PPC Instagram: Definition, Best Practices & Examples

PPC advertising on Instagram has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses aiming to enhance their online presence and drive conversions. With more than one billion active users each month, Instagram provides an expansive and highly engaged audience, establishing itself as an ideal venue for advertisers to connect with their target market effectively. A recent Hootsuite report reveals that 75% of Instagram users take actions like visiting a website or making a purchase after seeing an ad on the platform. This highlights Instagram’s significant potential for delivering a high ROI for various businesses in almost every industry.

While crafting your Instagram ads, remember to link them to relevant landing pages. Landing pages that focus on a single action are the best for PPC campaigns, but creating them can be challenging unless you know the best PPC marketing tool for landing pages – Landingi. This platform is designed for digital marketing purposes, ensuring your pages are clear, optimized for mobile, and high-converting.

Reading this article, you’ll uncover Instagram’s PPC meaning, learn the best practices for maximizing ad campaigns, and meet real-world examples illustrating various successful strategies. Whether you’re new to Instagram advertising or looking to refine your approach, this guide aims to equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to harness the full potential of PPC on this dynamic social media platform. At the beginning, check a few tips on creating Instagram ads that drive high ROI:

1. Understand your audience to leverage the potential of Instagram targeting options fully.
2. Use perfect pictures or immersive videos to catch users’ attention quickly.
3. Link a relevant landing page to drive conversion and boost ROI.
4. Test various ad formats to find the one that works best.

What Is PPC on Instagram?

PPC on Instagram is a type of digital marketing strategy in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. This model empowers businesses to use pay to boost their visibility and increase website visits or content engagements, bypassing the slower organic growth process. Leveraging Instagram’s visually driven platform, advertisers can choose from various ad formats, such as photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and story ads. These options provide the flexibility to craft visually captivating and engaging advertisements that resonate with their target audience.

Instagram PPC allows advertisers to use advanced targeting options to reach specific audiences based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. This strategic targeting guarantees that advertisements reach users who are more likely to be interested in the promoted product or service, thereby enhancing the likelihood of conversions.

The PPC model on Instagram is particularly effective due to the platform’s high engagement rates. Users interact with content at a higher rate than other social media platforms, making it an attractive option for businesses looking to enhance their online presence and drive meaningful actions, such as website visits, app downloads, or direct purchases.

How Does PPC Advertising on Instagram Work?

Instagram’s PPC model operates on an auction-based system where advertisers bid for ad placements. This system allows advertisers to have full control over their budgets and optimize their bids to achieve the best possible outcomes. Crafting and managing Instagram PPC campaigns can be done by utilizing Facebook’s Ads Manager, which Instagram is integrated with. This integration also provides advanced analytics and performance tracking, enabling advertisers to monitor key metrics of their ad campaign, including click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and conversion rates. With a data-driven approach, companies can refine their campaigns, making informed adjustments to increase efficiency and maximize return on investment (ROI).

Instagram PPC advertising involves 4 key steps, similar to the Facebook PPC model, as follows:

1. Ad creation and advanced targeting – advertisers create ads, choosing from various formats, like photo-based ads, video ads, story ads, etc., and set specific targeting parameters. Instagram allows them to choose their audience based on demographics (age, gender, location), interests, behaviors, or even similar audiences that resemble their existing customers.
2. Budget and ad schedule – businesses that launch campaigns on Instagram set a daily or lifetime budget for an ad and determine the duration for which they want their ads to run. Instagram ensures the ads are delivered within the budget, spreading the cost over the specified period.
3. Bidding system – bids can be set manually, giving advertisers more control, or automatically, where Instagram optimizes for the best results within the previously set budget.
4. Performance and analytics – after launching an ad campaign, advertisers can monitor their performance through Meta Ads Manager. KPIs, such as CTR, CPC, and conversions, help assess the campaign’s effectiveness. Advertisers can use these insights to make necessary adjustments and optimize their campaigns for better results.

6 Instagram PPC Best Practices

Meet the 6 best PPC practices on Instagram and learn how to make your campaigns more effective, perfectly tailored to your target audience, and well–positioned to increase user engagement and turn it into conversions. Check out proven methods to increase ROI and discover what makes IG ads win the competition.

