How do instagram promotion payments work
How Do Instagram Promotions Work & How Do They Help?
So if you’re a business that has a conscious social media marketing strategy, you may have found yourself asking, how do Instagram promotions work?
Let’s start with a bit of background on Instagram promotions and the features open to businesses on Instagram.
Takeaways
- By boosting a post, you can kickstart the snowball effect and get posts the traction they deserve.
- Instagram promotions are to convert quality posts into the mainstream, targeted to be able to share with people beyond your normal audience.
- Instagram gives you a loose estimation of your reach depending on your daily budget and how long you would like to run your promotion.
What is an Instagram Promotion?
An Instagram promotion is similar to any other ad you may see online.
It allows increased exposure to your brand’s content by targeting desired users that may be interested in your brand’s products or services.
In the last couple of years, Instagram has been rolling out bundles of features to help businesses utilize the massive reach on their social media platform.
These include a plethora of new promotional ad features, analytics, and quality of life improvements.
This is especially helpful for businesses when you take into account what separates Instagram from other social media platforms.
As you can tell from this study done on user engagement with brands, Instagram blows other platforms out of the water when it comes to…
…getting to know your audience.
With a more attentive group of followers, you are much more likely to drive conversions on Instagram vs. other social media.
The first major change they rolled out was in 2016 with the addition of business profiles.
Instead of having to brand personal accounts, businesses that operate a Facebook page can now operate commercial accounts equipped with…
…tools that go beyond your personal profile.
Instagram even gives you the ability to switch back to a personal account if you so desire.
Some people claim that Facebook and subsequently Instagram’s algorithm ranks personal accounts higher than brands.
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But that has not been found to be the case while Instagram pushes businesses to convert.
Some of these include:
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A dedicated contact button instead of having to bury the information in your bio.
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Being able to designate a category/industry for your business
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Access to Instagram Insights. This a huge one.
Instead of relying on likes/comments, you can see deeper analytics on your engagement, reach demographics, and impressions.
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The ability to post ads vs.
simply ad style posts.These appear as sponsored posts in a feed/story and come with countless targeting specifications, ad styles, goals, and payment types.
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Influencer marketing integration. Since the FTC cracked down, influencers are required to disclose earnings from promotions they push.
Business accounts can tie themselves to their paid posts with the ‘Paid Partnership’ tag so that…
…they can remain compliant as well as get analytics on the content they didn’t post themselves.
One of the features that we are going to dive into, that came alongside all of Instagram’s improvements, is the ability to promote your posts as well.
How do Instagram promotions work to make my business grow?Have you ever heard of social proof?
It’s the concept that higher engagement through reviews, testimonials, shares, and other popularity metrics contribute to your credibility as a business.
This seems obvious, but it is the game that surrounds social media.
People look towards other people not only for validation but also for the next big thing.
And that’s not a bad thing.
In the fast-paced, high-information world we live in today, how likely is it that quality content is going to…
…get passed up by everybody unless technical execution is the pain point?
If you can get your post to receive traction through engagement, it turns into a snowball effect where…
…more people are willing to like, comment, and convert if they see others are doing the same.
So how do Instagram promotions work on my social proof?
Instagram promotions’ biggest use case is creating brand awareness.
By boosting a post, you can kickstart the snowball effect and get posts the traction they deserve.
This helps skyrocket reach and is very effective if your primary goal is high visibility.
Instagram’s algorithms, much like other social media platforms, operates off of an acceleration/virality factor.
This means that the quicker your posts get off to the right start, the higher the ranking algorithms will put you in the feed.
And how could you blame them? There are more than 800 posts made per second on Instagram across over 1 billion monthly active users as of 2018.
People have their work cut out for them to get visibility, but it has been done time and time again.
Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms.
And since they launched business accounts in 2016, it has come to be expected for your business to have its own profile.
Instagram has found that 60% of users say they learn about new products or services on their platform.
What’s even more astonishing is that 75% say that they will take action after seeing a post.
This includes visiting sites, purchasing products, or even sharing posts, what every business dreams of.
How do Instagram promotions work different than ads?Instagram helps businesses get a little bit more juice out of their posts through their promotions feature.
