Facebook may be the largest social platform out there, but Instagram continues to kill it in engagement. This is huge not just for increasing brand awareness but also boosting your SEO, driving sales, and becoming a force within your niche. But are you taking advantage of Instagram Ads? This guide covers how to setup Instagram Ads, what metrics to follow (and how to setup those up) and a few more tips to get you off and running. We highly recommend marketing on Instagram if you haven’t done so already. The potential reach and possibilities are extraordinary.

The Ultimate Guide To Instagram Ads

STEP 1: Login Into Your Facebook Page

You’re looking for “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner.

STEP 2:   Connect Instagram Account

Once inside scroll down to “Instagram Ads” and add your account. Keep in mind you can only add one Instagram account as of today. So make sure the account is your brand’s account and not your personal one.

What if you don’t have an Instagram account? I highly recommend creating one. It takes ten minutes tops. However, you can still run Instagram Ads via Facebook without an Instagram account.  By default, Instagram Ads are included when setting up Ads.

STEP 3: Setup Custom Reporting

Engagement on Instagram is HUGE. You’re going to want to keep track of that. This will be a key in understanding your KPI (Key Performance Indicators) and make smart marketing decisions.

To set up custom reporting via Facebook   this you’ll need to jump on Facebook Ad Manager – Click Here.

You can also type in “Ad Manager” in the search bar to get here.

The below screen MAY pop up depending on how often you go here. For now, scroll to the bottom and select “Close Without Saving.”

After you close the above, look to the far right and find “Columns.” Scroll down and select “Customize Columns.”

STEp 4: Now it’s time to select the reporting metrics you want to track.

When it comes to Instagram Posts solid metrics to follow are:

1. Results
2. Amount Spent
3. Delivery
4. CPC (link)
5. CTR (link)
6. Post Engagement
7. Cost per Post Engagement
8. Post Likes
9. Cost per Post Like
10. Reach
11. Impressions
12. CPM
13. Frequency

If you’re looking to track Instagram Video(s) setup these metrics:

1. Results
2. Video Views
3. Cost per Video View
4. Avg. % Video Viewed
5. Avg. Duration of Video View
6. Video Views to 25%
7. Video Views to 50%
8. Video Views to 75%
9. Video Views to 95%
10. Video Views to 100%
11. Post Engagement
12. Cost per Post Engagement
13. Post Likes
14. Cost per Post Like

REMEMBER — Save your reports as “Presets.” Look at the image below, the red box shows you where.

STEP 5: Setup An Instagram Ad

There are a few different ways to setup an Instagram Ad. You can have a static image, a carousel, a video, the options are pretty cool. To set this up is crazy simple if you follow the next batch of steps…

Go back to you Ads Manager main page, look to the far left and select “Create Campaign.”

This below screen will pop up. Now it’s time to ask yourself, “What is my objective?” For the purposes of this guide, we will be driving prospects to the website.

Keep in mind, any option you pick the steps are pretty much the same, with the exception of Lead Ads.

For those interested in setting up Leads Ads we have a kick ass guide on that here —–>  The Ultimate Guide To Facebook Lead Ads

Enter your URL when asked…

You’re going to follow the next steps and they’re straight forward. If you have Pixels select them. Note: We will be covering in a future how to setup Pixels and the benefits of what they are. Stay tuned.  

You’ll need to name your ad. Try to keep it descriptive. If you do a ton of ads this will help you keep organized. A good, easy way to stay organized is by adding dates, numbers or a clear objective.

On the next screen double check that your location is correct to your marketing target location and select the “Set Audience & Budget” button.

Now it’s just a matter of adding some targets: Age, Location, Interests. Just a fill out a few when starting out to see how they perform.

When it comes to selecting the budget you’ll be surprised to see how far $1 can go. The below image is a screenshot of just targeting California with $1. On the right, you can see the estimated reach.

Do NOT set up the ad for $1 —  Facebook no longer let’s that happen. You have to be willing to spend $5 a day. Not much more.

STEP 6: Create Copy & Creative Work

Facebook has pretty cool options to pick from. Depending on what stage of the game you are at, you can leverage 1 image, several images or even a video.

The most important thing to remember is to test these ads out. Measure results and tweak them. For starting out, let’s keep it simple and select Option A — the single image.

When it comes to selecting the Instagram Image the size must be at least: 600 px by 315 px.

The  actual ad copy can only be 90 symbols. You have some nifty call to actions to pick from.

Remember how I said Facebook by default  now includes Instagram? You can see this on the far right of your screen. Remove any platform you do not want to market too. Select the platform name to see a Preview.

Facebook will give you a heads up if anything is wrong with your ad.

STEP 7: Place Order

That’s it. A couple things to keep in mind — your ad image can NOT have more than 20% text on them. Images that are negative even in the slightest bit (ie. showing overweight people in a negative light) will get shut down.

-Treehouse 51.  

PS.  Facebook is pretty strick, but all around a solid platform for marketing. The new features they keep releasing are insane! Did you know you can create lookalike audiences similar to your fanbase? How cool is that? You can remarket to them, do video marketing, boost web traffic, and so on and so forth. It’s crazy fun. If you’re interested in learning more poke around our website www.Treehouse51.com and make sure to come back down the road for more guides on marketing.