#1 Understand your audience

The first Instagram PPC best practice is to understand your audience, their needs, and expectations. Draw a perfect customer image and determine his interests, demands, or dreams. Gain deep insights into your target audience’s demographics, hobbies, and online behaviors. Use Instagram’s advanced targeting options to precisely reach the right users. Utilize custom audiences based on existing customer data and create lookalike audiences to expand your reach to users similar to your best customers.

#2 Create compelling visual content

The second Instagram PPC best practice is to create compelling visual content that immediately grabs your target audience’s attention. Use high-quality images and videos. Invest in professional-grade visuals that are attractive and reflect your brand’s identity. Don’t forget about written content – visuals on Instagram are really important, but using engaging narratives in your ads helps connect emotionally with your audience, making your message more memorable.

#3 Utilize various ad formats

The third Instagram PPC best practice is to utilize various ad formats. Experiment with various ad formats leveraging photos, videos, carousels, stories and other options, to see what resonates best with your audience. Use interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and swipe-up links in IG Stories to boost engagement – Instagram gives you multiple ways to engage users in your offers, so check which elements can be the best for your campaign and leverage them to increase engagement.

#4 Test and optimize

The fourth Instagram PPC best practice is to test and optimize your ads. Conduct A/B tests on different ad creatives, copy, and targeting options to discover the most effective combinations. By experimenting with these variables, you can gain valuable insights into what resonates best with your target audience. Regularly reviewing key performance metrics is essential in this process. Metrics such as Click-Through Rate (CTR), Cost Per Click (CPC), and conversion rates provide a clear picture of your ads’ performance. These metrics help you understand the effectiveness of your ads in engaging users and driving them to take desired actions.

#5 Leverage Instagram insights

The fifth Instagram PPC best practice is to leverage Instagram insights to make data-driven decisions. By tapping into Instagram’s analytics tools, you can gather valuable data on ad performance and user behavior. This data can then be analyzed and used to make informed, data-driven decisions to optimize campaign performance and achieve better results. Once you have access to data, make adjustments to your targeting, creative elements, and bidding strategies based on the insights gathered.

#6 Align ads with landing pages

The sixth Instagram PPC best practice is to align ads with landing pages. Even the most immersive ad can’t bring high ROI without a well-optimized landing page with a related offer. Ensure that the message and visuals of your ad are consistent with the landing page users are directed to. Use professional tools like Landingi – a multifunctional digital marketing platform based on a landing page builder with over 400 templates and advanced tools for testing, tracking, and optimizing pages. With Landingi, you can create landing pages optimized for conversions with clear CTAs and easy navigation that perfectly complement your ad campaign.

#7 Set realistic goals

The seventh Instagram PPC best practice is to set realistic campaign goals. Set ambitious but achievable goals for your Instagram PPC campaigns. Clearly define your objectives and aim high – whether it’s boosting brand awareness, generating leads, or driving direct sales. Use specific metrics to measure success against your goals, and be ready to adapt and excel in your strategies.

How to Start a PPC Campaign on Instagram?

To start a PPC campaign on Instagram, ensure you access Meta Ads Manager, which is integral to Instagram ads, define your campaign goals, and pay attention to understanding your target audience, as great targeting is the key to successful Instagram campaigns. Craft your ad creatives and a landing page related to these ads. Then, set your budget and a campaign schedule, and choose a bidding strategy. To launch a perfect IG campaign, leverage the guide below and use it as your checklist to ensure you did everything right:

1. Set up Meta Ads Manager

Firstly, set up Meta Ads Manager, a tool integrated with Instagram Ads that allows for creating and managing campaigns. Create a Facebook Business Manager account (if you don’t already have one) and link your Instagram account. This integration is essential for running ads on Instagram.

2. Define your campaign objectives

Secondly, define your campaign objectives. Determine what you want to achieve with your campaign. Achieving common objectives involves elevating brand awareness, driving traffic, boosting engagement, increasing app installs, maximizing video views, generating leads, and improving conversions. Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to track your campaign’s success.

