SOCIAL PLATFORM	CPM	CPC
Facebook	$6.70	$0.20 – $2.00
Instagram	$7.19	$0.97

It’s useful to look at the demographics of each network besides just the pricing of Instagram and Facebook advertisements. While Facebook can target almost every age category, Instagram is found to be precisely active in reaching those aged 25 to 29. And, in terms of engagement, Instagram is much ahead of its competitors. (Check the above image). When it comes to getting the most promising results out of your ad campaign, it is recommended to choose the social media platform which can promise the best value. Though you may save more by choosing one platform, you may not get the chance to target more customers and get improved results.

Does It Make Sense To Spend Through Instagram Advertising?

It absolutely makes sense. There are lots of reasons that prove why advertisers prefer to advertise on Instagram ads.

Better Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

Though you can split your ad budget throughout networks, Instagram tends to have the best CTRs. As per a survey done by Fortune, Instagram advertising boasts a 2.5 times higher click-through rate than other social media platforms.

Multi-Faced Targeting Options

Just like other social media platforms, Instagram also allows advertisers to choose various advanced targeting options. These advanced targeting options include location, interests, and several others which eventually help in giving higher returns from your ads. Rather than focus on every folk interested in technology, you could narrow down your targeting and focus on people interested in robotics.

Superior Engagement

In comparison to other social media platforms, Instagram has remarkable engagement rates, according to a Forrester study. Instagram has 10 times the engagement rate of Facebook when it comes to engagement rates. When people become highly engaged in a network, advertising tends to produce the desired outcomes. You can encourage people to click on your ad, like your page, or buy your goods if you make advertising that targets the proper people.

Higher Order Values

Various studies found that the normal order value for an Instagram advertiser is $65. Though Facebook ranks a bit higher in social media sales, the average value of the order is around $50 which is less than Instagram.

Better Conversion Rates

Instagram ads have higher conversion rates than other networks, in addition to producing higher order values. Instagram advertising has a conversion rate of 1.08 percent on average. Pinterest advertisements have a conversion rate of 0.54 percent, whereas Twitter ads have a conversion rate of 0.77 percent. While Instagram ad costs are defensible, one important thing to remember is that promising Instagram outcomes demand a great ad campaign. To get the kind of results you desire with Instagram ads, you must constantly create and optimize your plan.

Factors That Determine Instagram Advertising Costs

In general, there are 4 elements that play a great role in determining Instagram advertising costs.

Anticipated Action Rates

These estimated action rates directly influence your Instagram advertising costs. This parameter is based on the likelihood of the audience responding to the shown ad. They determine how probably the targeted audience is to react to the advertisement. These indulgences are inclusive of activities like converting and clicking. When it comes to promoting on Instagram, it is believed that people tend to engage with quality content. If your ad has attractive content which has more probability of engagement, the platform will prioritize your ad. This tends to help you get lower bid value, which eventually results in getting more leads and conversions.

Prevailing Competition

The effect of the prevailing competition can always be seen in the cost of running Instagram ads. This is because several businesses may try to target the audience you are targeting. If they are more, the cost would obviously be on the higher side. Bidding warfare is supposed to take place when multiple people are bidding to reach the same audience. To achieve the top spot, companies will have to outbid one other. This means your CPC may increase in order to compete with others.

Ad Relevancy Score

The cost of your Instagram advertising is also affected by your ad relevancy score. This relevancy score signifies how relevant Instagram thinks your ad is to the people who will view it. Instagram strives to provide its users with relevant material in their feed. Your score will be determined by how people react to your advertisement. Your relevancy score will rise if people respond positively to your ad. Clicking, commenting, liking, and other activities are included. Actions such as hiding the ad, on the other hand, are considered a negative response. This will result in a lower ad relevancy score, which will negatively impact the performance of your ad.

