Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users & about 500 million daily active users.

The platform has seen a 45+% growth in very little time.

According to Forrester, Instagram is the king of social media platforms with a whopping 5.82% engagement rate.

Simply put, it has become a huge & diverse online community with unlimited marketing potential.

Your competitors are already on it. And why wouldn’t they? 85% of Instagram users follow a business on the platform; that increases brand awareness while also increasing sales.

There’s no time to waste.

But, what happens if you have a small budget? Can Instagram ads still work for you? Yes. We’ll give you some awesome tips to make it work.

Tips to use Instagram ads on a low budget successfully

Switch it up with Instagram business account

Switch to a business account. It’s free & it’s effective. This switch has multiple benefits. For example, followers can click on your contact button to get in touch with you right from your Instagram page, just like from a website. You can create & publish Instagram ads without using Facebook’s advertising tools, you can schedule your posts, access Instagram’s analytics tools, called Insights, that provide stats about the impressions and reach of your posts.

From tracking metrics to posting more efficiently, the switch can help you a lot.

Take advantage of the free tools

You can use Instagram’s free tools, Insights, to see statistics like impressions, engagement data, and more. You can also get a clearer understanding of your followers’ demographic: age, gender, location, and most active hours. That’s not the end, you can even use specific insights on posts for a limited period to see how many impressions you earned for that period and what your top posts were.

The free tools are invaluable because they can give you insight into your audience helping you reach more people, in a better way.

Repurpose top-performing organic posts 

If your customers find your Instagram organic posts engaging, Facebook is more likely to show your Instagram ads to your desired audience.

Organic posts also reveal what the intended audience is actually interested in. Look at the engagement rate per post through Instagram Insights and calculate the engagement rate. After calculating the engagement rate of individual posts, determine the average engagement on Instagram and set a benchmark of the content. Baes on this, create an organic content strategy.

Then using in-platform promotional tools begin developing a sales funnel. A low budget will suffice. Promote your most lucrative posts for a few dollars and you’ll be good to go.

Create product teasers

Do product teasers help is sale? Yes.

Advertise your products without spending much with the help of product teasers. But remember, you have to be subtle; otherwise, you’ll either annoy or scare off your audience.

Offer something lucrative (a discount maybe), increase the intrigue, but keep it light.

Retargeting with middle or bottom-of-the-funnel Instagram Ads

Open the Facebook “Custom Audience” tool & click on the Instagram Business Profile source to build warmer audiences. These are customers who are already interacting and engaging with you on Instagram.

Then you can choose which people to include. Whether it will be people who have met a single or several criteria is your choice. Use the All option. You’ll see options such as people who have visited your Instagram business profile, sent you an Instagram direct message, saved your Instagram post or ad, or engaged with your Instagram posts or ads.

Using this technique you can retarget the warm custom audiences via Instagram placements or the wider network of placements across Facebook, Messenger, and the audience network for your next step in your funnel.

Get the best out of your audience base.

Need help? An expert like DSS, a respected digital marketing company in Patna, can help.

Use Instagram stories

Want to generate leads? Use Instagram stories.

Yep, that’s what reputable social media marketing agencies in Delhi NCR and the world driving amazing results say.

Brands can benefit greatly from Instagram Stories. First of all, Stories are displayed at the top of follower timelines where users already look daily; easy to find, easy to engage with.

The Stories can be used to capture behind-the-scenes insider posts that show a more authentic, raw imagery.

For Instagram Stories, the content doesn’t have to match your “aesthetics.” You can also experiment with different types of content; be it photos, short video, rewind video, live video, or Boomerangs. Tag other accounts for collaborations, use fun filters/stickers, etc., and do much more through Stories. It can easily be used for advertising your product/service without making it obvious.

It’s easy, it’s free, and it works.

Track & test Instagram Ad placements for cost return

If you’re looking for the lowest cost return on your campaigns, it’s important to monitor where your Instagram ads are getting the most traction, i.e., interaction. Then you can optimize your placements accordingly.

To find out which placements are getting the most interactions or lowest-cost interactions, you can use the “Breakdown Tool” in Facebook Ads Manager.

Once you’ve found that out & as a result optimized your ads, you can rest assured your ads will do better. Any of the leading social media marketing agencies in Patna or worldwide will agree.

Stop the scroll with attention grabbing ads

Everybody is scroll-happy these days. 2 seconds, that’s all you’ve got to create an impression. Simple yet thumb-stopping ads and creatives is all you need to not only have a competitive edge but also to drive down your ad costs.

Do your research. See how your competitors and other players in the game are getting seen. Learn what you can and get creative about the rest.

Use a call-to-action button

Call-to-action always works wonders; ask any online marketing company in Patna or elsewhere. So, while creating an Instagram ad, include a call-to-action button near the image caption. The button can have several choices-from reaching your DM to your profile, it can take your audience where you want them to go.

 

Coming to the conclusion…

Each of the above tips can help you use Instor your brand, even on a smaller budget. But, if you use the tips in tandem, as required, you can get maximum benefits. When you don’t have a big budget, you have to use whatever you have in the best way possible. A smaller budget does not mean you have to give up; it means you have to get creative. But, if and when you need a little help, you can consult an expert in the matter like DSS, a top social media marketing company in Patna.