3. Identify your target audience

Thirdly, identify your target audience and use Instagram’s advanced targeting options to define your audience based on the following:

• demographics,
• interests,
• behaviors,
• and location.

Craft custom audiences from your existing customer data and create lookalike audiences to connect with new users who mirror your best customers.

4. Create engaging ad content

Fourthly, create engaging ad content, which involves visuals and copy. Design high-quality, visually appealing ads that capture attention immediately. Consider your target people, their interests, needs, and expectations to make your ads effective. As Instagram relies on visual content, use compelling images and immersive videos. Write concise, persuasive copy that encourages you to take the desired action. Choose the most appropriate ad format for your campaign, such as photo, video, carousel, or story ads, and tailor your content to the chosen format to make it smooth and intuitive.

5. Link a relevant landing page

Fifthly, link a relevant landing page that focuses on a single goal. It should be consistent with your ad creatives, including your brand’s visual identity, product or service, and special offer. Remember about mobile optimization – the page should load fast and display well across all devices. Use the best landing page builder, Landingi, to ensure your page is perfectly designed and optimized to achieve conversions.

6. Set your budget and campaign schedule

Sixthly, set your budget and campaign schedule. Decide whether to set a daily budget (amount spent per day) or a lifetime budget (total amount spent over the campaign’s duration). Choose when you want your ads to run. You can schedule ads to run continuously or at specific times, e.g., when your audience is most active.

7. Choose your bidding strategy

Seventhly, choose your bidding strategy. Instagram ads can operate on both manual and automatic bidding. Select whether to set bids manually, which gives more control over costs, or use automatic bidding, where Instagram optimizes your bids for the best results within your budget.

8. Launch your campaign

Lastly, launch your campaign, but before you do it, double-check all settings, including:

• targeting,
• budget,
• ad creatives,
• landing page.

Ensure everything is set up correctly before launching. Once everything is in place, launch your campaign. Your ads will go live and start appearing to your defined audience.

Running an Instagram campaign doesn’t end with the launch. When your ads are live, track their performance. Use Meta Ads Manager to monitor key metrics such as impressions, CTR, CPC, and conversions. To incorporate improvements, continuously run A/B tests on different ad creatives, copy, and targeting options to identify what works best. Based on performance data, refine your ads, targeting, and bidding strategies to improve results and maximize ROI.

What Is the Cost of a PPC Instagram Campaign?

The cost of a PPC Instagram campaign starts from $0.00-$0.25 (average CPC) and goes up to $4.00 (average CPM). The platform also uses different indicators, and costs may vary depending on your industry, goals, ad formats, targeting options, and other factors. The average costs of Instagram PPC campaigns, based on WebFX statistics, are the following:

• Avg. CPC (cost per click): from $0.0 to $0.25
• Avg. CPM (cost per 1000 impressions): from $0.0 to $4.0
• Avg. CPE (cost per engagement): from $0.03 to $0.08

While launching new campaigns, you set your budget in daily or lifetime (the campaign duration) spending. You can also choose automatic bidding to let Instagram manage costs. When you want more control, you should choose the manual bidding option and set your own bids.

If you consider hiring professionals to manage your Instagram campaigns, you should be prepared for an average cost of $25–$200+ per hour for a freelancer. Large agencies experienced in Instagram advertising usually charge $5.000–$20.000+ monthly.

Most companies (30.3%) spend an average of $101- $500 monthly on Instagram ads, and barely 4.6% of businesses spend over $10,000 monthly, according to a WebFX survey. It’s up to you how much you want to spend on IG advertising, but costs mean efficiency and depend on various factors, as explained below.

What Factors Influence the Price of Instagram Ads?

