Benefits of Advertising on Instagram

The benefits of advertising on Instagram are plentiful. Creating a business account gives you access to certain features, including special features focused on advertisements. Instagram also offers paid advertising to help you build your business. They focus on driving awareness, increasing customers, and sharing your story with a highly engaged audience. 

Like everything else, there are Instagram pros and cons when it comes to using it for advertising. In this article, you will learn how your business could take advantage of the benefits of Instagram advertising.

Pros of Instagram Advertising 

There are many benefits to advertising on Instagram. Below are four of the major benefits you should consider when creating an Instagram account for business.

Many Types of Instagram Advertising 

One of the many benefits of Instagram advertising is the number of different types of Instagram ads available. Instagram offers six different types of ads: photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, collection ads, story ads, and ads in the explore section. Each option allows you to reach your users in a different way. You can even mix and match different ad combinations to find what reaches your potential customers the best. Learn more about the types of paid advertising on Instagram: 

Instagram Promotions

Instagram promotion is the marketing tactic of converting regular Instagram posts and Instagram Stories into paid ads. These promoted posts have higher outreach and engagement and are an excellent way to increase your brand awareness and visibility.

advantages of instagram advertising

Precise Targeting Options

Instagram ensures your ads reach your specific target audience by offering precise targeting options. These precise targeting options are broken down into seven categories:

1: Location Targeting

The location targeting option can be used to target a specific location. It can be broken down into states, provinces, cities, or countries. This option is useful if you service a specific geographic area. If you have a storefront, you can use this option to increase locals’ and visitors’ awareness of your company.

2: Demographics Targeting

The demographics targeting option narrows your audience based on demographic information. You can include who your audience is by age, gender, languages, age, and more. 

3: Interests Targeting

The interests targeting option allows your ad to be seen by people based on certain interests. This includes what apps they use, ads they have clicked on in the past, and what accounts they follow. You can use this option to ensure you are reaching people with interests that align with your business. 

4: Behaviors Targeting

The behaviors targeting the audience are helpful to define your audience. It allows you to define your audience based on certain activities they do both on and off of Instagram and Facebook. 

5: Custom Audiences

The custom audiences target option helps you reach customers you already know. Your ads can be shown to past customers based on their email addresses or phone numbers. This allows you to keep your past customers updated with new information about your business. 

disadvantages of instagram advertising

6: Lookalike Audiences

The lookalike audience target option uses your current customers to find new users who are similar to them. This uses the previous information about your customers, such as demographics, interests, behaviors, etc. Instagram finds the shared qualities between current customers to create a lookalike audience. 

7: Automated Targeting

If you choose to use automated targeting, Instagram will help you to create an audience of people who might be interested in your business. Instagram uses a number of signals to determine who might be interested. Some of these signals are location, demographics, and interests. 

The precise targeting options are huge benefits of advertising on Instagram. It is one of the key ways Instagram differentiates itself from other social media platforms. They help you to reach and find the right people for your business and your products or services. 

Instagram is a Large Platform 

One of the main benefits of Instagram business ads is the size of the platform. There are users based all over the world, which allows you to increase your brand awareness with Instagram paid advertising.

The official statistic is Instagram has over 1 billion users. It is estimated that they have 1.16 billion users as of October 2020 and Instagram stories have 500 million daily users.

Instagram is currently the top social media platform for users to engage with brands. If you choose promoted posts on Instagram, you are increasing your sales potential because the platform provides an immense audience. 

benefits of advertising on instagram

Easily Track Your Account Performance

Instagram allows you to track the performance of your account by offering an Instagram Insights feature. You can find this feature by clicking on your profile and finding the “Insights” option. This shows how your account and Instagram posts and other content have performed in the last seven days. You can click on the metrics to find more data and a further breakdown of it. For example, if you click on “Accounts Reaches,” you can see your impressions, account activity, top stories, top posts, profile visits, etc. 

By using this information, you can see what type of content works best for your business. If you see an increase of activity on a certain type of content, you can identify what went right in it. You can use Instagram Insights to ensure your Instagram paid ads are working and reaching your target audience. 

Cons of Instagram Advertising 

Although there are many benefits of advertising on Instagram, there are disadvantages that come along with it. Next, we will discuss these limitations. When it comes to target audiences and content, there are certain limitations. Instagram does not support clickable links. This makes it slightly more difficult for users to find the link for your business’s web page. Lastly, Instagram advertising might be too costly for you and your business.

Limited Audience 

A con of using Instagram advertising is that it does not reach every age group. There is a limited audience. Instagram age demographics are important to consider when considering Instagram advertising. Instagram is most used by those aged 25 to 34 years old. The next age group who uses Instagram the most is those aged 18 to 24 years old. 

If your target audience is in these age groups, your business can benefit from Instagram advertising. If your target audience is an older age group, it may be smart to consider advertising on a different social media platform. 

instagram advertising pros

Content Limitations 

Instagram is a photo and short video-based platform. If you want to promote ads on Instagram, you will need to rely on the visual component. One of the reasons users are attracted to Instagram is because of the app’s simplicity. Users can simply scroll through their pages and see images. 

If you rely on text, Instagram advertising may not be the best choice for your business. You need to post content where the image instantly displays the message. Therefore, there are content limitations when it comes to Instagram Advertising.

As previously mentioned, if you want to advertise on Instagram you have to rely on your visuals.  This is why content creation is very important when it comes to Instagram advertising. You need to create quality content to engage and attract users.

Clickable Links are Not Supported

Instagram does not allow you to include clickable links in captions. This is a downside of using Instagram advertising because you cannot always expect users to copy and paste the link into their search browser. This is an extra step that most users are not willing to do. 

In an attempt to solve this issue, many Instagram users have included links in their profile bio section. The con of this is that users have to change pages instead of simply clicking the link in the caption. Additionally, you will have to update the link whenever you want to post a new link.

Can Be Too Costly for Some Businesses

The cost of Instagram ads changes depending on certain factors. There are six major factors that influence the cost of an Instagram ad.  These are the bid amount, your target audience, time of the advertisement, your ad relevance score, the type of Instagram advertisement, and the industry you are advertising in. All of these factors combined determine the cost of your Instagram ad. The average click per cost, CPC, is typically $0.70 to $1.00, although sometimes Instagram ads can cost more than $5.00. 

Although the cost of Instagram ads can be seen as a con to using Instagram ads, Instagram does allow you to use a set budget. You can determine how long your ads will run and what the budget is. You are ultimately in control of how much you are spending on your advertisements. 

instagram advertising cons

Still Unsure about Instagram Advertising?

Instagram advertising is a great way to promote your business on a largely used social media platform. It can give you immense exposure. If you do choose to promote ads on Instagram, use these Instagram marketing tips to ensure quality marketing.

It can be difficult to decide if your business can claim the benefits of Instagram advertising. Use these Instagram pros and cons to decide if Instagram advertising is a good choice for your business. If you decide Instagram advertising is something you want to do for your business, SEO Design Chicago is available to help. We are here to help you create an Instagram Ads campaign for your business. 

FAQ:

  • Why should I use Instagram to advertise for my business?
  • What types of ads are available on Instagram advertising?
  • What are the disadvantages to using advertising on Instagram?
  • Is it worth it to advertise on Instagram?
  • What are the benefits of using Instagram to advertise?

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