The Different Types of Instagram Ads: A Brief Small Business Guide

The Different Types of Instagram Ads

Have you ever asked yourself, “What kinds of ads can I run on Instagram?” Let’s break it down!

What are Instagram advertisements?

Before we dive into the types of Instagram ads, let’s go over what Instagram ads actually are. Instagram ads are posts a business profile can pay for to be showcased to users. Similar to Facebook ads, these posts show throughout the app on the feed and explore pages.

Brands use Instagram ads for online advertising and to show off their creative sides. These campaigns can be created in many different ways, something we will discuss in more detail in this blog.

Types of Instagram ads

There are many different types of ads your small business can utilize on Instagram. Each type of ad is used for a specific purpose and to drive certain results. Let’s dive in:

Image ads

Using a single image, pages can advertise their brand, product or services to the platform, these types of ads are best used for brands that have high-quality and engaging visuals. However, you can use your own images or stock photos to convey your message.

Image ads can be placed on Instagram stories, the feed or the explore page. Each different placement has different design recommendations, which you can explore here.

Video ads

These ads are very similar to image ads, as they appear on a person’s feed, story or explore page. The main difference with these ads is how they draw people in with sounds and motion while showcasing a product or service. Social videos get 12 times more shares and interactions than text and image posts.

Feed videos can be as long as 60 minutes, but using shorter lengths between 30 seconds to a minute are most effective. Just like Instagram image ads, there are different design recommendations for the placement of video ads. Check out the specs here.

Carousel ads

These ads are a combination of image ads and video ads. Featuring a series of 10 images or videos, users can swipe through the content. Each feature can have its own link back to the direct product page or service.

This is great for businesses to utilize when you want to highlight a group of specific products and have your audience be able to directly navigate to the page. These ads can appear on the feed or stories, but not on the explore page.

Story and feed carousel ads have design recommendations as well, which you can find here.

Shopping ads

To run shopping ads, you first need to have your Instagram shopping catalog set up. Once this is done, these types of ads are used for viewers to view and purchase products, without leaving the Instagram app.

Millions of users tap on shopping posts every month, so this type of ad is great for e-commerce businesses to utilize!

Collection ads

The collection ad combines the presence of a carousel advert with a shopping ad. Collection ads showcase products directly from your product catalog. Collection ads encourage viewers to shop through the display of your product catalogs. Dynamic ad options allow you to showcase your products with these types of ads in a variety of ways.

These types of ads are best suited for e-commerce businesses because they allow users to purchase a product directly through the ad. You can show these ads on Instagram stories, feeds or In-Stream videos.

There are 3threetemplates you can use for these ads, including Instant Storefront template, Instant Lookbook or Instant Customer Acquisition.

Check out collection ad specifications here.

Audience and cost

The relationship between cost and audience is highly variable when running Instagram ads. Cost, as well as reach, are highly dependent on the target audience you are targeting. These are factors to consider when running ads:

You target audience
Competitiveness of your market
Time of the year or seasonality of products
Placement of ads

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Sources:

Social Media Marketing