Much like Google or Facebook Ads, you can accelerate your reach through a pay to play system.
How Much Does It Cost to Promote on Instagram?
Instagram operates their ad/promotion structure on a Cost-Per-1000 Impressions (CPM) basis.
This means that you pay the specified bid amount on your post for every 1,000 people that see it.
Other platforms like Google Ads operates on a Cost-Per-Click (CPC), where you receive free visibility and only pay for successful clicks.
Because Instagram values visibility you will have to put work in to optimize posts so that you reach your goals without wasting too much money.
However, there is a difference between ads made through the Facebook Ads manager and promotions (ads) made through the Instagram app.
That is an important distinction to make.
Before you can understand the answer to how do Instagram promotions work, you first have to understand what an Insta promo is.
Instagram Promotions are normal, non-advertisement posts that you would like to convert to a sponsored post with elevated reach.
They can appear in the same spot with the same ‘Sponsored’ tag, but Instagram treats them differently in their algorithm.
This is because there is a nuance in each of their purposes. While each are there to increase visibility and engagement.
An Ad has many more preferences for targeting and customization because the leading purpose is to convert.
Promotion serves to take a well-performing post to the next level in terms of profile views, likes, comments, and shares.
If visibility, reach, and engagement is your goals, then think about opting for the boosted promotion.
Take a look at the interfaces that Instagram provides for promotions (left) vs. ads (right).
You may be asking yourself, why would I use promotions over ads?
Remember, the purpose of boosting an Instagram post is to receive the maximum amount of visibility and reach as possible.
It is not always necessary to launch an entire ad campaign every time you want to spike brand awareness.
Instagram knows this, which is why they offer it as a feature.
Its purpose is to convert quality posts into mainstream, targeted ads so that you can share its value with people beyond your normal audience.
While sales and lead generation remain paramount, social media accounts require nurturing through a variety of posts.
Too much of the same is never good for anyone or any business.
An effective social media marketing strategy will incorporate a healthy mix of both promotions and ads.
Are Instagram Promotions More Expensive or Cheaper than Ads?There actually isn’t any conclusive data that states that ads are cheaper than promotions.
However, AdEspresso reported that CPC values range between $.70 and $.80.
This figure was concluded based on two demographics. Users between the ages of 25-34 years can cost as much as $1.
23 per click.
On the other hand, the younger group aged between 13-17 years, came in at $.47.
How Do Instagram Promotions Work and How Can I Start?If you’re reading this, you are probably a business owner looking to jump-start your social media accounts.
Or, you want to know how to get more out of your posts by understanding how do Instagram promotions work.
Instagram promotions start with a business account.
You probably already have one, but if not, don’t worry. Any personal account can become a business in a few simple taps.
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Go into your Instagram Settings and halfway down the page tap on Switch to Business Account.
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If you do not already own a Facebook page tied to your business, it will make one for it.
If you don’t have one it would be in your best interest to make one first and populate it with company info.
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Customize your profile with custom buttons, such as a contact button or a link to your website.
Be sure to put in all your contact information before finishing up.
Once you have transitioned to a business account, you are all set to promote your first post.
How To Start an Instagram Promotion
To get started, navigate to your profile and tap the Promotions button. You will then be prompted with a screen that looks like this.
Choose which post of yours you would like to convert into a promotion and proceed forward.
Next you will be prompted with a screen where you get to decide on your post’s Call to Action (CTA). These are your Call Now’s and Learn More’s.
This part is highly dependent on your goals with this promotion. So take the time to evaluate your options.
You opt for something simple like directing people towards your profile or direct messages.
Or you can redirect them to your website. If you choose storefront, you have the options to send them to a phone number or physical address.
If you choose your website, you have more flexibility because you can assign different CTA’s like Learn More, Contact Us, Book Now, and Sign Up.
After you decide on your CTA, Instagram asks you to select your target audience.
They give you the option to choose between Automatic or Create Your Own.
If you choose to manually define your audience, you will be presented with this screen.
This is where you get to define demographic presets to use in the future.
As you can see, Instagram provides basic parameters such as location, age, gender. But you also are given the ability to target certain interests.
Instagram allows you to choose up to 10 interests that you think accurately represents your intended audience.
