Beginner's Guide to Instagram Ads Manager
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Posted on:
November 8, 2023
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Marketing Digital
Instagram plays a crucial role, and its advertising tool, Instagram Ads Manager, integrates seamlessly with Meta Ads Manager since Instagram is part of the Facebook family. With this tool, you can create, run, and manage ads for both Facebook and Instagram. To have your ads displayed on Instagram, you just need to select Instagram as a placement when setting up your ad.
Before you dive in, it's essential to have a Facebook Page to log into Meta Ads Manager. You can use this Page or your connected Instagram Business account to run ads on Instagram. This means that even if you already have an Instagram account, you need to link it to your Facebook Page or add it to your Business Manager. Even if you don't have an Instagram account, you can still create ads using your Facebook Page to represent your brand on Instagram.
After that, follow these 10 steps to get the most out of Instagram Ads Manager.
Step 1: Select a Relevant Objective
Log in to your Ads Manager account and click “Create.” Select your campaign objective, making sure it supports Instagram as an ad placement.
Facebook offers six campaign objectives, including sales, leads, engagement, app promotion, traffic, and awareness. Each is well-suited for Instagram, but keep in mind placement limitations depending on the objective. For example, the Instagram Shop tab is not supported by awareness, engagement, and app promotion objectives.
Choose the objective that aligns with your goals. For example, if you're looking to increase your brand presence, choose the awareness objective; if you're looking to increase your revenue, choose sales.
For this case, we will select the traffic objective. Although the steps vary depending on the objective, we will focus on the universal key steps.
Step 2: Decide on Conversion Location
Once you've completed the previous step, your campaign will be automatically created. On the campaign page, name it and choose whether your ad relates to special categories, such as credit, housing, employment, social issues, politics, and elections (these may vary by country).
Go to the “Ad Set” tab on the left panel and create a name for your ad set. Then, choose the conversion location – for example, select “Website” if you want to drive traffic to your website.
For some conversion placements, you can choose to use dynamic creative. This option requires you to provide variations of creative assets such as text, audio, videos, and images. Facebook will use these assets to deliver a dynamic combination optimized for your audience.
Dynamic creative personalizes your ads for each viewer, significantly improving their performance. Experiment with this option if it's available.
Step 4: Set Your Budget and Schedule
Setting a budget and schedule is crucial. If you choose a daily budget, Facebook will optimize delivery to stay within your average daily amount. If you select a lifetime budget, you won't spend more than your set amount over the life of your ad.
Set a schedule to prevent your ad from running longer than necessary. Imagine a summer ad running through Halloween, losing relevance.
Step 5: Define your Target Audience
This step is crucial. You can use a saved audience, create a custom audience, or create a lookalike audience. By targeting a lookalike audience, you will reach people with similar characteristics to your most valuable audiences.
By creating a custom audience, you'll reach people who have interacted with your business. Customize by location, age, and gender, and narrow your audience even further with detailed targeting.
For example, if you sell custom furniture and want to reach people interested in home decor, specifically target people who have shown interest in interior design.
Additionally, you can choose the advantageous detailed targeting option. If checked, the platform will show your ad to people beyond your targeting selections when there is potential to improve performance.
Step 6: Decide on Locations
It's time to choose your placements. You can select Advantage+ turkey business email list placements to maximize your budget by showing your ad in multiple locations where it's likely to perform best. However, this means losing control over where your ad is shown.
If you want to show your ad specifically on Instagram, choose manual placements and check the box next to Instagram. Select the specific placements you want for your Instagram ad, excluding some if necessary.
Step 7: Customize your Ad Settings
Once you’ve selected your placements, click “Next.” On the ad customization page, name your ad and customize the settings. If you’re collaborating with others, check the “Collaboration ad” option to display both identities in the header.
Select the identity you want to use and choose your ad settings. You can create your ad from scratch, use an existing post, or use a sketch from Creative Hub. If you choose to create the ad, upload images or videos manually or choose to automatically display the most relevant products from your catalog.
Select the format that best suits your ad, whether it's a single image, carousel, or product collection.
Step 8: Ad Creativity
Creativity plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of your ads. Carefully select the images or videos that will form the basis of your ad. Make sure to stick to the recommended sizes for Instagram ads. Visual quality is essential to capturing your audience's attention.
If you prefer, you can choose to enable automatic enhancements. This will give Meta the ability to automatically adjust the visual appearance of your media to ensure it looks great. Take a look at the preview and make adjustments as needed.
Accompany your visuals with clear, persuasive text. Brevity is key; make sure your message is concise and to the point. A clear message complements the visual strength of your media. For those who choose dynamic creative, incorporate a variety of text and headline options for effective customization.
If you decide to use dynamic creative, take advantage of the opportunity to add multiple text and headline options. This allows for optimization by persona, ensuring your message resonates effectively with different segments of your audience.
Step 9: Review and Confirm
Before taking the final step towards publishing your ad, it is crucial to review each setting thoroughly. This step is essential to ensure that all elements are aligned with your advertising goals.
Check that your target audience is clearly defined and aligned with your campaign intent. Make sure you have selected the correct audience, whether it is a saved, custom, or lookalike audience.
Locations:
Review the placements you selected for your ad. If your primary focus is Instagram, confirm that manual placements is enabled and the box next to Instagram is checked. Adjust these settings to your liking.
Budget:
Check your daily or lifetime budget, depending on what you selected. Make sure it's in line with your financial goals. If you opted for a daily budget, remember that Facebook will optimize delivery to stay within your average daily spend.
Review your visual and textual creative. Make sure that images or videos are engaging and relevant. Review your text to ensure it is clear, concise and in line with your advertising message.
Once you have reviewed each aspect and are satisfied that everything is in order, proceed to click “Review.”
Step 10: Analyze Performance and Adjust