Create High-Performing Ads in Instagram Advertising

Instagram advertising has the potential to reach 2.4 billion monthly active users from all over the world. More than 500 million daily active people use Instagram daily, so if your audience is active on this platform, your right ads can capture their attention, drive leads, and increase your revenue.

 All you have to do is create the perfect ads for your brand.

So what are you waiting for?

In this blog, we’re here to share about effective and stunning Instagram advertising ad formats to run a successful ad campaign on your budget.

What is Instagram Advertising?

Instagram advertising is a feature that brands pay for a post to reach their target audience on Instagram. This helps to promote your brand’s product or service.

These ads can be displayed in feeds, stories, and explore pages, appearing in the same format as organic content from other Instagram accounts.

Your Instagram ads can contain images, videos, carousels (multiple images), graphics, text, or collections – whatever works for your brand.

Moreover, Instagram advertising looks similar to normal Instagram posts but contains a Sponsored label to indicate – ad. But, your ads can include clickable links, CTA buttons, and product tags that direct customers to your website URL – which is not applicable in a normal Instagram post.

Why Instagram Advertising is Useful?

Have you considered advertising on Instagram? If you haven't explored this yet, you might want to consider it, as it provides incredible versatility.

You can reach your target audience massively. While it’s popular among 18 to 34-year-olds, people aged from 35 to 44 make up over 16.3% of users. You’ve tons of reasons why you’d want to use Instagram advertising:

• You can reach a massive audience.
• You can interact with customers in the comment section.
• You can boost brand awareness.
• You can target audiences using Facebook data because it is part of the Meta platform.
• You have multiple ways to advertise your product or service on Instagram through stories, videos, shopping ads, and more.

Whether it’s brand awareness or generating sales, you’ll reach a huge audience once you learn how to use Instagram ads. Before that, let’s see the types of Instagram ad formats you have under the Meta platform.

Types of Ad Formats in Instagram Advertising

Instagram advertising offers a range of ad formats that allow you to choose the best ad type that matches your specific objectives.

Here, you can learn about each type of ad format.

Image Ads/ Photo Ads

Image ads or Photo ads are single-image ads that show up organically in users’ Instagram feeds as they scroll.

Instagram photo ads look just like a normal post with compelling visual content, but will include a “Sponsored” note in the corner. These images can be created from high-quality photography, design, or illustration. You can also add text or a call-to-action button at the bottom to encourage customers to visit your website.

Instagram recommends using this ad format when you want to promote a specific product or service.

Video Ads

Video ads are a great way to showcase your product or service by combining IGTV and feed ads under one video ad in an eye-catching way. You can use this to demonstrate how your product works to highlight the unique features of your brand.

In-feed video ads can run up to 60 minutes (long videos), but shorter videos are usually more effective than long videos. When you create video ads, first think about your goals. You can educate or entertain your audience to hook them to click the CTA button.

Story Ads

Instagram Story ads display full-screen image or video ads within the stories section, so your audience as they scroll through the stories of their account.

You can get higher engagement with story ads. Because this format covers the mobile screen and feels immersive than in-feed ads. If your story ads look and feel like normal stories, you can get a good retention rate. So, when it comes to designing your story ads, you can use organic Instagram story features like text, filters, GIFs, and stickers.

Moreover, you can also use photos, videos, and carousels. But your CTA or swipe-up link should be placed strategically within the Story.

Carousel Ads

Carousel ads are a feature that displays images or videos that users can swipe through. With this feature, you can create a series of up to 10 images or videos in a single ad. They appear news feed and within Instagram Stories, with a call-to-action button or swipe-up link that leads customers to your website.

Compared with photo ads, carousel ads are like a mini-catalog, while photo ads look like a one-page ad in a newspaper. So, this is a good option while you’re announcing your new product line.

Collection Ads

Collection ads blend with carousel ads and shopping ads. This helps you to showcase your products directly from your Instagram catalog.

