How does Instagram advertising work and how do you start?

How does advertising on Instagram work?

Instagram is owned by Meta, just like Facebook. That is why you create ads for both platforms with the same tools. An ordinary post is seen mostly by your followers. An ad is shown by Meta to the people you choose, or to the people Meta thinks are likely to respond.

Behind every ad sits an auction. Each time someone scrolls through Instagram, Meta decides which ad that person sees. That depends on your budget, your goal and how relevant your ad is to that person. So an ad that people find interesting gets more room for the same money.

Promote in the app or use Meta Ads Manager?

There are two ways to advertise.

Promote in the Instagram app. Do you have a professional account, meaning a business or creator account? Then you will see a Promote button under your posts and Reels. You pick a goal, an audience, a budget and a duration, and you are done. Quick and simple, but with few options.

Meta Ads Manager. This is where you get every option. You can choose from more goals, set your audience precisely, test different ads against each other and measure what happens on your website. To use it, you connect your Instagram account to your business account at Meta. If you are serious about advertising, this is the route to take.

Just starting out? Promoting a post is a good way to practise. Want to measure and improve enquiries or sales? Then move to Ads Manager.

Which ad formats are there?

On Instagram you choose from a handful of formats.

• Image. One strong picture with a short caption.
• Video. Moving images and sound. Make clear what it is about in the first few seconds.
• Carousel. Several photos or videos in one ad that people swipe through. Handy for steps, examples or a product range.
• Collection. An ad featuring several products, mainly for online shops.

These formats appear in different places in the app.

• Feed. Between ordinary posts.
• Stories. Full screen, between other people's stories.
• Reels. Between short videos. Use vertical video here.
• Explore. On the page where people discover new content.

There are also a few useful variations. With lead ads, people fill in a form without leaving Instagram. With partnership ads, you run an ad through the account of a creator you work with. And online shops can connect their product catalogue, so Meta automatically shows the products that suit each person.

Step by step to your first campaign

1. Get your account ready

Make sure you have a professional Instagram account and connect it to your business account at Meta. Want to measure what happens on your website? Then install the Meta Pixel or use the Conversions API. Do ask your visitors for cookie consent.

2. Choose your goal

Meta works with six campaign objectives. Awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion and sales. Pick the one that matches what you really want. Want enquiries? Choose leads, not engagement. Meta then looks specifically for people who are likely to complete the goal you chose.

3. Define your audience

You can target by location, age and interests. You can also reach people who already know you, such as website visitors or your customer list, and people who resemble them. On top of that, Meta increasingly finds the right people itself, based on your goal and your ad. For a local business, a clearly defined area is often the first setting to get right.

4. Choose your format and placements

Let Meta choose the placements or pick them yourself. Either way, make a vertical version of your ad, so it fills the whole screen in Stories and Reels.

5. Set your budget and schedule

Choose a daily budget or a lifetime budget for the whole campaign. Spending can vary a little from day to day, but Meta stays within your budget over the campaign. Give a new campaign a few days. Meta needs a learning phase to work out who responds. Avoid constant changes during that period.

6. Make an ad that stands out

A good ad looks like ordinary content. Use real images of your business, show people and get to the point quickly. Add subtitles to videos, because many people watch without sound. End with one clear call to action. And make sure the page people land on says exactly what the ad promises.

7. Measure and improve

In Ads Manager, look at the cost per result, not just at reach or likes. Add a UTM code to your link, and Google Analytics will show what visitors do on your site. Test two versions of your ad against each other. Keep the winner and make a new variation of it.

What does Instagram advertising cost?

You decide how much you spend, and you can pause at any time. What you pay per click, per enquiry or per thousand impressions varies a great deal. It depends on your goal and audience, the competition in your industry, the time of year and the quality of your ad.

That is why we deliberately don't quote figures here. A test with a small budget tells you more than any average price. After such a test, look at what an enquiry or sale cost you and compare that with what a customer is worth to you.

Privacy and rules

• Consent. You need your visitors' consent for the Meta Pixel on your website. People who decline are not counted. So your figures are always an underestimate.
• Minors. In the EU, platforms may not show minors ads based on profiling. You can therefore only reach young people on general characteristics such as age and location.
• Meta's rules. Every ad is reviewed. Claims that seem too good to be true, before-and-after photos and some industries get extra scrutiny. Read Meta's advertising standards before you start.

One last tip. In the Meta Ad Library (opens in a new tab) you can see which ads any business is currently running. It is a handy way to see what competitors are doing and to find inspiration.

How we approach it

We start with your goal and work back to what a customer can cost you. Then we set up the measurement properly, with your visitors' consent. We create ads that suit your brand, start with a test and scale up what works. Every month, a clear report shows what your ads delivered. Read more about our Online advertising service. Want more reach without ads as well? Read how to grow your engagement.