This is where you can make the magic happen and really maximize your audience targeting capabilities.
Interests range anywhere from hobbies, movies, events, to people.
So after you have solidified age, gender, location, and interests, you now have a working demographic of people to promote to.
After everything is said in done, Instagram prompts you with one last page. This is where you get to decide on your budget, duration, and distribution.
Instagram gives you a loose estimation of your reach depending on your daily budget and how long you would like to run your promotion.
Instagram also decides if stories or the feed would be better for your selected audience.
Instagram’s maximum limits are set at $1,000 ad spend daily and up to 30 days in duration for a maximum possible reach of 400k-1 million people.
Of course, promotions come with diminishing returns, so you need to look towards your analytics to determine the worthwhile-ness.
Thankfully Instagram breaks down your promotion analytics in their Insights feature available to (as you’ve guessed it) only business accounts.
Instagram InsightsInstagram recommends spending at least $10 to promote your post.
But ultimately it is up to you to decide what the value of these promotions are for your business.
Instagram Insights lets you keep tabs on all types of engagement people are having with your profile, including those attributed to your promotions.
You can track anything like:
- Impressions
- Profile visits
- Follows
- Shares
- Website clicks
- Comments
- Number of people who got directions
- Number of people who contacted you
- How many people discovered you
The list is very comprehensive and even breaks down the timeline and demographics on all of these types of engagements and impressions.
Nailing down your audience is where most of your market research is going to be directed towards outside of creating compelling content.
On the Insights screen, find where your posts are located.
You should be presented with a screen that shows all of them in a grid with numbers overlaid like the one above.
Here you can apply filters to segment the data for each of your posts for a specified time period.
This will give you the quick run down on your best and worst-performing types of content as well as the levels of engagement you are getting.
Filters include:
- Comments
- Likes
- Reach
- Impressions
- Engagement
If you would like even more detailed analytics, find the View Insights button on the respective post and…
…you can find a breakdown of the actions taken from the post such as:
- Profile Visits
- Follows
- Website Clicks
You can also get a similar breakdown of actions taken from Instagram stories such as:
- Forward taps
- Backward Taps
- Replies
- Swipes Away
- Exits
Instagram also generates an in-depth report on the sources of impressions as well, like:
- How many peoples’ feed you appeared on
- People who found you through a hashtag search
- Views from your profile page
- People who discovered you on the explore feed or through organic keywords
- Location Feed
- People who found you through tags, shares, and mentions.
While this is all helpful for analyzing your posts, lets focus on promotions.
When looking at insights for promotions, Instagram actually gives you a more stripped down overview where…
…visits, impressions, engagement, money spent, and audience demographics are the only factors they provide to you.
It is more or less up to you to decide whether or not the promotions are beneficial.
One of the ways you can accomplish this is to track the data yourself and generate cost breakdowns.
Some intrinsic metrics you should keep track of are:
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The ratio of engagement to reach. This will let you know how compelling your content is and if it leads to conversions.
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Your CPC. This isn’t directly provided by Instagram, but you should be conscious of how much is being spent on promotions and…
…specifically how much it costs per website visit, contact information shared, conversions, etc.
Although posts receive a bit more analysis, you can use them to your advantage when tuning your promotions.
After all, promotions are just boosted posts.
One of the first things you should analyze is your audience. Are you reaching your intended demographic?
Is there consistency in your demographics from post to post to promotion?
Next, you should consider what actions people are taking when they see your promotion. Does your promotion have the intended effect?
Much like a website, bounce rate is a key metric to determine your content effectiveness.
Low reach and low engagement would be indicative of ineffective content.
Decent reach with low engagement means that although you are reaching the…
…intended audience, your CTA’s are ineffective, or the content is not conducive to engagement.
Polishing Your ContentBut how do Instagram promotions work using your content?
Instagram promotions are a great way to get that boost in reach that your posts need.
But if the content is unrefined, its message will fall on deaf ears.
Insights and other forms of analytics will definitely help guide your content and highlight pain points.
However, creating content that will resonate with your audience is a different beast and will need a more holistic approach.
Effective content needs to be interesting, memorable, and actionable. To achieve this, you need to be mindful of commonalities in your consumer base.