Collection ads are best suited for e-commerce, as they allow customers to purchase products directly from the ad. When a customer clicks on the ad, they’re directed to an instant experience storefront where they can learn about your product and make a purchase.

Explore Ads

Explore ads pop up within the Explore tab, which lets users discover fresh content and accounts. It could be anything – photos, videos, or reels based on their personalized recommendations.

What users see in the Explore section depends on who they follow, the images or reels they’ve interacted with. So, if you set up your ads to appear on the Explore section, then your content will be shown to customers who have an interest in your brand.

With Explore ads:

• You can find a wider audience
• You can increase your brand visibility
• You can get new followers
• You can increase traffic to your account and websites

So, what you need to do is – understand your audience, post regularly, and build a community to have a greater connection with your audience through Instagram advertising.

Shopping Ads

With Instagram’s Shopping ad feature, customers can view and purchase products without leaving the app.

These ads tag products directly from your shopping catalog, so when a customer taps on a tag, they’re taken directly to a product description page within the Instagram app. Then, they can purchase through your mobile website.

To run Shopping ads, you need to set up your Instagram shop.

Once that’s done, you can start running Shopping ads that look just like regular posts or stories, but product tags drive sales. This ad format looks great for brands – fashion, beauty, home decor, or accessories.

Reels Ads

Instagram Reel ads are short video ads that pop up between regular reel videos. They look and feel just like normal reels, so they blend right into the feed without interrupting the user’s scrolling experience. These ads can be up to 30 seconds long, play on a full vertical screen.

If you’ve got fun, attention-grabbing video content, this is a great ad format to try. Think about what makes people stop, watch, and share – like bold visuals, catchy music, or quick storytelling. So, tap these viral video elements to create reel ads that connect and stand out.

Moreover, all Instagram reels ads will show up with Sponsored mark with a CTA button.

How Much Does Instagram Advertising Cost?

The cost of Instagram advertising depends on the objectives, budget, niche, ad placement competition, and so on – you’ve set for your ad or campaign. You can set a daily or long-term budget for your Instagram ads, so it’s up to you – how much you want to spend on ads.

However, there are some factors that you need to consider when setting your budget. Here are some average costs of ad formats, so you can get potential results.

Cost per click (CPC): $0.40- $0.70

Cost per engagement (CPE): $0.01- $0.05

Cost per mile or Cost per impression (CPM): $2.50-3.50

Other factors you need to consider while deciding how much to spend on Instagram advertising:

Your specific audience: Choose the target audience, whether small or large, to get more expensive reach.

Competitiveness: It is based on niche – you’ll have to spend more in a higher competitive industry for a limited target audience.

Seasonality: Ad costs often go up during holiday shopping seasons such as Black Friday, the End of the Year, etc.

Ad Format and Placement: Costs can differ between ads based on ad formats and placement. For instance, Feed, Stories, and Reels have different costs based on engagement rates and visibility.

Bidding model: Automatic or manual bidding can impact cost – where higher bids lead to higher impressions.

So, if you’re new to Instagram advertising, it’s best to start with a low bid to gain some experience.

Once you’ve gained more insight into the competitive landscape for your chosen niche, you can decide by raising your bid is needed.

Show Off Your Brand Through Instagram Advertising To Grow Better in 2025

With 2.4 billion monthly active users, there’s no denying the power and reach of Instagram. Once, a simple photo-sharing app has transformed into a social media platform for exploring a brand’s visual identity.

Moreover, Instagram users value high-quality content and eye-catching visuals. Create visuals and content with useful information to showcase your brand in a new and unique way.

Creating and maintaining a social media platform may seem intimidating. If you need any help, reach NB Marketing Solutions to run your successful campaigns on Instagram. Or, if you love to learn more about social media marketing, join our digital marketing course to start your digital marketing career to become a digital marketer or land your brand’s profile on Instagram.

Strategies, algorithms, and trends matter in Instagram, so join our digital marketing course today to elevate your brand!