Facebook advertising has expanded greatly in the last few years. Along with new objectives and new placements, businesses can now advertise on Instagram. What’s great about Instagram ads is that users don’t need to have an Instagram account to run them. Instagram ads can run directly through Facebook in Ads Manager or Power Editor.

There are many benefits that come from advertising on Instagram. To start, Instagram has more than 500 million active users per month. Of those 500 million, over 300 million are active daily.

Even if a business does not have an Instagram account, it does not mean that advertising on Instagram is not for you. Instagram offers the same ad formats and objectives, and can almost mirror the Facebook ad that is created, serving the same branding message over multiple platforms. You can choose to use your Facebook page instead of linking an Instagram account, so your Facebook profile and profile picture will show in its place.

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Instagram Ad Formats

Just like Facebook ads, Instagram ads can be created in the following formats:

  • Photo ads – Use this format to advertise with imagery.
  • Video ads – Use this format to advertise with videos (now up to 60 seconds!)
  • Carousel ads – Use this format to share multiple images in one ad, allowing users to scroll through.

All ad formats above offer a choice of a call-to-action button, directing your audience on what you want them to do (learn more, shop now, etc.).

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Instagram ads also offer most of the same objectives as Facebook ads, including:

  • Clicks to website
  • Website conversions: (To see custom conversion options, please click here.)
  • Video Views
  • Mobile app installs
  • Mobile App Engagement
  • Page post engagement
  • Reach and Frequency

Wondering how your Instagram ads did for the month? You can see the results of your Instagram ads the same way as Facebook ads, making reporting easy and uniform.  The Instagram community is highly engaged, generating 4.2 billion like per day. Don’t miss out on advertising on this platform!

And of course, in this ever-changing platform, there is always something new rolling out. Leave your thoughts on Instagram’s newest feature, Sponsored Stories!