One of the best ways to take the guesswork out of content creation is to employ social listening.
Social listening is putting your ear to the ground to hear what people are saying and finding what trends are hot in your industry.
There are countless software out there to help you keep track of the conversation.
In essence, you are trying to nail down consumer sentiment when it comes to your brand, certain types of products, and even your competition.
Social listening can aid your Instagram promotions by:
- Trailing consumer sentiment following a new promotion campaign
- Identify common consumer pain points to target
- Discovering gaps in the services/products offered in your industry (not just your brand)
- Finding demographics that have yet to be targeted in a smart fashion
- Helping incorporate consumer lingo/buzzwords that speak to your audience
- Weeding out ineffective content or mistakes in your strategy
Social listening has become an industry standard, and it helps seal the leaks in your marketing budget.
If you would like to learn how to go about incorporating social listening into your marketing strategy to create the most relevant content.
Think about itSo hopefully the question of how to do Instagram promotions work has been answered.
They can give you that boost in reach that you may be lacking. But promotions aren’t the only piece of the puzzle.
If you would like a higher-level overview of what you can do to promote your business on Instagram.
Learn how to promote your Instagram page for greater brand awareness of your business.
Successfully optimizing your Instagram promotion campaigns can be quite time-consuming.
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While Instagram provides its analytics on your content in an intuitive interface.
Getting the most out of your posts and ads isn’t as easy as it makes it out to be.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for businesses of all sizes to find a helping hand when managing their social media accounts and advertising.
Integrating a team of professionals insures that your marketing budget is not wasted and that you are receiving at minimum, the industry standard.
At LYFE Marketing we live and breathe social media management and marketing.
We have helped countless people realize their business goals by meticulously crafting impactful marketing campaigns through constant optimization.
If you’d like to get more exposure and conversions out of social media, contact us today.
We offer both social media management services and social media advertising services so that the full package is at your fingertips.
Our specialists have experience across dozens of industries so that we ensure the best quality.
If you are interested in taking your social media game to the next level or would like to discuss our suite of other services, schedule a free consultation.
Instagram Promotion — How Does It Work and Is It Worth It?
What are Promotions on Instagram?What are Instagram Promotions?If you’re familiar with Instagram ads, you’ve probably at least heard of Instagram Promotions. What’s the difference?
INSTAGRAM PROMOTION DEFINITIONWhat is Instagram Promotion?Instagram Promotions are regular, non-advertisement posts that a user would want to convert to a sponsored post, with elevated reach.
The ‘Sponsored’ tag may appear in the same place, but Instagram treats these posts differently with their algorithm. Every user will have a different motivation and so the algorithm will do its best to correspond to those nuances.
Both ads and promotions are there to increase engagement and visibility. But an ad is best for conversion as it offers way more preferences for targeting.
A promotion takes a high performing post and turns it up a notch.
It takes it to the next level regarding engagement — ramping up likes, views, shares, and more.
Instagram ads are great tools to convert potential customers to repeat ones. Sometimes, your goals may not demand a full blown ad campaign.
If you’re more in need of brand awareness, launching an entire campaign may turn out to be a waste of time and money. This is where Instagram Promotion comes in.
Use them to turn a previous post into a sponsored one to extend your reach. If your objective is high visibility, promotions are your answer.
Keep in mind, the algorithms of most social media platforms work on a virality factor. So the faster your posts get off the ground, the higher the ranking the algorithm puts you in the feed.
And it makes sense. About 95 million photos and videos are posted on Instagram per day. The competition for visibility is insane.
So, how do you run an Instagram Promotion?
Give Yourself an Instagram BoostHow do Instagram Promotions work?The great thing about Instagram Promotions is that they can be done directly from your phone.
With ads you need to be in the Ads Manager to create your campaign.
This is the Facebook Ads Manager. Important — if you want to use Instagram ads and Instagram Promotions, you do need an Instagram business profile.
If you’re promoting you can do it from the app, and simply switch to a business profile in settings. But if you want to use Instagram ads, you’ll need to be connected to that Facebook business page.
For more on this and how to promote, watch the video below.
The 411 on Instagram promotion
Instagram promotion uses algorithms in order to determine who is likely to click on your ads based on your campaign motivations.
