Why Advertise on Instagram, and How Much Does It Cost?
It’s not uncommon to associate the concept of advertising with big-number spending. Every year we hear about the millions of bucks dished out by brands like Budweiser and Pepsi in order to nab a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl. But that’s an extreme example. Not all advertising is so over the top. For the everyday small or mid-sized business, there are lots of more affordable advertising platforms available, particularly within the realm of social media. Instagram, in particular, has picked up lots of steam in the advertising department over the last few years and is a great option for businesses that want to reach a lot of people for not a lot of money. Whenever we suggest an Instagram advertising strategy to our clients, we often get asked the same question: Exactly how much does Instagram advertising cost? The answer: Not as much as you may think.
Why Advertise on Instagram?
Before we get to the numbers, let’s first focus on why advertising on Instagram is generally a good idea. Instagram is incredibly popular among a wide range of audiences – males and females, adults and teens, within the United States and around the world – and it’s growing at a rapid pace. The photo and video sharing platform recently reached an incredible milestone of 1 billion active monthly users worldwide, and since then, that number has only grown.
In the U.S. alone, Instagram is expected to reach 112.5 million users in 2020 and an estimated 117.2 million in 2021. So when you choose to create Instagram ads as part of your overall advertising strategy, you set yourself up to not only strengthen your contact with your existing market (because they’re probably part of those 1 billion users!), you also open up your business to a huge, potential new audience.
Hootsuite recently broke down some of the activity characteristics of Instagram’s users and found the following:
- 63% of Instagram users log in at least once per day
- 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile daily
- One-third of the most viewed Instagram stories are from businesses
- 62% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Instagram story advertising
So, is it worth paying for advertising on Instagram? We think so.
How Much Does Instagram Advertising Cost?
Instagram promotion is one of the most affordable ways to advertise your business online. Creating an Instagram profile for your business is completely free, and just having a presence in the app is a great start. Each time you share an image or video that’s relevant to your business and targeted to your audience, you give yourself a chance to introduce your brand and advance your messaging.
That’s not to say, though, that the most effective Instagram ads are free. Instagram and Facebook (IG’s parent company) are essentially “pay to play” platforms, which means that although it costs nothing to create a profile and share content, their algorithm keeps most of your posts out of your audience’s feed unless you put some money behind them. That’s part of the reason why advertising on Instagram, and not just depending on organic reach, has become so popular.
Fortunately, it doesn’t cost much to pay to play. Like on Facebook, you can fire up your first Instagram advertising campaign for as little as $1 per day. Of course, the more money you put behind the campaign, the greater your reach is likely to be. But, the short answer to that burning question – “How much does Instagram advertising cost?” – is that it can cost as little as a single dollar.
When you dive a little deeper, you’ll find that the more helpful answer to, “How much does Instagram advertising cost?” actually lies in the breakdown of your cost per click, as that is more closely tied to your ROI. For most types of Instagram ads, the average cost per click is somewhere between $0.70 and $1.00, although that number can be higher or lower. Oftentimes, it depends heavily on your industry and how saturated the platform is with rival ads from your competitors. The more ads there are for your type of product or service, the more it’s going to cost to get your ads noticed.
Still have questions? Give us a call. We’d love to work with you as your Instagram advertising agency partner.
About the Author
Kaitlyn Wilcoxson, Account Group Supervisor, is a data-driven, problem-solving marketing guru who, as one of the firm’s longest employees, has worked with almost every client Paradigm has ever partnered with, and has been instrumental in their success. Kaitlyn ensures Paradigm’s clients and internal teams are positioned for growth. She manages resources, develops team members, monitors the quality of deliverables, and manages process and procedure planning. She was awarded the Gold Level Stevie® Award for Customer Service and Sales Manager of the Year in the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
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