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Instagram ads are now administered through Facebook, offering an unprecedented opportunity to connect with your target audience, and at an affordable price per click as well. Here are nine ways to get the most from your Instagram ads.

1. Set a Goal

Before you run any ad, decide on a goal. Do you want:

* Increased brand awareness?
* Subscribers?
* Sales?

Your choice of goal will determine the content of your ad.

2. Provide a Call to Action in Every Ad

Your call to action should match your goal. If you are aiming for sales, the ad should say, “Buy now.” If it is brand awareness, you might say, “Click to learn more.”

3. Send Your Audience to the Right Landing Page

Create a great opt-in page if your goal is subscribers, or sales page if your goal is to get them to purchase the product in the ad.

4. Promote Your Best Content

Over time, you will see which posts have received the most engagement. Use those as ads to increase your brand reach, subscribers and sales. It’s easier to create an ad using something you already know your audience likes.

5. Refine Your Targeting

Facebook targeting is far superior to Google AdWords targeting, so you will already be spending less and getting more qualified traffic by using the Instagram ad network via Facebook. There are a number of ways to choose your audience to be even more precise in your targeting. These include:

* Lookalike audiences – A lookalike is an audience that is similar to the one already following you.

* Custom audiences – Choose on the basis of many different variables, such as age, interest and so on.

* Remarketing – Facebook has a pixel you can place on your website in order to track visitor behavior. It can be used to show the item on the page they landed on again, in the hopes that they will buy it next time. With shopping cart abandonment rates hovering at around 70% these days, remarketing is an excellent way to try to recapture the traffic you already drove to your site and turn them into paying customers.

6. Don’t Make Your Ads Look Like Ads

Natural, organic content is likely to get more of a response than something that is obviously a professionally-designed ad. Useful items like memes and checklists will often be saved and shared. Studies have also shown that if you are going to feature a product, be sure to include a person, because ads with human faces tend to be around 40% more popular than ones without.

7. Use the Right Call to Action Button

There are now a number of buttons to choose from, so select the button based on your goal.

8. Promote with Video

Videos will grab attention because they will stand out in a sea of images. People love videos, and even a short one can attract great attention and click-throughs. Some studies suggest an audience is 50% more likely to buy on Instagram if they see a video.

9. Use Image Carousels

Show your product from all angles, plus people using it, with image carousels, and you will be able to create a powerful marketing story your target audience will love.

Use these tips to get the most out of your Instagram ads.

Do you want to grow your followers on Instagram? I have a new, done-for-you program that will do just that. It’s working really well on my Instagram account for my jewelry business. If you’d like to learn more, you can do that here: Instagram Marketing