How to instagram promotions work
How to Create One in Minutes + 3 Best Practices
Instagram marketing can be a hit or miss. Especially as you start implementing your social media strategy, it might take a while for your posts to start performing well.
When it does, your first instinct is to figure out what worked well and replicate it in future posts – a great move. What you can also do is boost your post to double down on its performance with a broader audience.
Find out how Instagram promotions work, how to set one up, and best practices to keep in mind when running one.
How do Instagram Promotions work?
Instagram Promotions convert posts, Stories, Highlights, and Story Archives into sponsored posts. They allow users to broaden their reach, expand their brand awareness, and add calls to action to conversion-friendly content.
How are Instagram promotions different from ads?
Promotions give a second life to posts that have already been viewed and likely performed well. Ads, on the other hand, feature new content and are used as part of a campaign.
With a promotion, the goal is to reach a broader audience for more brand awareness and engagement. Or perhaps you want higher conversions on a particular post.
With an ad, however, you’re likely targeting a specific audience with a particular message in mind.
Whether it’s an ad or a promotion, it will show up the same way on Instagram with the "sponsored" label under the account name.
Instagram Promotion Goals
There are three main goals you can have when running an Instagram promotion:
- More profile visits
- More direct messages
- More website visits
The goal you choose will determine where users are led after clicking on the CTA. While the first two goals will keep users on the social platform, the third will lead users to your landing page (LP).
Knowing your goal ahead of time is key to preparing your assets and having a plan for the influx in traffic, whether it’s on your profile, your DMs, or LP.
The first thing to know about running an Instagram ad is that you must have a business account. However, you may not have to link your Instagram account to a Facebook account to run the ad, a previous requirement up until June 2020, if this will be your first promotion.
1. Access the post you want to promote and click on the "Promote" button.
For Stories or Highlights, access your archive, select the post and select 'Boost.'
2. Select a goal.
If you select "More Website Visits," you’ll have to choose a destination for your users as well as your action button, i.e. your CTA. Here are the six button options:
- Learn More
- Shop Now
- Watch More
- Contact Us
- Book Now
- Sign Up
3. Define your audience.
When you choose "Automatic," Instagram will simply target users who match your current followers’ interests and demographics, specifically those who have engaged with your content before.
With the "Create Your Own" option, you can filter your audience by location, interest, age, and gender.
4. Set up a daily budget and a promotion duration.
Your daily budget range from $1 to $1,000 and the promotion can last anywhere from 24 hours to 30 days. Instagram recommends starting with a least $5 to reach a good pool of users.
5. Review your promotion and click "Create promotion."
One thing to note is that Instagram will run your promotion on feeds, Stories, and the Explore tab – regardless of where it was originally published. Based on initial data, it will determine to run it where it performs best.
Once you submit your ad, it will go through an approval process, which usually takes 24 hours.
Best Practices for Building a Good Instagram Promotion
1. Promote top-performing content.
While you may be tempted to promote posts that need a little love, resist the urge. You may end up wasting money on a post that doesn’t have great potential.
If your brand is considering boost a one-off post, focus instead on posts with already high engagement.
Why? Well, these posts have already performed well with your followers. This is a good indication that they may perform well with the audience you haven’t yet reached.
2. Make sure your landing page is mobile-friendly.
Instagram is a mobile-first application.
As such, if you’re taking users to a website, make sure it offers a good user experience for mobile users. If not, you’ll end up with a high bounce rate and a low return on ad spend (ROAS).
A few things to keep in mind when designing for mobile:
- Have a single-column layout – This makes the page much easier to scan and navigate.
- Avoid too many images and videos – They may up too much space and crowd the site. And they can cause slower loading speeds.
- Keep your copy short – What seems like perfectly spaced paragraphs on a desktop can easily become overwhelming on mobile.
3. Know your goal is ahead of time.
It’s important that you prepare your Instagram profile and/or landing page ahead of your promotion.
You want to make sure you’re ready to convert those users once they’ve clicked on your ad. Otherwise, what’s the point?
