How to Create an Instagram Ad

If you want to increase reach and engagement with millennial parents on social media, you may want to start using Instagram ads. According to business.com, millennials are using Instagram more than any other social media platform. Secondly, Instagram ads are much less intrusive than Facebook ads, and have a higher engagement rate. The probability that parents will see your ad and interact with your child care center in some way is higher on Instagram than any other platform.

Instagram uses the same advertising tools as Facebook, which is a convenient feature for your daycare if you already have a Facebook profile. If not, you must create a Facebook Page to run ads and create a free business profile on Instagram.

After creating a Page and Instagram profile, there are two ways you can begin setting up Instagram ads:

1. Promoting Posts: Within the Instagram app, you can promote posts you’ve already shared by tapping Promote. You can fill in limited promotion details or allow Instagram to automatically target an audience similar to your followers. When you tap on View Insights, you’ll be able to learn more about how people are interacting with your business through your posts. Under the Activity tab, you can track weekly interactions, reach and impressions. The Content tab allows you to see how your posts and promotions are performing. Lastly, you can get insight into your audience under the Audience tab.
2. Ads Manager: Ads Manager is the same tool used for Facebook Ads and allows for a much more customizable and detailed advertising campaign than promotions. Within Ads Manager, you can set up a campaign objective, specified audience, and budget schedule. This tool is available on both desktop and mobile, which may be helpful for those on the go!

Follow these steps to create an Instagram Ad in Ads Manager:

1. Login to Facebook Ads Manager.
2. Here, you’ll see a performance dashboard where all of your campaigns, ad sets and ads are listed. To create a new campaign, click Campaign.
3. Next, choose an Objective for your campaign. There are 11 objectives to choose from; brand awareness, reach, traffic, engagement, app installs, video views, lead generation, messages, conversions, catalog sales and store traffic. This helps Instagram get an idea of what you are looking to accomplish through your ad so they can present you with the best ad options. For example, if you want to promote your child care blog, your objective is to drive more traffic to your website. Then, name your Campaign.
4. If this is your first campaign, you’ll need to set up your Ad Account by choosing your location before moving on. Click on the Ad Set section.
5. First, name your Ad Set and then begin configuring your target audience. You’ll want to reach working millennial parents in your region, so be sure to browse through and select the appropriate options. When you create a custom audience, you will be able to save this audience and use it again at a later time.
6. Next, click on the Placements section under Ad Set.
7. Choose Edit Placements to manually select the placement of your ad on both Facebook and Instagram.
8. Checkmark the placement boxes that fit your ad campaign best. The Instagram options are Instagram Feed, Instagram Explore, and Instagram Stories.
9. The last step in the Ad Set section is the Budget & Schedule. After you set a spending budget (either daily or lifetime), you can set an ad start and end date.
10. Click on the Ad section and name your ad.
11. If you manage multiple pages, choose your page identity using the dropdown selection.
12. Scroll to the Creative portion of the Ad section.
13. Upload your graphics or media, and design your ad. You can add multiple images in a Carousel ad, display a single image in a link ad, upload a single video, slideshow or combine images and video in a canvas. To preview your ad, click the See in Context button.
14. Next, fill in the text, headline and destination URL. You can also add a call to action button.
15. Click Confirm to publish your campaign.
16. In Facebook’s Ad Manager, you can view all of your campaigns and insights into their performance, including spend, reach, frequency and engagement.