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Advertising on Instagram: How Small Businesses Can Get Started
Advertising on Instagram: How Small Businesses Can Get Started

Tip, Announcement

December 3, 2015

Advertising on Instagram: How Small Businesses Can Get Started

BY: Instagram Business Team

San Francisco, CA

Small businesses around the world are turning to Instagram to easily advertise their products, apps and services. Pinrose, a playful perfume company, is using Instagram to reach the customers it needs to grow its eCommerce business.

Instagram is at the core of how people find out about our products. We can reach people on mobile when they’re engaged and discovering new products.
Erika Shumate, co-founder (@pinrosescents)

For many small business owners like Shumate, running a business is time consuming. So Instagram ads were a natural and quick way for Pinrose to reach the exact people it wanted.

Right when we started, we realized running Instagram ads was really easy and effective. Since we already run Facebook ads, we knew how to target our ads, and we could track purchases using the Facebook pixel that was already set up on our site.
Erika Shumate, co-founder, Pinrose Scents

In just a week, Pinrose started seeing great results from their ads on Instagram, with an increase in website traffic and engagement particularly on mobile.

Since we don’t have the budget of major fragrance brands, running ads in magazines, on billboards or getting celebrities to endorse our products wasn’t realistic. With Instagram, the cost of entry is a lot lower and we can have a more intimate connection with an engaged community as we build our brand.
Erika Shumate, co-founder, Pinrose Scents
Instagram ad example from Pinrose
Best practices for getting started

For businesses wanting to get started with ads on Instagram, or increase campaign success, here are three best practices to follow.

1. Create an Instagram account

The easiest way to get started on Instagram is by creating or linking an Instagram account. While you can use your Facebook Page to run Instagram ads, we recommend you create an Instagram account or link your existing account before launching your ad. Having an account gives you access to the full suite of ad tools—like comment moderation—and the community can learn more about your story by following your profile.

2. Anything you do on Facebook, you can do on Instagram

Now that we’ve integrated Instagram ads into Facebook’s ad buying tools, advertising on Instagram is easier than ever. In fact, many of Facebook’s best-in-class advertising features are available for Instagram advertising. This includes targeting your ads to reach the exact audience you want, running ads using specific objectives and tracking your campaigns to see how they do. You can also use the same photos and video you use on Facebook, or you can create custom creative for Instagram.

3. Track your results

The most rewarding part of running ads is seeing how they perform. With Instagram ads, you can achieve real business objectives like increasing website clicks or online sales. When you use the Facebook pixel, you can optimize your ads for these conversions, track your campaign results and retarget people who’ve visited your website. Learn how to easily set up and use the pixel.

Start advertising today

No matter how busy your day-to-day gets, running ads on Instagram is quick, easy and effective. Take a look at the video above for step-by-step instructions on how to set up your Instagram ads through Ads Manager on Facebook.

BY: Instagram Business Team

San Francisco, CA