If your goal was to get more profile visits, be sure to have a visually appealing grid, a descriptive bio, and updated contact information.
If you’re hoping for more messages, consider adding a question in your ad to encourage conversation.
The earlier you start preparing, the more ideas you can develop to attract and convert your target audience.
Don't forget to share this post!
How do Instagram Promotions Work? (Explanation + Steps to Create Yours)
How do Instagram promotions work? And why would you use them instead of ads? Good questions.
In this article, we’ll explore answers to these and other equally important topics related to Instagram promotions.
We’ll also show you how to create your very own promotion.
How do Instagram Promotions Work? (+ Steps to Create Yours):
- Monetising Instagram
- How do Instagram Promotions Work?
- What do Promotions Look Like?
- Where do Promotions Appear?
- Why Your Promotions Have a Good Chance of Success
- Are Instagram Promoted Posts, Stories and Highlights More Expensive or Cheaper Than Ads?
- How to Create an Instagram Promotion
- Accessing Promotion Insights
Monetising Instagram
Back in 2009, monetizing Instagram wasn’t a clear path for the photo app. In fact, while the idea was definitely on the table, the brand had to evolve into something with a stronger value proposition and product.
Today, Instagram’s caught up to the rest. 80 per cent of accounts follow a business on Instagram. This means more people are interacting with brand pages and this level of engagement is just what Instagram needed to be able to broaden it’s advertising offerings.
Source: statista.com
The photo-sharing app offers four advertising options in addition to promotion options.
These include:
Photos:Image: Instagram
Video:
Image: Instagram
Carousel:
Image: Instagram
Ad in Instagram Story:
Image: Instagram
Collection Ads:
Image: Instagram
How do Instagram Promotions Work?
Instagram also offers promotion options. These are different from photo, video, carousel and story ads. Here’s what you have access to and how they work:
Promote a Post You've SharedFamiliar with boosting a post on Facebook? Promoting a post on Instagram works the same way. If you have a picture or video that’s drummed up a fair amount of likes, comments and shares, you can promote it.
This option is a great way for businesses to get extra awareness for content they publish. The extra awareness is reach that could help feed your marketing funnel.
Promote a Story From your Profile, Highlights, or Stories ArchiveAlso similar to boosting a Facebook post, you can promote stories. While limited to those taken with the Instagram camera or in a vertical format, the option is still very useful.
Some creative elements (filters and stickers) are not accessible when promoting stories, however, this shouldn’t stop you from taking the opportunity to ‘capture authentic moments that speak to your business,’ as Instagram recommends.
Create a Promotion From the Promotions Button on Your ProfileIf you’re looking for a quick and direct way of generating results, you can do so with a fresh new ad campaign. These can be created from your business profile. In the process, Instagram will recommend which posts they think will do well as advertisements.
This option is best if you're unsure which post you'd like to promote.
So, to recap, the major difference between ads and promotions on Instagram is related to the way you use each option to engage your brand.
Promotions are used to generate extra awareness and engagement from already successful posts and stories. Ads are used for unique campaigns and generally feature new content.
What do Promotions Look Like?
While Instagram promotional posts, stories and highlights look similar to their original (organic) forms, they include additional elements.
Post, stories and highlights all include the “Sponsored” label below the account posting the promotion.
Image: Instagram
Image: Instagram
As promotions are intended to generate some result, they also come with calls to action. Here’s a list of the options available:
- Learn More
- Shop Now
- Watch More
- Contact Us
- Book Now
- Sign Up
Where do Promotions Appear?
Promotions appear as posts and can also appear in stories.
If you’d like to isolate your promotion to appear in one place, you’ll need to create your promotion in Ads Manager.
Why Your Promotions Have a Good Chance of Success
Algorithmic updates are generally not the easiest to track. In fact, while there are many digital and social marketing circles that constantly test content to generate the best possible results, much about the intricacies of how AI and machine learning influence ad placement, reach and overall campaign success is largely unknown.
