Unlocking the full potential of your Instagram presence involves more than just captivating content, it also involves strategically reaching and growing your audience through paid advertisement.
In this article, I will be talking about how you can use Facebook’s advertising platform to upscale your Instagram game and help you cultivate a thriving community.
You can use Facebook ads to create targeted campaigns that help you connect with like-minded people on Instagram and ultimately grow your following.
What are Facebook Ads?
Facebook ads are paid promotions on the Facebook platform that allow businesses and individuals to create targeted advertising campaigns.
These campaigns can be customized based on objectives, target audience demographics, ad formats, and placement preferences.
Facebook ads for Instagram in turn are paid promotional content created and managed through the Facebook advertising platform but specifically designed to appear on the Instagram platform.
Advertisers can utilize a variety of ad formats, such as photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and Stories ads, to engage with their target audience on Instagram.
Why use Facebook ads for Instagram followers
Since Facebook owns Instagram, this allows for cross-platform promotion because these two platforms are integrated. So the primary benefit of Facebook’s extensive ad features is that it can help you drive traffic to your Instagram account and gain followers in the process.
This can be a strategic move with several benefits such as:
Increased Visibility: Ads can boost the visibility of your Instagram profile and content, especially among users who may not have come across your profile organically.
Targeted Audience Reach: Facebook ads allow you to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This ensures that your ads reach the right people who are more likely to be interested in your Instagram content.
Quick Growth: With paid advertising, you can expedite your follower growth compared to organic methods. It’s a way to jumpstart your presence and attract a larger audience in a shorter time.
Analytics and Insights: Facebook provides detailed analytics on ad performance. This allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, helping you to refine your strategy for better results.
Cross-Platform Integration: Since Facebook and Instagram advertising platforms are integrated, this makes it easy to run ads simultaneously on both platforms if you decide to, hence maximizing your reach.
Create a Facebook ad for Instagram followers
Step 1: Access Facebook Ads Manager
Log in to your Facebook account and navigate to the Ads Manager. If you don’t have an Ads Manager account, just create one, it’s free.
Step 2: Create your Ad and choose the Ad campaign objective
Tap the “Create” button to start creating your Ad, and then you have to choose your Ad’s objective.
Tip:
Facebook Ads doesn’t have a straightforward Objective on the list that says: “Get Instagram Followers”, so you just have to select from the available objectives.
Choose the Traffic objective, scroll down, and Name your campaign then tap the Continue button.
Step 4: Set your Ad budget
In the popup, under Choose a campaign set up select Manual traffic campaign then tap Continue.
In the next window, scroll down and toggle on the Advantage campaign budget then set up your preferred budget.
Determine whether you want a daily or lifetime budget. You can experiment with different budget levels to see what works best for your goals.
Step 3: Set up your Ad audience
Click on New Traffic Ad set on the left, and under Conversion make sure Website is selected.
For the Ad set name, you will have to name it based on your target audience so first go down to the targeting options to define your audience under Audience controls.
Location tip:
Set your location depending on your target. If you are optimizing for volume and you just want to get the cheapest followers who speak English, select countries with high populations and cheaper advertisement costs, for example, Asian countries. You can even choose several countries or specific regions.
Go ahead and set up the location, age, gender, interests, language, and behavior target. Be sure to aim for an audience likely to be interested in your Instagram content.
Step 4: Ad Placements
In the Placements section, select Manual Placement. Remember you want to advertise to people who are already on Instagram and get them to follow you so uncheck all the other options and leave Instagram checked, continue downward and select Stories and Reels.
This is a pretty simple and direct way to advertise and will ensure that your ad will appear on your Instagram story and in our reels to reach potential followers.
Leave the rest of the settings on default.
After you set this up, go back up and name your Ad set name based on your audience choices.
Step 6: Create your Ad
Go to the next New Traffic Add section, this is where you create the actual ad.
Add your Ad name then make sure your business name is correct under Identity and your Facebook page is linked to your Instagram account.
