 2020
LONGER VIDEO ADS GROW TO 10 PHOTOS BUSINESS STORY
FORMAT FOR ADS OR VIDEOS AT ONCE PARTNERSHIPS LAUNCHED
November 2013
November 2016
SPONSORED PHOTO
VERTICAL PHOTO AND
ADS LAUNCHED
VIDEO ADS LAUNCHED September 2017
INSTAGRAM HAS 2 MILLION
March 2015
MONTHLY ADS
CLICKABLE CONTENT
ADS LAUNCHED
May 2016
DYNAMIC ADS March 2017
April 2012 INSTAGRAM STORIES ADS ARE
LAUNCHED
FACEBOOK BUYS October 2014 AVAILABLE TO BUSINESSES GLOBALLY
INSTAGRAM SPONSORED VIDEO August 2018
ADS LAUNCHED September 2015 CTAS ARE PROMINENTLY
INSTAGRAM ADS March 2017 FEATURED ON BUSINESS
INTRODUCED WORLDWIDE INSTAGRAM HAS ACCOUNTS
1 MILLION MONTHLY ADS

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

April 2017
March 2014 June 2016
700M USERS
December 2010 200M USERS 500M USERS
1M USERS February 2013 September 2015 June 2018
100M USERS 400M USERS 1 BILLION USERS
September 2017
December 2014 December 2016 800M USERS
September 2011 300M USERS 600M USERS
10M USERS
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CHAPTER 1

Instagram Ads: A Powerful Tool

to Compliment Your Strategy
In addition to an Instagram marketing strategy, Ads can be used A Few Statistics
to complement any kind of ongoing content posting schedule.
» Instagram has 1 Billion Active Monthly Users
Understandably, the sheer size of the potential audience for a brand
using the platform is one of the main advantages of using Instagram. » 95 Million Photos Posted on Instagram Per Day

The other major advantage is the type of content which can be shared. » 71% of US Businesses are Active on Instagram

» 500 Million Instagram Accounts Post Stories

As we know, Instagram is the leading platform for visual content,
Everyday
and visual messages are assimilated at a much faster rate than text,
» 1/3 of the Most Viewed Instagram Stories are
meaning that any kind of quality brand marketing has a natural
advantage on this platform. from Businesses

» Instagram Generates Over 4X More Interactions

Since Instagram Ads do not appear on your account, there is much Than Facebook
more freedom when it comes to style of content and type of message. » Instagram Helps 80% of Users Decide Whether
Furthermore, the potential of these Ads is outstanding in comparison to
to Purchase a Product or Service
normal Instagram posts, simply because the target audience is selected Source: Oberlo
in such a way as to attain new followers and reach users you wouldn’t
necessarily have run into otherwise. Despite the fact that advertising With this kind of activity happening every day

comes at a price, the benefits of Instagram Ads can be notable. on the platform, what better place to advertise
your brand?

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Prerequisites for Advertising on Instagram
In order to begin your endeavor into Instagram
Advertising, it is important to first make sure you
have all the tools you’ll need.
Free Instagram Ads Course
If you are eager to get started advertising on Instagram,
but aren’t sure where to begin, HubSpot’s free Instagram
ads course was created to teach you how to build your dream
Instagram ad campaign in just an hour and thirty-five minutes.

Believe it or not, it isn’t actually necessary

to have an Instagram account to be able to 5. 1.
advertise on the network. Since the whole Create a company Determine your
Instagram account to distinct brand and
advertising process is handled via Facebook, moderate comments and the product or service
engage with your audience you are advertising
you do, on the other hand, need to have a
Facebook page. To set up an ad on Instagram,
you need to navigate to the Facebook Ads
Manager and, if you don’t already have an
account, create one. Instagram
4. 2.
Once you have named your ad campaign,
Design the
landing page
Advertising Create quality
brand photos
for your CTAs and videos
customized your target audience, and chosen
your ideal ad placements, you can begin
designing your Instagram Ad.