There are, however, a couple of interesting ideas we think you should bear in mind when creating your promotions.
Promotions are all About ReachWhether testing to find the higher-converting ad or scaling to generate more of the results you’re after, all spend on paid media should be made to generate results. When it comes to what we know about promotions, Instagram recommends that you use “a post that your followers really enjoyed.
”
This means using content that’s received its fair share of likes, comments, and shares.
Why would this matter and how can you use this information?
Ad Revenue and Engagement Fuel InstagramInstagram, like all other social platforms, wants to create products that users constantly access. The more users using their app, the more ad revenue they are able to generate.
Instagram also knows that when users show interest in a certain piece of content, there’s a higher probability of generating even more engagement from it if it’s shared with a larger audience.
Your already successful posts, stories and highlights, therefore, stand a better chance of being more successful with a wider audience. While we’re not sure about the intricacies of their algorithms, this logic is pretty sound.
Are Instagram Promoted Posts, Stories and Highlights More Expensive or Cheaper Than Ads?
There isn’t any conclusive data that shows ads cost more or less than promotions.
In a report, AdEspresso found that CPC values range between $.70 and $.80. This average was based on two demographics. Audiences between the ages of 25-34 years can cost as much as $1.23 per click, where a younger group, aged between 13-17 years, came in at $.47.
While we haven’t seen any data on promotion costs, they could be close to these figures considering that you’re still paying to reach the same audience.
How to Create an Instagram Promotion
Creating your promotion is relatively easy. In fact, most of the heavy lifting is done for you. For example, you don’t need to worry about which post to promote because you’ll have data that shows which post received the most engagement.
Set up Your Instagram Business ProfileTo get started (from your phone), open Instagram and visit your business profile. If you haven’t switched to a business page for you your company, you’ll need to make the change.
Instagram business profiles are linked to Facebook pages.
To switch to a business account, go to Settings > Switch to Business Profile.
Image: Instagram
Next, add custom buttons to your account. These can include:
- Contact Us
- Message
- Start Order
- Book
- Reserve
Note: if you haven’t added a link to your website and a bio, nows a great opportunity to do so.
Create Your Promotion
With the setup of your business profile taken care of, it’s time to create your promotion post.
Start by accessing the Promotions options via the Promotions button. Next, locate the post you’d like to promote.
Image: Instagram
Note: if that if you’ve never posted any content to your business profile, you’ll first have to publish a post and then start the process over to promote it. Also, if you already have content posted, Instagram gives you the option of promoting posts directly from your business profile.
Image: Instagram
Select Your PostIf you’re promoting a post from the Promotion button, you’ll then need to select a post to promote.
Choose your post and it will open with the option to View Insights or click on the Promote button. Viewing insights will show you how well your organic post performed. This also helps you determine whether this is the post you should really be promoting.
Image: Instagram
Set Your GoalNext, select your goal.
Do you want more profile visits, more website traffic or more promotional views?
Image: Instagram
Establish Your Target AudienceHaving selected your goals, it’s time to select your target audience. Instagram makes the process of establishing your target audience easy. Here are the three options available:
- Automatic: Instagram will target people who are like your followers
- Local: target people in a specific location
- Manual: select people, places or interest to target with your promotion
Image: Instagram
Set Your Budget and Promotion DurationSetting your budget is just as easy as previous steps.
Instagram provides a daily budget option along with a duration (in days).
While setting both, you’re able to get a summary of the estimated profile visits and reach for your promotion.
Image: Instagram
Review Your PromotionThe final step of the promotion creation process is a review. You’ll be able to see the following:
- The post you’ll be promoting
- The destination all traffic will be sent to
- What your action button will say
- How your audience will be targeted
- Your budget and promotion duration
Once reviewed, click on Create Promotion.
Accessing Promotion Insights
It’s a good idea to keep tabs on how your promotion performs. This will help you determine whether to increase spend and duration or terminate the promotion altogether.
To view insights, open Instagram > go to your business profile > select the post you'd like to view insights on > below the post's image, tap View Insights.
