Instagram advertising: the pros and cons of this promotional method
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in the world, used by more than 2 billion people every month. The constantly growing number of social network users from different social groups and age categories makes this platform ideal for business promotion. Advertising on Instagram delivers excellent results. Newcomers to the market, as well as international brands, have a presence on the platform.
The main advantage of using Instagram for business development is a huge audience from all over the world and relatively low costs. Thanks to the availability of targeted advertising tools on social networks, you can set up effective campaigns for each category of potential customers, focusing on their age, income level, interests and more.
Pros and cons of using Instagram for advertising
Advertising on Instagram is used by a large number of companies that appreciate this social network for the following characteristics:
- ensuring high audience reach and engagement;
- availability of different tools to target and segment consumers;
- a variety of formats for presenting products.
On Instagram, you can promote products in different ways: text posts and photos, Stories, Reals, and attracting influencers. The platform also offers opportunities for creativity, such as filters, effects, stickers, music, etc. In this way, a company can make its advertisements colourful and memorable for many users.
Despite these advantages, advertising on Instagram also has its disadvantages:
- High competition. A large number of brands use this social network for promotion, which leads to an oversaturation of the market. It is extremely difficult to reach your consumer when you have to compete with international brands with virtually unlimited budgets.
- Regular adaptation to change. Instagram is constantly evolving, adding new features, expanding its toolkit and revising its algorithms. As a result, businesses need to monitor the progress of their advertising campaigns, evaluate their effectiveness and make adjustments.
- Difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of efforts. It is important to understand that Instagram positions itself primarily as a social network and not as an advertising platform. As such, it’s difficult to measure how effective ads are and whether users are willing to engage. In addition, likes and views are not direct evidence of consumer interest.
When using Instagram as a promotional tool, you need to take into account the platform’s different features and be prepared for high competition.
Types of Instagram advertising
There are three main ways to advertise on the social network:
- targeting;
- attracting bloggers;
- ordering advertising from dedicated exchanges.
Targeted advertising allows you to set up promotions according to certain parameters in order to influence specific segments of the target audience. You can create ads directly in the application or using the Facebook Ad Manager service.
Influencer marketing (working with bloggers and influencers) is an opportunity to increase brand awareness and build a loyal audience.
Instagram exchanges are platforms that act as intermediaries between advertisers and bloggers. They help find influencers with the right audience. In addition, exchanges guarantee the effectiveness of advertising.