Not sure how to make a great Facebook page 3.

for your business? Click here to learn how. Set up your company
Facebook page

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CHAPTER 2

Defining Your Instagram Advertising Goals

Choosing Your Objectives

When creating an Instagram Ad, the first criteria you will

need to fill in is your campaign objective. The first and
foremost priority is to determine what you want your Ad
to achieve. Whether you’re looking to increase traffic to
your website, get more engagement on your Facebook
posts, or generate new leads for your brand, the campaign
objective is the essential key to getting the job done.

Defining this goal should be simple enough, as it

depends on the particular aspects of marketing you
want to improve. If you’re trying out Ads for the first time,
go for a simple objective as it will be easier to track its
performance while your campaign is running. If you go for
lead generation, for example, the process is longer and
generally the results will be less impressive (for a first time)
than if you were to select website clicks as an objective.

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Objective Targeting

AWARENESS CONSIDERATION CONVERSION

Brand awareness Website traffic Website conversions

(form-fills)
Reach Website clicks
Sales
Local awareness Video views
App installs
Engagement
App engagement
Lead generation
Brick-and-mortar store traffic
Messages

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Dynamic Ads

Retargeted or “Dynamic” Ads are shown to specific users at specific times, and take advantage of users’
browsing history. Basically, if you choose to opt for Dynamic Ads, an Instagram user who has browsed
your company’s website will see Ads for that website appear in their Instagram feed shortly afterward,
improving your chances of that potential customer returning to your site.

Selecting your Ad format

There are three options when it comes to the design of your Instagram Ad:

Still Photo Format Video Format Carousel Format

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Deciding on Ad Content Type
Which type of content would best suit my brand?

Reasons to choose photo We love this Ad from @knackshops for

its high-quality, native-looking image
Organic looking photos work best for this type of advertisement.
that pulls the viewer in and makes us
It’s important not to forget that Instagram is all about using
want to explore further…
high-quality images, so be careful not to make your Ad look
too much like an Ad: it needs to be beautiful above all else!
So don’t push your products, don’t over-brand your images,
and remember: if you nail the photo, you nail the Ad.

Design recommendations
Image ratio: 1:1 (square) / 1.91:1 (landscape) / 4:5 (vertical)
Image size: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels
Your image may not include more than 20% text
Caption: Text only, 125 characters recommended

Technical requirements
Minimum resolution: 600 x 315 pixels (landscape) /
600 x 500 pixels (square) / 600 x 750 (vertical)
Maximum resolution: 1,936 x 1,936 pixels (landscape, square, + vertical)
Caption: Text only, max. 2,200 characters,
URLs in captions are not clickable

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Reasons to choose video

A multi-clip video is a great way to showcase many quality images at once. If you have lots to show or if it’s
relevant to your brand to showcase your work through clips: depicting a tutorial or a recipe for example,
with steps to follow. A video must be understood even if the sound is off, or users will quickly lose interest.

Design recommendations Technical requirements

Aspect ratio: 1:1 (square) / 1.9:1
(landscape) / 4:5 (vertical)
File type: .mp4 container
ideally with leading mov atom, no
edit lists
Video: H.264 video compression,
high-profile preferred, square pixels,
fixed frame rate, progressive scan
Audio: Stereo AAC audio
compression, 128 kbps+ preferred
Caption: Text only, 125 characters
recommended
Caption length text: Text only, max. 2,200 characters
Video aspect ratio: 1.9:1 to 1:1
Minimum resolution: 600 x 315 pixels
(1.9:1 landscape) / 600 x 600 pixels (square)
Minimum length: 2.5 seconds
Maximum length: 60 seconds
File type: .mp4
Supported video codecs: H.264, VP8
Supported audio codecs: AAC, Vorbis
Maximum size: 1.75 GB
Frame rate: 30 fps max
Bit rate: No limit to bit rate file if you’re using two-pass
encoding, as long as your file doesn’t exceed 1 GB.
Otherwise, 8 megabits per second for 1080p
and 4 megabits per second for 720p

Thumbnail image ratio: Should match the aspect ratio of your

video. Your thumbnail image may not include more than 20% text

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About Facebook Text in Ad Images

Facebook recommends avoiding too

much text, citing that images with
less than 20% text perform better, but
there’s no longer a limit on how much
text can be in your images.