How Do Instagram Promotions Work?Choose your motivationThere are three different "motivations" for using Instagram promotion — increasing profile visits, website traffic or simply sharing your post to more IG users. Each one is very specific in its aim so to maximize your Instagram promotion efforts, make sure you understand each one and how they work.
If you want to increase your presence on Instagram. Instagram uses particular algorithms and for this one they’ll promote to people who are likely to go to your page.
Website TrafficInstagram uses this information to determine who to reach out to for you. If you want more traffic to your website for instance, they’ll use an algorithm to make sure the people that typically click
Promotion ViewsThis will show your post to as many people as possible, but it doesn’t promise engagement on the ad. This one is more for brand awareness.
SetTing Up Your INSTAGRAM PROMOTIONDirect your trafficThis is part of the motivation, and similar to above, you’ll be asked where you would like the traffic generated from the promotion to end up. There are three options, and, again, make sure you understand the ideal results for each promotion.
Traffic can be directed to go to your IG profile, website, or store front.
There are millions upon millions of IG users around the world — and there's no way you'll be able to reach all of them. Just like the parameters we've already discussed, you have to be selective and strategic with who your target demographic is.
When you're setting up your Instagram promotion, you have another three options to choose your desired audience.
Automatic AudienceThis option targets people who are similar to your followers based on demographics. It also targets those who have already engaged and have been interested in your organic content previously.
This option makes sense if you're trying to solidify IG users who have already shown an interest. On the flip side, if your goal is to catch the eyes of completely new users, this would not be the best option.
Targets people within a certain radius of a certain location. With options for age range and gender. This could be good when you’re promoting a last minute event taking place in a specific location. It also shows your post to those who are similar to your followers based on location.
Manual AudienceCreate your own specific audience based on age, location, interests, and more. This is typically best because you have more control, but it really depends on your specific objectives.
The Fine Print of Instagram PromotionsDecide the price and durationThe app makes this part pretty hassle free with a sliding scale of how long and how much you’d like to pay. You can pay $10.00 a day for a 24-hour promotion and see how it works. Cost and duration options can get much higher and longer so it really comes down to your budget.
Instagram uses a 'CPM' or cost-per-mille, which really just means cost per 1000 impressions or views.
Now that we know how to promote on Instagram, is it really worth it? In the next section, we'll get some results from influencers who have tried it out.
Users with relatively high followers who are trying to gain visibility say it may not be worth the cash. And they seem to be struggling for the same reasons.
Laura Price, an illustrator, gives us some key insights into her experience with Instagram’s $5.00 promo.
What will a $5 Instagram promotion get you?
Alec Wilcock is somewhat of an Instagram expert and has a number of videos on his channel dedicated to how IG works. Watch as he takes us through his experience, with a bit more on how to promote.
The results seem to come back inconclusive but somewhat comprehensible...the more money you put in, the more effective your promotion will be.
Was Alec's experience any better?
It’s pretty hard to measure success if you throw only $5.
00 for a mere 24 hours. But that doesn’t mean waste your money either. A combination of ads and promotions may be a good start until your business gets off the ground. Though, if you’re already a fairly successful brand, it may be best to keep your Instagram promotions running for longer.
If you’re unsure about trying out Instagram Promotions, that’s all right. But don’t miss out on Instagram altogether. Instagram has the highest brand-consumer engagement than any other platform out there. Learn how to run Instagram ads, even if you’re not yet ready for promotions.
Up Next: Make Instagram Ads→
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Many do not know how to pay for advertising on Instagram. nine0038 
Simply put, the post is launched first, and then the money is debited. nine0021 
nine0021 
The card data (first and last name) must match the Facebook profile data, otherwise the blocking of Ads Manager is inevitable. nine0038 
After that, the payment details will be added to the FB advertising account for payment for displaying ads (at the end of each month). nine0021 
Instagram robots make a second attempt to collect money from the main payment system, and then from the additional account, if it was specified. If the funds are not credited to the balance, the advertising campaign is suspended. nine0037 How to pay Instagram debt: 
nine0038 
Calculate the limit so that the limit does not have to be changed often, but the promotion costs do not exceed the possibilities of your budget. 