Bid Amount

The bid amount placed basically determines how much you spend on Instagram ads. Therefore, it becomes necessary to check what amount you are willing to spend to get sales leads. In simple words, the bidding amount can be held directly proportional to the amount you spend on the ad. If you have allocated a budget of $1000 and the bid amount is $5 per click, you would be able to get just 200 clicks on your Instagram ad. In a similar, a bid amount of $1500 with $10 per click would help you get just 150 clicks. In general, the higher the per click amount, the lesser clicks or impressions you would get.

Types Of Instagram Ads

There are mainly four types of Instagram ads for advertisers to choose from. Let’s look at them below.

1.Instagram Story Ads

These ads are the newest types of Instagram ads that help advertisers to promote their products & services to the targeted audience. In recent times, Instagram story ads have emerged as the most wonderful option for advertisers.
Another reason behind the popularity of Instagram story ads is that people love to check stories. In a recent report, it was found that nearly 33% of the users checked Instagram stories made by businesses. This clearly means that people love to hear what brands and businesses want to say through stories.
These Instagram stories are known to make the most of the available space. When a person views your Instagram story ad, it would take up the entire screen. It enables you to get your audience’s complete attention to your advertisement.
Your audience will respond well to story ads. They interact with them and examine your goods. Although it is a newer function, it has the potential to produce significant outcomes for your company.

2.Instagram Photo Ads

Photo ads are the most commonly used advertising tool on Instagram. These ads are made as images that appear in your audience’s newsfeed. Instagram photo ads can appear in either square or portrait frames. As already mentioned, these ads feature a CTA button at the base of the photo and a sponsored flag.
When creating these ads, it’s important for advertisers to pick the right photo. For example, the chosen photo should make a close fit with Instagram’s pattern. Taking a photo that appears excessively stock photo will stand out and could deter people from interacting with your ad campaign.
If you want to make your ad campaign effective, it is recommended to choose a photo that looks similar to the photo of a regular Instagram post. However, the photo should easily reflect your brand’s image.

3.Instagram Video Ads

One wonderful advertising option on Instagram is video ads. These ads are very much similar to photo ads but the only difference is the video instead of a photo. You can upload a video ad of maximum of 60 seconds.
As videos emerge as the most effective way of capturing attention, these ads carry amazing engaging capabilities. When the targeted people scroll through their newsfeed and come across your video ad, the ad will instantly start playing. One thing that can be said for sure a carefully created video ad would capture your audience’s attention.
One important thing to note is that these video ads start playing immediately without sound. So, it is extremely necessary to include all the important information in a smart way so that people never miss them while watching the video. One tip is not to highlight the most crucial part of the video in the first few seconds.

4.Instagram Carousel Ads

When it comes to interacting with your audience, Carousel Ads emerge as a wonderful option for advertisers. In these ads, you can upload several photos or videos in a single post. This way, you provide multiple options to your audience related to your offerings.
for example, if you have been promoting a series of books, it won’t make sense to share one photo of a book in the post. However, if you create a carousel ad, you can add images of different versions or even a video for better engagement.
Instagram Carousel Ads In today’s fast-paced environment, carousel ads come out as a great way to capture your audience’s attention and generate interest in your offerings. As the ad would feature multiple images and videos, it would trigger immense interest in your targeted audience.

Ways To Control Your Instagram Advertising Costs

Be it Instagram or any other advertising platform, the key to a successful ad campaign lies in getting more likes and clicks at the lowest possible advertising amount. And, when it comes to lowering your Instagram advertising costs, there are various ways to do it. So, in the following section, let’s get to know them and set the ground for a profitable Instagram advertising campaign.

1. Prefer To Use Automatic Bidding

If you have never used Instagram advertising before, it is recommended to use automatic bidding for your ad campaign. This way, you don’t need to get into the complexities of campaign bidding as the system would automatically choose the best bid for your ad campaign.
If you don’t have any historical data to help you figure out what CPC to set for your campaign, automatic bidding can help. It will assist you in determining the appropriate bid amount for your campaign.
automatic bidding When you employ automatic bidding, you avoid your company overbidding to run an ad. The lack of past data can make determining the appropriate bid amount challenging. You could believe you need to bid more than you do.
Automatic bidding allows you to establish the appropriate bid amount until you have data to steer your campaign. It’s a fantastic approach to saving money on Instagram advertising.