The main factor influencing the price of Instagram ads is your campaign objective, which involves minor price determinants, such as your industry, targeting, competition, and ad relevance. Check out the detailed list of fee dependencies below to understand how to prepare your budget:

1. Target audience – targeting highly specific or niche audiences can increase costs due to lower audience availability and higher competition, while broader targeting can lower costs but might not be as effective in driving conversions.
2. Ad quality and relevance – high–quality, engaging ads tend to cost less per click or impression because Instagram rewards ads that resonate well with users. Instagram assigns relevance scores to ads based on their performance and engagement. Higher relevance scores can lead to lower costs.
3. Competition – highly competitive industries, such as finance, real estate, and e-commerce, often have higher PPC costs due to the number of advertisers competing for the same audience. Costs can also fluctuate based on seasonality and market trends, with prices typically increasing during peak advertising seasons like holidays.
4. Budget and bidding strategy – setting a daily budget helps control daily spending, while a lifetime budget allows you to spread your spending over the campaign’s duration. Your chosen budget influences the reach and frequency of your ads. Similarly, manual bidding gives you more control over costs, while automatic bidding allows Instagram to optimize your bids for the best results within your budget.
5. Campaign duration – running short-term, high-intensity campaigns can result in higher costs due to increased bidding activity within a compressed timeframe, while longer campaigns can spread costs over time and may benefit from ongoing optimization.

3 Examples of PPC Instagram Advertising

Check out the 3 examples of PPC Instagram advertising campaigns and learn what makes them successful. These businesses leverage different ad formats, each with specific characteristics best to reach their target audiences, encouraging users to click and check more details about their offers.

1. Instagram Story Ad

The first example highlights an Instagram ad from Organicfit.app that seamlessly integrates into the Instagram Stories format. This ad leverages the short video, capturing users’ attention as they engage with their daily Instagram Stories. Designed to fit naturally within the Stories flow, the ad is both discreet and engaging. The ad illustrates scenarios demonstrating how the OrganicFit app can significantly improve users’ fitness routines and overall well-being. It explains the app’s features and functionalities, showing potential users how easy it is to integrate it into their daily lives. This educational aspect helps demystify the app and lowers the barrier to entry.

By ensuring that the ad is visually appealing and informative without being intrusive, OrganicFit minimizes the risk of a negative user experience. Viewing the ad with a muted audio option further reduces any potential annoyance. The persuasive yet informative ad copy encourages users to click the CTA button, directing them to the app’s page, which is consistent with the ad, ensuring a smooth experience.

2. Instagram Video Ad

The second example showcases an Instagram video ad in users’ Instagram feeds, leveraged by English with Lucy to promote a language course. This ad format is strategically designed to engage users as they scroll through their feeds, blending seamlessly with organic content while standing out through high-quality visuals and compelling messaging.

The ad relies on an engaging video that addresses the needs and expectations of the target audience. It leverages persuasive storytelling to explain the benefits of the offer. The video includes audio and copy to provide all Instagram users with information, even those who use muted audio options. The ad ends with a call to action, encouraging users to click the CTA button and get more detailed information about the course on a related landing page.

The landing page linked to this ad includes a compelling headline, a short description, and an outstanding CTA button. What builds engagement and persuades visitors to join the course is a banner with a countdown widget, suggesting urgency. The video further engages users who landed on this page after watching a short video ad, giving them another portion of information in the most converting content format. Although the page involves great elements, it could be designed with a clear layout and strategic white space to highlight the most important information and create a clear path for action. The consistency makes the campaign highly effective, leading to higher conversion rates and better ROI.

3. Instagram Carousel Ad

The third example is an Instagram carousel ad leveraged by Avene. This ad format appears in Instagram feeds, capturing users’ attention while usual IG scrolling. The carousel ad includes pictures, which mobile users can easily slide to learn more about the offer. High-quality interactive ads boost user engagement when they discover a product related to their interests.

Avene leverages attractive product visuals, short and informative copy that engages its target audiences, and a strong call to action, encouraging users to click the ad and purchase the product on its page. The ad is consistent with a landing page, utilizing the brand logo, product pictures, the same colors, and the related messaging, which ensures a seamless user experience and impacts higher conversion rates.

Can PPC Be Used on Instagram?

Yes, Instagram offers the opportunity to utilize PPC (Pay-Per-Click) through its advertising platform, Meta Ads Manager. This enables you to implement targeted PPC campaigns, where you pay for each click on your ads. With Instagram’s PPC campaigns, you can take advantage of detailed audience targeting based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and custom audiences to reach the right audiences effectively. Using PPC on Instagram, you can precisely target your audience, use various engaging ad formats, and accomplish specific business goals with tangible and measurable results.