Clicking on View Insights will show you:
- How many people were shown your promotion (audience reach)
- How many impressions your promotion received
- The number of clicks on your promotion
- How much of your budget has been spent
Summary
Instagram Promotions are one of the simplest ways to engage and reach a larger audience. Promotions can be created from posts, stories and highlights. When created, they appear in audience feeds and stories.
While there are creative limitations, using promotions is still valuable. They help brands connect with audiences using authentic creative content. Instagram’s budget and duration options make it easy to determine the spend and length of a promotion, and insights will give you information on how well your post is performing and how much money has been used.
How to promote a post on Instagram: promoting a post through the "Promote" button
This material is for those who want to learn how to promote a post on Instagram directly from the application or through the Facebook advertising cabinet.
In this article, we will show the nuances of promoting a publication on Instagram, give recommendations on choosing a photo or video for promotion, and also answer frequently asked questions related to errors in the operation of the “Promote” button.
Advertisement: 2VtzquY3wEz
nine0002 Read also : How to promote an Instagram account from scratchWhat does the “Promote” button mean and how does it work
If you need a quick launch of an advertising campaign, then promotion of an Instagram post is exactly what you need. The "Promote" button below the posts will appear when you switch to a professional account: a business profile or an author account.
What does the "Promote" button mean? When you click on the "Promote" button, an advertisement is automatically created with the selected post. This function can also be called, raise a post or bring a post to the TOP, because it will be shown one of the first in the feed.
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The button looks like this :
How does it work? This feature allows you to create and run ads through Instagram without using Facebook Ads Manager.
At the same time, promotion will not be available for some posts, in this case the “Promote” button will be displayed, but will be inactive.
Interesting : Top 10 courses by target
How to promote a post on Instagram: step by step guide
Step 1:
Choosing what to promote
Decide what problem you need to solve with the promotion of the post and what would be the best solution. Here are 3 types of content that can be promoted:
- regular post with a photo - suitable in most cases;
- video - if you want to get coverage;
- gallery - for the presentation of several products.
If the goal is to attract customers, prepare a sales post for Instagram, if the goal is to get feedback, then make an engaging post.
After selecting a publication, open it and click the "Promote" button below.
Tip: Prepare your promotional publication in advance. Use an image that catches the eye easily or post a photo with a caption.
The most important thing in the text is the first line. This is what the user sees when scrolling through the feed. Try to interest from the very beginning, and end with a call to action: leave a comment, go to the site, register. nine0010
Step 2:
Select the promotion goal
Next, you need to select the promotion goal: site visits, profile transitions, or Direct messages. Let's choose "More site visits" - suitable if your main sales go through the site. To set the desired address, click edit and specify the desired URL.
Choose the action that suits your ad campaign. If you want to attract new subscribers, then we select transitions to the profile. If you need more contact with customers - messages.
If advertising is the first stage in an auto funnel, then send traffic to a lead magnet or give a checklist as a gift. nine0003
Step 3:
Action Button
Different call to action buttons will be displayed depending on the target of the ad post:
- The "More profile visits" target is the "Go to profile" button.
- The More Posts target is the Write to Direct button.
For the button that will accompany the advertising publication leading to the site, you can change the label on the button. Available options: Learn more, Shop, View more, Contact us, Book and Register .
When choosing an action button, rely on what you are promoting. For events and online services, the "Register" button is suitable, for hotels, cafes and restaurants - "Book".
Step 4:
Create an audience
You can leave automatic audience selection, select a previously created audience or an audience for retargeting, or set it up manually.
Consider the last option - click "Create your audience". nine0003
We come up with a name for the audience and set up targeting: location, interests, age and gender.
To properly target, first create a portrait of your target audience.
Step 5.
Budget and duration
To begin with, it is worth setting a small budget for a short promotion period.
To change the budget and duration of an advertising campaign, simply move the slider left or right. At the same time, you will be shown the approximate coverage that you will receive. nine0003
Step 6:
Checking the publication
At the final step, see how the promotional publication will look in the feed - the "Publication Preview" button. Check if all options are set correctly.