Source: Facebook

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CHAPTER 3

Setting Up Your Instagram Ads

A Step by Step Guide to Setting up an Instagram Ad

Once you have chosen your campaign’s objective, you can For the Ad to appear on Instagram, you must now connect
begin designing your Ad. Select a photo or a video from your business’ Instagram account to Ads Manager. To do this,
your device and add it to the campaign. Both Instagram simply click on “Add an account” under Instagram Accounts.
and Facebook allow precision cropping on images.

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Now, you can get on with the specifics of your Ad.

Things to remember:

» Be sure to only select hashtags which are relevant to your » Choose where you want your ad to appear
brand or to the offer you are proposing to your audience. • Placement groups are Feeds,
» Target your audience according to the offer and the location of your Stories, and Instant Articles and include
placements across multiple locations on
business. The more countries you select, the more impressions you
Facebook and Instagram
will get on your Ad. However, the more specific you make your target
• Single placements include
audience, the more chance of an effective CPC (cost per click) on your
Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories,
Ad. You can see the potential reach of your Ad in the sidebar (see
and Instagram Explore
visuals below).

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Instagram Ad Budget
The budget you set for your Instagram Ad depends on whether you want
to run the Ad for a specific period of time or set a lifetime budget for the
Ad. For the first option, you set the start and end dates for the ad and
define its daily budget based on how many clicks that day’s ad is worth.
The second option allows you to set an overall ad budget, and then the
ad will run for as many days as it takes for the budget to run out.
Facebook recommends the lifetime budget option. There are also
options to show your Ads at specific times (as opposed to all day long)
if you wish to do so, and you can even choose to be charged
for every impression rather than every click if reach and visibility are
more important to you than clicks and conversions.
Rules and Regulations
There are a number of rules to respect when
creating an Ad for Facebook or Instagram. All
Ads are reviewed by Facebook before they are
launched onto either of the platforms. Make
sure to review Facebook’s most up-to-date ad
policies before you submit your creative.
Source: Facebook
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CHAPTER 4
Monitoring Instagram
Metrics + Engaging with Your Audience
Performance Measurement:
Understanding Your Metrics
Number of clicks: refers to the number of clicks
your Ad has received from users
Post likes: refers to the number of likes your Ad has achieved
Cost per click: refers to the overall cost of each
click on your Ad
Cost per view: refers to the overall cost per
impression of your Ad
Click through rates: refers to the percentage of
clicks through to your landing page the Ad has
achieved in relation to the number of impressions
Cost per lead: refers to the overall cost of
gaining a lead via your Ad
Lead to customer conversion: refers to the number of
leads who become your customers via your Instagram Ad
The number of clicks and post likes you receive on your
Ad will give you an idea of the efficiency of the image
you have chosen: the more clicks, the better the image.
The cost per click (CPC), the cost per view and the cost
per lead are the figures that represent how much the
advertising process is costing you at each step: the most
important figure being the cost per lead, as this tells
you exactly how much each new lead acquired via your
campaign has cost your company. Another important
figure is the lead to customer conversion, which is the
number of leads who go on to become customers as a
direct result of this Ad.
The click through rate (CTR) is also an important figure,
as it will tell you the percentage of users who not only
saw your Ad, but who actually followed your call to
action straight through to your website or landing page.
This number will tell you how effective your image and
text choices for your Ad are at getting attention and
deserving clicks.
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How to Moderate Comments on Desktop and in the App

Moderating comments in the app Moderate comments on desktop

You can moderate comments on your Instagram Ads If you prefer not to moderate the comments
by searching for engagements in your notifications on on your Instagram Ad via a smartphone, you
the mobile Instagram app. can also choose to access them via desktop.

