This lesson teaches you how to create an ad on Instagram.
Go to your profile.
Tap the post you'd like to boost.
Tap boost Post below the post image.
This lesson prepares you to:
- Create an ad from your content on Instagram.
Advertise on Instagram
When you advertise on Instagram, you can get discovered by people who don't already follow you and inspire others to take action. To create an ad directly from the Instagram app, select the content you want to advertise. Your ad will appear in the Instagram feed, Stories and explore tab.
Meet Lucky Shrub
Maria is the owner of Lucky Shrub, a garden design company. She is eager to find new customers who are working on their home gardens. Maria decides to advertise Lucky Shrub's posts and stories to reach more people and meet her business goals.*
*Disclaimer: Lucky Shrub is a fictitious business designed by Meta creative shop. Any similarities to content produced by real-life businesses aren't intentional.
Turn your posts and stories into ads
Ads can help you reach people who are likely to engage with your business based on their location, interests and more. Select an existing post or story to turn it into an ad on Instagram. Select the boost Post button on your post or story to turn it into an ad.
To turn a post into an ad on Instagram
To turn a story into an ad on Instagram
Tap your profile icon to view your story.
Select the story you want to boost.
Tap boost in the bottom left corner.
Maria reviews Lucky Shrub's content and selects a post to turn into an ad. Before she publishes her ad, she’ll need to customise it to align with her business goals.
How to set a goal
Before you create an ad, you'll need to determine what you want it to achieve. Here are some goals to consider for your ads:
More profile visits
Send people to your profile if you want them to see more of your content and follow your business. Use this option to showcase your products and services, a portfolio or a brand. People may follow you and learn more about your business as a result.
For example, Maria wants to grow the audience for Lucky Shrub's account, so she selects the "More profile visits" goal.
More website visits
Select this option if you want people to do things like browse an online store, learn more about an event or Sign Up for a special offer or mailing list. If you select this goal, you can add call-to-action buttons to prompt people to do things like learn more or shop now.
Maria wants Lucky Shrub's website to get more traffic, so she selects the "More website visits" goal.
More messages
Set a goal to get more messages if you provide services and want to encourage potential customers to inquire about requests, appointments or consultations. Try asking a question or using a conversation starter in your caption to encourage interaction.
Maria wants to encourage more customers to sign up for Lucky Shrub's new landscaping services, so she selects the "More messages" goal.
How to select your audience, budget and duration
In order to make your ads more successful, you'll need to determine whom you want to reach, your budget and how long you want your ad to run for. Here are some ways to determine your audience, budget and duration.
Select an audience
Define your audience
You can select an automatic audience or create your own audience for your ads. An automatic audience targets ads to people who are similar to your followers and others who have engaged with your content before. Creating your own audience enables you to build your own audience based on location, age, interests and gender.
Based on Insights, Maria decides that Lucky Shrub's ideal customers are aged 25-44 and live in big cities.
Determine your budget and duration
Your budget affects how many people will see your ad. The more you spend, the more people your ads may reach. Duration determines how long your ad will run for and how it will be delivered. You can customise your budget and duration to align with a business goal or event, such as a sale or a new product launch.
For example, Maria decides to run an ad for Lucky Shrub with a budget of $5 a day for six days.
Submit and view your ad
When you’ve finished creating your ad, it will be submitted for review to make sure it meets Facebook ad policies. You can view your submitted ads in Ad tools. Here's how to do that.
Review and submit your ad
Once you have created an ad, you can review it and submit it for review.
Select preview Ad to see how your ad will look in feed posts, Stories and the explore tab.
Review your destination, audience, budget, duration and payment information.
Once you’re ready, select create Ad.
Your ad will start running after it's been reviewed and approved.
Maria creates an ad and submits it for review. She receives a notification once her ad has been approved.
View your Ads
After you submit your ad, use the Ad tools button to view insights.
Navigate to your Instagram profile.
Select the Ad tools button under your bio.
For example, after Maria submits her ads, she can view all of her boosted content under the Ad tools tab.
To turn your posts and stories into ads, download Instagram from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
Make your ads more effective
Try different ways to help people learn more about your business with ads. Consider making your boosted content more effective with these tips.
Make the look and feel of your ads consistent
Your ads will appear alongside your posts and stories, so give them the same look and feel as the rest of your content. This can help you build trust with potential customers.
Maria takes a photo of Lucky Shrub's staff using a new product in the nursery for her ad. As this is similar to the business's other posts, people can recognise it as Lucky Shrub content in their feed.
Attract your audience's attention
People scroll through their feeds quickly, so make your visual stand out. Incorporate your brand colours or logo into your ads. Focus on a single element or object in your photo or video to make it easier for people to understand the message you want to convey.
Maria creates a post with Lucky Shrub's brand colours and focuses on the new product she is promoting.
Preview your ads before you submit them
Make sure that your ads are formatted properly. Select photos or videos that fill a mobile screen to hold people’s attention. Review more design specifications for Instagram Stories ads here.
Note that you can’t currently boost a story with interactive elements, such as stickers or polls.
For example, Maria chooses one of Lucky Shrub’s stories that fills the entire screen on mobile to boost as an ad.
Prompt people to take action
Include a relevant call to action for your viewers based on your business goal, such as book now or learn more. To do this, tap edit on your post to edit the caption before you click boost.
Maria edits the caption on Lucky Shrub’s post to encourage people to shop now.
Test and learn
Approach your Instagram ads as an ongoing test. After you boost posts, review Insights to see how they perform, and use this information to make any changes when you create your next ad. A good place to start is to run your ad for seven days and spend $5 a day. This duration and budget can help enable the Instagram ad delivery system to determine which people are more likely to engage with your ads.
For example, Maria runs Lucky Shrub’s ad for two weeks with a budget of $10 a day. After the ad is finished, she reviews her insights and creates another ad based on her previous results.
Key takeaways
Customise your ads based on goal, audience, budget and duration.
Keep the look and feel of your ads consistent to attract your audience's attention.
Looking for more help? Try these resources.
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