How to pay for advertising on Instagram - 2 ways
If you want to promote your Instagram account with official advertising, but don't know how to pay for it, then this article will be extremely useful for you. In it, I will tell you how to pay for advertising on Instagram in two ways (via Facebook and through the Instagram app itself).
Article content:
Instagram advertising options
Today, there are 2 paid advertising options on Instagram: advertising, because it is on it that questions arise. With payment for advertising from bloggers or in public, everything is extremely simple, so we will not focus on this.
In the second option, all you need is to agree with the blogger or the owner of the public about advertising, and they themselves will tell you how to pay for it. nine0038
Useful: Course "Promotion on Instagram from 0 to the first sales"
In the case of the first option, you will need to do everything yourself, and for this you must have at least a minimal understanding of targeting.
Targeted advertising is set up and paid either through facebook or through the Instagram app itself. And let's first deal with payment through Facebook.
How to pay for advertising on Instagram through Facebook
To pay for targeted advertising, you need to add a payment method in your facebook advertising account.
To do this, go to your Facebook profile and click on the triangle icon in the upper right corner. From the drop-down list, select "Create an advertisement"
You will be taken to your advertising account.
Next, open the menu in the upper left corner of the screen.
Select "Billing" from the drop-down list.
Next, go to the payment settings by clicking on the appropriate button in the upper right corner of the screen. nine0038
Then click the "Add Payment Method" button.
Choose the payment method that suits you. Facebook suggests adding either a bank card or a PayPal account.
For those who don't know what PayPal is, it is a payment system through which you can pay for your purchases on the Internet. It is quite common in the West, but it also finds its customers here. You can learn more about this system on their website
paypal.com
. You can also register your account there, if you want, of course. By the way, registration is quite simple and does not take much time. nine0038
Most often, bank cards are used to pay for advertising. Everyone has them and everyone knows how to use them. By and large, in paypal you also link your card to this payment system.
The only difference is that when paying directly with a bank card, the money is debited directly from it.
When paying via PayPal, you are first billed to this payment system, and then you confirm the payment in your account. After that, the money is also debited from your card linked to paypal. nine0038
After selecting the desired payment method, click the "Continue" button. Your details will be added to the Facebook advertising account and the amount spent on advertising will be deducted from them.
Important! Keep in mind that money is not debited immediately, but at the end of each month. That is, Instagram gives you the opportunity to run ads "in installments".
In other words, your advertisements are displayed first and only then money is deducted for them. Therefore, you should not be very happy when you see that your advertising works, and the money for it does not go away. They will leave, but only a little later 😊
And if you see that the money is still not leaving, then check the correctness of the details that you set as a payment method or bank card balance.
Perhaps you simply do not have enough funds to write off. In this case, your ads will stop and Facebook won't let you run any more ads until you pay the previous bill.
To be on the safe side, you can set a spending limit for your facebook account. Upon reaching this threshold, your ads will be paused and you will not be charged more than the specified amount. If you want to resume showing, it will be enough just to increase the spending limit or remove it altogether. nine0038
It's worth noting that you don't have to add your payment details first and only then create advertisements. When setting up targeting for the first time, at the end facebook will ask you to select the desired payment method and automatically add it to your billing ad account. In the future, if necessary, you can change the payment method in the same Billing.
How to pay for Instagram ads through the app
To pay for ads directly through the Instagram app itself, you first need to create a so-called "Promotion".
In fact, this is the same targeted advertising, only it is called a little differently and is configured from your Instagram profile. But this option is only available for business accounts. nine0038
I described how to create a promotion in the article about targeting on Instagram, the link to which I gave at the very beginning of the article. Therefore, in order not to repeat myself here, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with it.
In a nutshell, during the promotion setup process, you will also be asked to add the desired payment method. Add it and your ad starts working. And at the end of the month, the spent amount will be deducted from you.
Learn more about advertising and promotions on Instagram in the course “Instagram promotion from scratch”. On the course, you will literally be led by the hand from scratch to the result. nine0038
Conclusion
I hope I was able to explain to you how to pay for ads on Instagram. Basically, all you need to do is add a payment method to your ad and run it.