Here’s how to moderate Instagram

Scroll down until you see the thumbnail of your Ad, then
Ads from your desktop:
click on it to access the Ad as your users see it on Instagram.
You can then choose to moderate your comments or
» Click “View results” beneath your
respond to them by swiping left on each comment.
post on your Facebook Page

» Click on the Instagram placement

in the top right corner

» Choose “View on Instagram”

above your ad

Now, you can respond to

comments on your ad and
engage with your audience

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How to Improve your Metrics
Once you’re regularly tracking your metrics,
it’s natural for a stat or two to not be meeting
your expectations right away. The first step
to improving these metrics is to understand
them, then you can troubleshoot the
underperforming aspect of your Instagram ad
campaign until you are back to meeting your
monthly goals.
In your Facebook Ads Manager account you
will be able to track the performance of your
ads and pinpoint where you are falling behind.
If your ads are being viewed but not saved
at a high frequency, start by reevaluating
your audience portfolio. Then, curate ad
visuals based on your target demographic’s
personal feeds. Simply, don’t create ads that
look like ads. Your audience will be more
likely to engage with your ad if it looks natural
alongside the other Instagram content they
have chosen to consume. If your ad is too
jarring or out of place, it is more likely to be
skipped over.
Once your ad visuals are performing well, take advantage of
your CTA button options. These Call To Action buttons can be
placed on your company’s Instagram profile or on individual ads,
and there are a variety of options to choose from. In addition to
the Call, Text, and Email options, depending on your business’
purpose, your CTA options may include buttons such as Get
Tickets, Reserve, Install Now, Sign Up, or Buy. By choosing the
right CTA to accompany your ads you will more directly
transform potential customers into loyal ones.
If your ads are still not performing to your standards, it is time to
try your hand at a video advertisement campaign if you haven’t
already. According to a recent report from HubSpot Research,
more than 50% of consumers want to see videos produced
by their favorite brands, that is more than any other type of
content. Video ads perform well on Instagram because they are
an approachable, humanizing portrayal of your brand that fits
naturally into any user’s feed. For all the tips and tricks to creating
a high performing video marketing campaign, HubSpot has you
covered with this Ultimate Guide.
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Conclusion Instagram Ads Checklist

All Ads
Including Instagram advertising in
Ads should be posted by the same company account every time
your marketing strategy is a smart
Switch your account settings to “Business” to access additional features
move, with proven payoffs. With
Keep your captions authentic to your brand
over 1 billion users ranging across
Don’t forget your hashtags!
demographics, your target audience
Engage with the followers in your comments
has already gathered to scroll in one
place, it is just up to you to advertise
Image
to them. As a massive platform
Find good lighting!
with unlimited marketing potential
Edit your photos with the same filters every time for cohesivity on the grid
and a direct, Instagram’s flexible
Stick a CTA button to each post
management system is an advertising
team’s playground.
Video

Instagram for businesses has Create content that blends naturally into your followers feeds

boomed in the last few years, with no Keep it real—feature real people over graphics when you can

signs of the platform slowing down Create Instant Experience Ads whenever you can
their marketing innovations. Now that
you know the benefits, the metrics to Stories

track, and how to create successful
visuals, it is time for you to set forth
and get the most out of your next
Instagram ad campaign.
Spread the love by sharing the accounts who shared your stories
Take advantage of the Swipe Up! Feature whenever you can
Since they are temporary, stories are the perfect place to advertise flash sales
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Instagram Ads Course Social Media
Dive into Instagram’s advertising features with our
Management Software
free course from HubSpot Academy. You will learn:
HubSpot’s social tool allows you to post to multiple
The elements of a successful Instagram
platforms, monitor conversations, and interact with
Marketing Strategy
your audience, all while measuring the metrics.
How to create Instagram content Prove the value of social media by connecting

How to grow your Instagram followers social interactions to revenue.

Try it Now
Take the Course

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