Here we set up payment. Click "Payment", a section opens where we replenish the advertising budget from an already linked card or add a new one.
Finally, click "Promote Post". The advertisement will go to moderation, upon completion of which you will receive a corresponding notification. How long does it take for a post to be reviewed? Usually results come within a day. nine0003
Advertising publication statistics
To view statistics on the promotion of a publication on Instagram, go to the advertising publication - click "View promotion" and then "View statistics".
Since our advertising campaign has not been launched yet, there are zero indicators here. When the statistics data is updated, it will be possible to calculate the cost of a click, the cost of one application or registration.
Instagram post promotion via Facebook
In the same way, you can set up promotion of an Instagram post via Facebook. If we compare this method with the method described above, then setting up through Ads Manager gives more options. For example, launching a promotion from a computer and more accurate targeting.
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We will not describe the whole process in detail, we already have a corresponding article: Setting up advertising on Instagram through Facebook. Start setting it up.
Next, when creating a creative, you need to select "Use an existing publication".
Then click the "Select a post" button
In the window that opens, switch to the "Instagram" tab and select the post that we will promote.
After selecting the publication, you will need to select the action button and provide a link to the site (if selected as the goal). nine0003
At the end, click "Publish" and the advertisement goes to moderation.
If the “Promote” button on Instagram does not work or there is no permission for advertising, then ...
There may be several reasons:
On the territory of the Russian Federation, the Facebook advertising account in conjunction with Instagram does not always work stably, so the problem with the “Promote” button can literally arise out of the blue. Solution: from a business profile, go to a personal profile, and then connect the business account again; Conclusion
So, I hope this manual was useful. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments.
Useful links :
- Top 10 Instagram Promotion Courses
- How to get Reels recommendations
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How to promote content on Instagram using the promotion tool
2 min.
Introduction
If you decide to promote your business on Instagram, the easiest place to start is by promoting your post. You can start the promotion from the Instagram app. This is an effective way to reach people who are more likely to be interested in your company. In addition, promotion will increase the number of potential and existing customers who will want to visit your website or company. nine0003
In this course you will learn:
- how to create an ad based on an Instagram post;
- how to increase your reach and attract new customers.
Promoting content on Instagram to attract customers
People come to Instagram to discover something new and get inspired, so promoting content on this platform is a great way to attract new customers. Instagram advertising allows you to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. nine0003
Promote a post on Instagram
The promote tool allows you to start promoting a post on Instagram in a few easy steps. To access this tool, you need to create an Instagram business account.
You can create such an account from scratch or convert your existing personal account to it. Learn how to set up an Instagram business account.
Getting started
- Your phone must have the Instagram app installed. nine0054
- Must be logged into the company's Instagram account.
Ready? Now you can set up a budget and start promoting your content through the Instagram app.
To create a promotion, click the Promotions button in your business account or the Promote button in an existing publication. In the promotion tool, you can configure the necessary parameters, for example, specify the advertising budget.
Launch promotion from company account
Promote an existing post
Watch the video below to learn how to use the Instagram promotion tool.
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Learn more
When you create an ad, you can customize your promotion by selecting your business goal, target audience, budget, expiration date, and more.
The promotion tool currently supports three destinations for your ads:
- Your Profile
- Your Website
- Your Direct Messages
For other advertising purposes, use Ads Manager.
To learn more about Ads Manager, see the sources listed in section What's Next? below.
What's next?
More resources on the promotion tool
Learn more about promoting content on Instagram in the Help Center articles below:
- How do I set up an Instagram business account?
- How to display ads directly from Instagram?
- How much does it cost to promote a post on Instagram?
- What does a post promoted through the Instagram app look like?
- Who can see the promoted posts I create on Instagram?
More resources on using Ads Manager to create ads
If you're interested in other Instagram ad delivery options, check out Ads Manager. Ads Manager is an advertising platform used by Facebook apps and services. It gives you access to additional ad objectives and placement optimization.