If your accounts are not connected just tap the Connect account button then log into your Instagram account when redirected.
Go to Ad setup > Creative source and you can go ahead and add some text describing your ad/business, and you can manually upload images or a video about your business.
Make sure your video is catchy that your Primary text and Headline are straightforward and tell people why they should follow you.
Under the Call to Action section, select a CTA button that aligns with your goal of gaining followers, for example, “Learn More”, but you can also experiment with others like “Sign Up” or “Subscribe”.
Under Destination, go to Website URL and add your Instagram page URL (open your Instagram page and copy its address).
Step 7: Review and Confirm
Carefully review all your settings, including audience, placements, budget, and creative elements to make sure they are accurate. Once satisfied, click “Publish” to launch your ad campaign.
Of course, you have to set up your payment method to complete the transaction.
Tip:
Monitor the performance of your ad in Facebook Ads Manager. Track engagement metrics, including likes, comments, and most importantly, follower growth on your Instagram account.
How to create a custom audience for Instagram ads
You can create different custom audiences for the Instagram users you want to reach for specific ads.
To do this:
In your Facebook AdsManager go to Audiences > Custom audiences, and tap the Create Custom audience button.
Select the Instagram account option under Meta sources then tap Next.
Under Events, select which Instagram users you want to include in this audience, give it a Name and Description then tap Create audience.
You can create different audiences so that when you are creating ads you can choose and reach the right audience.
Tips to get the best out of your Facebook ads for Instagram followers
Tip 1: Know your target audience
Knowing your audience’s behaviors, demographics and interests will help you create ads that resonate specifically with them and ultimately earn you followers on your Instagram.
For example, if you have an Instagram page marketing a clothes shop, you don’t want your Facebook ad audience target to be people interested in sports or food, you have to select the right audience target.
Tip 2: Clearly define your objective
Once you know and understand your audience, identify your objective for the ad(s). Here the primary goal is to grow your Instagram following.
Keeping this in mind will help you not deviate from the purpose of the ad and create an ad that is primarily set on achieving the set objective.
Tip 3: Make your ads visually appealing
Since Instagram is a visually based platform, your ads have to be eye-catching and high quality, while at the same time not deviating from your brand. They need to make sense, in a captivating sort of way.
Remember to incorporate your brand colors, logo, and any relevant images to bring out the identity of your brand.
FAQs
How are Facebook ads for Instagram followers billed?
Facebook Ads for Instagram followers are billed based on your advertising model and payment settings.
Here’s a summary of the billing process:
- Set a budget for your ad campaign; specify the maximum amount you’re willing to spend.
Additionally, you need to choose a bid strategy for example cost per click (CPC), cost per thousand impressions (CPM), etc.
- Your ad competes with other ads in an auction to be shown to the target audience. The auction considers factors like the bid amount, ad relevance, and overall ad quality.
- Facebook will typically bill you regularly either daily or when you reach a certain billing threshold.
- You have to provide payment information when setting up your ad account. You can use credit/debit cards, PayPal, or other accepted payment methods.
- Ads are charged based on the delivery and user interactions. For example, if you’re bidding for clicks, you pay when someone clicks on your ad.
Tip:
Higher-quality, more relevant ads may achieve better visibility at a lower cost.
Remember to regularly monitor the performance of your ads and adjust your strategy as needed. You can modify your budget, bid strategy, and targeting settings to optimize results.
Can I use the same ad for Facebook and Instagram?
Yes, you can create and run an ad on both Facebook and Instagram simultaneously to ensure a cohesive cross-platform advertising strategy.
Can I track the performance of my Instagram ads?
Yes, you can use tools like the Facebook Pixel to get insights into your ad’s performance, including reach, engagement, and conversions.
Conclusion
In summary, for those looking for not only visibility but also genuine engagement and a thriving following, you can leverage Facebook’s advertising tools to tailor your ads to directly reach the people interested in your content or your business.
