How to use the Instagram reels feature to grow your business
Is there any more to Instagram?. Instagram keeps bringing in new features and innovations to give businesses the best tools to grow their business. This innovation with Instagram reels is disrupting the way brands have been promoting themselves on Instagram and to put your brand forward, you have to learn how to use the Instagram reels feature to grow your business. Your post on Instagram can appear in 4 places; For this article, we would focus on how to maximize the Instagram reels feature to grow your business What is an Instagram reel? Instagram reels are full-screen vertical videos made up of audio clips and visual effects that you can create and post on Instagram to promote your brand. Instagram reels allow you to share short video clips up to 15 seconds long with all the users of Instagram, not just your audience. One good thing about Instagram reels is that it offers your brand a wider reach. It can be discovered easily which will help your audience grow. You can find the reels feed on the Instagram explore page and when you share reels featuring certain songs, hashtags, or effects, your reel will also appear on dedicated pages when someone clicks on that song, hashtag, or effect. See Instagram reels as a combination of both stories and in-feed post feature where you can add effects just as in stories and also post on your feed. It has a similar format to TikTok videos. How does the Instagram reels algorithm work? Users see reels not only from the accounts they follow but from all Instagram accounts on the reel tab. Instagram shows reels to users based on the content they have interacted with before alongside that of the brands they follow. Instagram reel algorithm will also register certain actions on your reels and either promote these reels or bring them down. These actions include You should make your reels in such a way that the algorithm will favor you for good. You should do this by creating the kind of reel content that people will love, study reels that work, learn one or two things, and apply them to yours. Don’t put yourself in a box, explore the Instagram reels terrace and take advantage of what’s working. How to make a reel on Instagram Making a simple Instagram reel is not so technical. Unless you’re creating an advanced reel with multiple features, you can make your first reel with these steps; Note that when you share a reel with original audio, your audio will be attributed to you, and users can create their reels with your audio. Sharing your feed is ideal because it will give more people, especially your followers to see your reel and interact with it. Benefits of Instagram reels The primary benefit of reels is brand awareness. Instagram reels will give your content a chance to be shown on the explore or reels page. Instagram reels are also a way to add variety and spice to your content formats. Instagram reel content ideas to grow your business Tou can share what is going on in your brand with reels. These can include events your brand organized, an inhouse party, a celebration of a win, brand meetings, client meetings, etc. this is a good way to show the humanity of your brand and connect with your audience. These tips and advice could be based on what your brand is about. You can also caution people on things to avoid. Most of the time, reels that contain educational content get the win. For example, at socialander, we leverage our Instagram to share tips on digital marketing with our audience. Reels can be a good way to share your story so people could hear and connect with you. You can also share your recent works as reels, they’re all part of your story. You can answer a popular question on your Instagram reels. These questions could be about your services or any other thing related to your industry. You can also showcase your products on Instagram reels. People would love it when you arrange your products beautifully in a reel. Reels can also be used to promote your brand. You can creatively announce sales and share offers with your reels. Your customer reviews and stories can also come in the form of reels. With that, it gets more views and attention. You can bring all your favorite stories together and repost them as reels. Tips to make your reels go viral Although reels are easy to be found, these other actions can put your reels in the best place When you start your reels with something interesting, more people would be drawn into it giving it the potential to go viral. Always be intentional about the first few seconds of your reel because it would determine if people watch till the end. People are more drawn to beautiful and engaging visual effects. There are a ton of effects to choose from in the Instagram reels feature. It is left for you to get creative and choose something that will appeal to your viewers. Use your CTAs to make your audience perform certain actions on your reel. It could be to like, comment, answer a question, share, save, etc. once people are reacting to your reels, the Instagram algorithm will pick it up and prioritize that reel to more viewers. Hashtags will allow your Instagram to show your reels to users who are already interested in your content. Be creative and intentional with your hashtags, learn about the best hashtag strategies and apply them to your reels game. There are best times to post on Instagram for better engagements and you should note these times and take advantage of them. Posting your reels at the time most people are online will boost your engagements and make your content go viral. This is the real deal. Using trending songs that people love will get the most attention. Keep that in
How much does an Instagram ad cost?