2. Use Smart Targeting

In most cases, advertisers strive to get maximum engagement on the featured ads. This helps them in generating more interest in the offered products & services. To get the best outcome, employ precise targeting that allows advertisers to choose from several parameters that help them target more precisely.

• Location:This factor allows advertisers to focus on people on the basis of their location. This location can be as extensive as a nation or as precise as a specific postal or pin code.
• Interests:While advertising on Instagram, you can check what the audience is interested in. Be it art or technology, this element allows precise targeting of your Instagram ads.
• Demographics: Demographics is a time-tested way of targeting your Instagram ads. It is inclusive of details like age, gender, and contest.
• Behaviors: If a person’s search is based on a certain pattern in regard to exploring a website or social media page, it is possible for advertisers to target them on the basis of their behaviors.
• Custom audiences: Custom audiences can be defined as audiences distinctive to your business. In this case, you can procure details like email addresses, into your targeting choices. This audience is made up of people who have already shown interest in your products or services.
• Lookalike audiences:You can target folks who share similar traits to those who are interested in your business once you know who they are. This simply means that you can target folks who are not aware of your products or services but may show interest if chased.

If you are targeting precisely, it is possible for you to target more people looking for various products and services you offer. So, you should work hard to get an ad that can be more relevant to them. This eventually attracts more leads, more conversions, and more sales.

3. Define Objectives

Ideally, every advertising campaign should be backed by an objective. This goes very much true in the case of an Instagram ad as it helps advertisers recover their Instagram advertising costs. Here are some goal examples you can choose to opt for.

Awareness

In the case of an awareness campaign, the ad should concentrate on boosting awareness related to your business venture, product, service, brand, or mobile app. your business, brand, product, app, or service. In other words, you would want to raise more awareness about your product or service. For this objective, it is advisable to manage a CPM campaign.

Consideration

When it comes to achieving consideration, your Instagram ads should focus on educating your audience. This can be done by providing more convincing information that persuades them to convert. By running your ad, you can choose to earn more website views, clicks, and leads.

Conversion

This is something almost every business wants – sales – be it buying something, registering on a website, subscribing to an app, or opting for a service. The copy of your Instagram ad should be powerful enough to encourage people to buy your products or services without considering anything else.
The role of these objectives is paramount in the success of an Instagram campaign. These objectives provide a roadmap on how to achieve the same. This also provides a direction on the type of copy and visuals your ad should have.

4. Have Smart Landing Pages

Designing and developing highly relevant landing pages can also help you bring down your Instagram ad costs. In most scenarios, businesses commit the mistake of forwarding the incoming traffic on to the website’s home page. It doesn’t promote ad engagement as people find noting relevant to the ad you showed just now. This is why it is strongly recommended to have a landing page to make the visitors feel more relevant.
If you’re promoting a fashionable clothing line, your ad URL should be connected with a page where visitors can check your newest range. Directing people to your homepage is irrelevant to the ad you created because it focuses on your full store rather than just apparel!
Landing pages become extremely handy here as incoming leads can be forwarded to them.
More conversions occur when landing pages are relevant. People are more likely to convert when they are directed directly to the product they see in the ad. This allows advertisers to reimburse the costs of an Instagram ad campaign.

5. Ad Testing

You must test your Instagram ad if you want to reduce the cost of your campaign. It would never be the most powerful variant of your ad at the time of writing it. Therefore, it is important to test your ad to ascertain that you’re producing the finest version possible.
Ad testing helps in improving the relevancy of your ad copy. Ad copy that is relevant will result in higher ad placement and a reasonable CPC. It’s a proven way to save money on Instagram advertising costs.