Instagram has about 1 billion users. For this reason, advertisers have spotted this platform as a great place for showcasing their products and services. Additionally, many businesses use Instagram as their office, as most companies have a verified Instagram handle.
Instagram promotions follow a straightforward process. You don’t even need to possess so much experience when you want to promote content on Instagram. While I will breakdown the complete promotion process, I’ll highlight a few key reasons that make Instagram a top promotion spot for your brand and business.
What is an Instagram Promotion?
An Instagram promotion is simply boosting the ability of content to reach a greater number of people that are not your followers. With this tactic, many businesses have built significant leads that have converted to customers. Instagram promotions have been effective so far and keep growing every day.
Instagram keeps introducing many features into their advertising that makes it easy for individuals to navigate the system. For this reason, they have gained a good number of advertisers within a short time. This process has boosted engagement on the platform to a level within the industry’s normal.
You can see that this number proves that Instagram has seriously been working on their framework. And this development which introduced more features for business professionals has made running Instagram promotions easier, faster and cheaper.
A distinctive feature that Instagram introduced was the ability to switch accounts with only the tap of a button. Additionally, you can switch with about four different accounts using only one Instagram application. The ability to write simple and clear business information is also another booster that helps people understand more about a business when they visit their page.
Can You Promote Content on Instagram?
Similar to every other social network that includes an option to boost a post, Instagram introduces regulations regarding advertising and the quality of posts individuals introduce on the platform. Hence, if you’re thinking of promoting a content, then you need to ensure you stick to the guidelines.
The whole idea behind creating an Instagram ad is social proof. According to Wikipedia, Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy the actions of others to undertake behavior in a situation. You need to ensure people know you think like them and agree to some of their proclivities.
Naturally, you could choose to use organic traffic instead of boosting a post, but with 800 posts made per second on Instagram, your post would be lost in the sand. Unless you probably have a raving fanbase or a large pool of followers that will help you with shares across Instagram and other social networks.
Generally, Instagram remains one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. With their low advertising rates and large diversified audience, you’re sure that your promoted content will reach the audience you want it to reach which will help you build your business and create stronger awareness for your brand.
How Much Does It Cost To Promote on Instagram?
When you want to promote content on Instagram, asking for the price will help you know how much investment you need to make to get your ad running. Well, with Instagram it’s truly different. When you want to run an advertising campaign, you determine your budget and time frame. For every budget and timeline you input, Instagram automatically shows you how long it will boost your content.
Hence, to be clear, Instagram utilizes an ad/promotion structure on a Cost-Per-1000 Impressions (CPM) basis. Essentially, this means you pay the specified bid amount on your post for every 1,000 people that see it. This same framework has been seen in Facebook as well.
When you’re using Google keyword advertising, you would use the Pay Per Click (PPC) option, where you pay a certain amount for every user who clicks on your ad campaign. This way, you’re sure that you’re not running a visibility campaign that’s not accompanied by conversions.
Although Instagram strongly believes in visibility, you need to ensure you properly optimize posts so that you reach your goals without burning holes in your pocket. This is important, especially when you have a copy to sell.
For every type of content you want to share on Instagram, you must have an end goal, and you determine this goal. Instagram has properly categorized all advertising goals into different options, it makes it easier as you choose by clicking your advert goal.
Although the complete essence of promoting a campaign would be to build brand awareness, it’s also important you have a product to sell so you can refund a part of your advertising budget. To effectively run a social media promotion, you need a social media management team to help you do the job.
What Do I Need to Promote Content on Instagram?
If you want to run any of your Instagram promotions, you need to ensure you put a lot of things in check. A lot of times, your promotion can get a rejection when it doesn’t fulfill the requirements, nor does it align with the advertising policies of the platform.
A basic thing you would need to run an Instagram promotion would be to switch from a personal account to a professional account. In making this switch, you simply do:
- Open your Instagram application
- Click on the “Settings” Button
- Find the icon “Switch to Professional Account”
- Choose a Category and Line of Business
- Conclude the process
When you’ve completed this process, you now have a business account wherein you can run your favourite Instagram promotions. Conclusively, you must have a picture or video, copy, and a card that allows you to make payment after your post has started its promotion process.
Further Reading: 10 Tips For Powerful Advertising on Facebook In Nigeria
How Do Instagram Promotions Work
Now this is the core aspect of the entire conversation. And I will break down the process one by one to enable you to build a better understanding.
Instagram promotions have a simple and unique process they use. Hence, if you’re a newbie who has never run a promotion campaign, you could facilitate the process easily.
Step 1: Identify the Post You Want To Promote
The first step of an Instagram promotion is starting the promotion. However, before you can do this, you need to find the post that you want to promote. To promote any post, you must have uploaded it on your page ahead of time. When you have uploaded the picture on your page, you tap on it and hit the button “Promote.”
Step 2: Start the Instagram Promotions Process
This is where you complete your decision to promote a post. In other words, it serves as a welcome page to the promotion process and you need to click “Create Promotion” to continue the process.
Step 3: Select Your Promotion Destination
Because of the wide audience numbers on Instagram, you need to select the channel you want your leads to access you through. There are usually three options for this destination from the image below. When you send your leads to your profile, they can access your Instagram posts and follow your page. On the other hand, when you direct them to your website, they leave the Instagram application entirely.
Step 4: Choose Your Audience
In this section, you choose the type of audience you want Instagram to show your promotions to. You can either choose to allow Instagram to automatically promote your post to an audience similar to your followers or you manually choose them. I usually opt for manually choosing your followers so you can target properly. You choose the age range of individuals and their interests too.
Step 5: Pick Your Budget and Duration
Unlike other advertising platforms that have fixed a price for their advertising, Instagram offers you the opportunity to set a budget and timeline for your promotion. With this strategy, you have the complete right to determine how long you want to run a promotion. Furthermore, you determine how much money you want to use for the promotion.
Step 6: Add payment Information
When you use Instagram to promote your content, there are many available payment options you can use. So, you can choose the payment option available in your country. Furthermore, you can pay with a tax card or an ad credit if you don’t want to use cash.
Step 7: Review Your Promotion
After you’ve inputted all necessary details into your promotional content, you have the opportunity to do a complete review. In this review, you can edit any section of your promotion before you complete the process.
Conclusion
With Instagram user numbers constantly growing, consider creating an Instagram page for your business and using the simplified promotion process to boost your reach. With every budget you input, you can get a view of your reach and this is brilliant planning for your business.
If you’re still unclear about any of the processes and you need some help, just book a free Marketing Consultation with our team by clicking “I want a Free Consultation Session” and let’s get started.