Instagram ads are a more detailed form of Instagram promotion. The aim here goes beyond visibility to conversion. There are more features on the Instagram ad and you would need to create the ad from the Facebook ads manager. Instagram ads offer advanced targeting and flexibility to be accessible for just about any business. Why Instagram ads? Instagram ads offer advanced targeting and more features: Instagram has over 1 billion monthly users, ranking second after Facebook. The platform has a variety of targeting data and since Facebook owns Instagram, Instagram advertising uses the same comprehensive demographic and geographic data as Facebook. This advanced targeting is what makes Instagram Ads work so well, as you can be specific when targeting various audiences. Instagram Feed and Explore video can be up to 60 seconds in duration and while Stories are typically up to 15 seconds in duration, if you run ads in these three ad placements, you can have up to 2 minutes of video content. This gives you more opportunity to convey both your brand and the features and benefits of your offer through your products and/or services. High engagement rate: Instagram is known for its high engagement rates organically and through paid ads. Here’s a breakdown: Images on Instagram receive an average of 23% more engagement than when shared on Facebook. Only about 4% of a brand’s followers see its content. This is still higher than Facebook’s nearly non-existent reach, but you can amplify your visibility with paid ads. Brands typically see about 38% more engagement with video ads. As a visual platform, images and videos are powerful in driving more engagement than on other more text-based social platforms. It is cheaper: With Instagram ads, you would reach a wider range of people more than you would do using the traditional method with and for a lesser price. This is because Instagram has over 1 billion people and reaching this large number of people through traditional advertising would cost a lot. But with Instagram, you will spend less. How do Instagram ads work? Depending on your goals, Instagram ads have different call-to-action buttons. It can be to visit your website, download an app, pay for something or shop online. With Instagram advertising, you can include outside links, which enables you to designate a destination URL to your website or another external URL. You don’t even need an Instagram account to advertise on Instagram. Since Meta which also owns Facebook is its parent company, all you need is a Facebook business page. Though it is best to have an Instagram account so you get acquainted with the kind of content that your Instagram audience resonates with. This will help complement and amplify your organic Instagram marketing efforts. To set up Instagram Ads, use Facebook’s Ads Manager to set up campaigns where you select your budget, target audience, ad placements, and optimization options. Similar to Facebook Ads, your ads will run within the selected time frame, budget parameters, audience selection, and optimization goals. Factors that affect the cost of Instagram ads Objectives: This is what you set to achieve from the ad campaign. Your advertising cost can be higher or lower depending on what you want to achieve and how it fits your target audience. For example, targeting a broader audience for brand awareness will cost lower than an ad that is solely for conversion. Audience size: If you’re targeting a broader audience, the cost will be lower compared to targeting a specific audience. When you narrow down your audience to a more specific one such as a particular age, location, preferences, etc. The price goes up. This is due to the fact that other people are targeting that specific audience and so the competition is higher. Budget: How much money you’re willing to pay will affect how your ad will go. The cost of an Instagram ad will be more expensive at first before the system learns and understands your campaign type and optimization goals, and how your audience engages with your ads. If your ads are well engaged with, Facebook and Instagram will reward you with lower costs over time. Click through rates: If your audience is interacting more with your content, the price will be lower as not much work needs to be done. Other factors, such as relevance, estimated action rate, and your bid amount, will also help determine the exact cost you’ll pay for your ad clicks. How much do Instagram ads cost? The cost of an ad depends on how competitive your audience is. If you’re in a highly competitive industry like fashion, travel, etc. You would pay more. When analyzing Instagram advertising costs in 2018, AdEspresso found that the average cost-per-click on Instagram is around $0.80. For fresher data, here are the Facebook and Instagram advertising cost numbers from 2021, based on data by Revealbot. From the Facebook ads cost data from April 2020 to April 2021, the average CPC is between $0.5 – $3,5. For all metrics, Instagram cost per click in 2021 ranges from $0.40-$0.70. This takes into account all clicks that happen on an ad, which includes not only link clicks, but likes/reactions, comments, and shares. For ads that have a destination URL, Instagram’s cost per click in 2021 ranges from $0.50-$0.95. Instagram cost per thousand impressions (CPM) Another metric is the cost per 1000 views (CPM) Instagram cost per one thousand impressions in 2021 ranges between $2.50-$3.50 for better-performing better-performing campaigns and their respective ad sets. When it comes to CPMs, Facebook tends to be higher than Instagram, by nearly 2 times but CPCs tend to be lower by nearly half on Facebook compared to Instagram. In summary: An Instagram ads cost per click costs $0.40-$0.70 (link clicks, likes, reactions, comments, shares) Instagram ads cost per click to destination URL costs $0.50-$0.95. Instagram ads cost per engagement costs $0.01-0.05. The cost per thousand impressions costs $2.50-$3.50 How much ROI would you get from an Instagram ad? When thinking about your