Hacks every small business can use to save money while advertising on Instagram

Ask the right questions when planning to spending money on a social media campaignPhoto: Anna Shvets

Marketing budgets are tighter than ever; businesses and marketing teams are trying to find efficient ways to get more bang for their buck. You know that already.

And when it comes to incorporating Instagram advertising into your social media strategy, the search for budget-friendly approaches is no different. Spending money on Instagram can leave you with more questions than answers; after all, the platform is a decade old but only opened advertising to all businesses in 2015. So, before parting ways with your hard-earned cash, I would not blame you for asking the very common question: will I get a return for my investment on Instagram ads and paid boosts? The simple answer is: yes, but only if you do things the right way.

With over 1 billion active users monthly and, on average, an impressive 53 minutes of use per person per day, the photo-sharing app’s numbers are tempting, to say the least.

So, how should a small business go about advertising on Instagram in 2021?

To find out where to start, including the best practices to engage in, I asked several marketing professionals, consultants, and business owners what they have been doing to leverage Instagram advertisement.

It is time to learn some useful tricks to save you money and time, and hopefully help you reach out to those much-wanted customers.

Do you know the ‘wifi only’ trick?

“Every single audience has specific characteristics that have to be tapped into for engagement. Defining those combinations of characteristics will either make you succeed or fail. The game-changer tip for setting up an advertising campaign is to make sure you tick the option saying: Wifi Only. This means that your Ad will be seen by people who are at home or in a more comfortable place, which increases buying and engaging.”

Bruno Mastrocolla – Social Media specialist and researcher

Unlock the power of CTAs

“I wish I’d known that creating a call-to-action ( CTA) to DM from your account, rather than trying to drive traffic to your website/sales page, is a far more effective way to convert potential customers. It’s very difficult to get users to leave Instagram, and DMs allow you to craft and send tweaked messages depending on individual customers’ needs.”

Dale Johnson – Co-founder & Content Strategist at www.nomadparadise.com

Monitor that CPC

“Instagram ads generally get more engagement than Facebook, but this comes at a premium price of, typically, double the CPC of Facebook. So, you need to be careful and monitor campaigns closely. Strongly consider your core audience before setting out and doing your research on what they would respond to.”

Ethan Taub – CEO at loan comparison portal of www.loanry.com

Use Facebook data for an Instagram marketing

“Never underestimate Instagram and Facebook integration. If you have a reasonable fan following or already run ads on Facebook, then use this data to run a successful advertising campaign on Instagram. It is a powerful tactic for targeting the right audience and earning a higher return on ad spend.”

Nicholas Holmes – Founder at https://productreviewer.com.au

Have a specific audience to target

“The first thing one should know and do before spending on Instagram ads is to define your target audience.

As a marketer, a mistake I usually see business owners make is spending on Instagram ads without even having a specific target audience. In other words, they target a broad audience. This is the biggest mistake one can ever make — not having a clear vision of who they are trying to target their ads to. Without a specific audience to target, business owners tend to spend more money on ad campaigns and they will never be effective because it is not targeted.”

Carolyn Cairns – Marketing manager at business setup consultant firm www.creationbc.com

Set a Maximum Cost per Result

“So, you’ve got the perfect Instagram ad setup. You’ve set a manageable budget. Ready to go live? Hold on. Set a maximum Cost per Result. You may be willing to drop $2K on an ad. However, this trick will maximize your return on investment. With this trick, a Facebook business manager will stop pushing ads that aren’t automatically getting results. This will allow you to review and make adjustments before that $2K is gone and you haven’t made a single sale.”

Kristina Petrick – Creative Director, Content Writer and Fashion Blogger at www.dayinmydreams.com

Choose carefully what you will promote and for how long

“Of all the Instagram advertising tips, the ones I wish I knew at the start are a) Promote posts that organically perform in the top 15% of posts and b) Spend no less than $30 per advertising round, as well as a minimum campaign duration of 3+ days, because any less and it doesn’t get as much momentum.”

Valerie Root – Founder & CEO www.ForHerAboutHerByHer.com

Sponsored posts with influencers over ads

“We stupidly paid for an Instagram sponsored post when we would have been much better off investing in influencer marketing. That’s where the real money is. Sponsor even a smaller influencer and your product will be highlighted in a positive way, to all their followers, with a personal recommendation from the influencer. Compared to that, regular ads on Instagram just look spammy.”

Sandra Hurley – Operations Manager at www.haydengirls.com

#digitalmarketing #contentcreators #smallbusiness #influencersmarketing #usentrepreneurs #digitalcontent

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