What Distinguishes PPC on Instagram?

PPC on Instagram is an advertising model managed through Meta Ads Manager, where businesses running campaigns pay for ads’ clicks. There are also other payment models where charges are taken for engagement or impressions. Instagram allows advertisers to choose from various ad formats, and its advanced tailoring combined with a broad user database makes it a great option to boost brand awareness, gather new leads, or improve conversions. Advertisers can set daily or lifetime budgets and choose between bidding options like cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-impression (CPM), or cost-per-engagement (CPE). Performance is tracked via detailed analytics, helping optimize campaigns for better results.

What Is the Difference Between Instagram Ads and PPC?

The main difference between Instagram Ads and PPC is that Instagram Ads are specific to Instagram, while PPC refers to the payment structure used across various advertising platforms. Instagram Ads are a type of advertising on Instagram managed through eta Ads Manager. They include various payment models, such as CPC, CPM, or CPE. Instagram Ads rely on various formats, including photo- or video-based ads placed in Instagram feeds, stories, or explore sections. These ads can be targeted based on a huge user database, determining their demographics, location, interests, and more. While Instagram Ads often operate on a PPC model, PPC is not limited to Instagram and includes other platforms like Google Ads and Meta Ads.

Which Is Better, PPC or Instagram Ads?

Choosing between PPC and Instagram Ads depends on your specific goals and target audience. Both traditional PPC and Instagram Ads offer unique advantages, but Instagram Ads stand out due to the vast user base of social media, allowing brands to reach their ideal audience instantly based on demographics, professions, interests, and behaviors.

PPC is a broad term encompassing various platforms like Google Ads, while Instagram Ads are a specialized tool within the Instagram ecosystem. Traditional PPC often targets users through direct browsing habits and geolocation, whereas each Instagram marketing campaign can reach users based on their interactions and interests within the social media platform.

The main benefits of Instagram Ads include:

1. Precise targeting – by launching an Instagram ad, you can reach your audience based on detailed demographics, interests, and behaviors, not only the phrases they type in the search bar or their localization.
2. Diverse ad formats – as various marketing strategies require different ad formats, Instagram allows you to utilize engaging images, videos, carousel ads, and more to capture attention.
3. Interactive engagement – IG ads foster interactions through likes, shares, comments, and direct messages.
4. Flexible budgeting – you can choose between cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-impression (CPM) models to fit your budgets.
5. Comprehensive analytics – you can use Instagram’s analytics tools to track performance and refine your campaigns for optimal results based on actionable insights.

Ultimately, the choice between PPC and Instagram Ads hinges on your marketing objectives and the nature of your audience. With Instagram Ads, you can create meaningful connections and drive engagement in a visually rich and socially interactive environment.

What Is the Best PPC Instagram Tool for Landing Pages?

The best PPC Instagram tool for landing pages is Landingi, a multifunctional platform designed to simplify creating, testing, and optimizing landing pages, particularly for PPC and Instagram advertising campaigns. Landingi excels in crafting high-converting landing pages with features tailored to Instagram advertising’s demands. With well-optimized landing pages linked to your IG campaigns, you can achieve more conversions and improve overall ROI.

Landingi can help you craft a perfect landing page for advertising purposes, with over 400 professionally designed templates for various industries and objectives. In the user-friendly builder, designed for both inexperienced – with drag-and-drop functionalities, and advanced users – with additional coding options, you can swiftly and efficiently build pages that resonate with your target audience. The advanced AI landing page builder provided by Landingi can generate and regenerate content for entire landing pages or specific sections, supporting 27 languages. This AI functionality also aids in SEO optimization and image editing, ensuring your pages are visually appealing and search-engine friendly.

As landing pages should be optimized for better results, Landingi also provides built-in A/B testing features, simplifying experimenting with various page versions. EventTracker makes it easier to track user behavior and gather important data on further page optimization – the feature collects data in one Landingi dashboard, allowing you to make informed decisions about adjusting your page for a better user experience.

Landingi’s additional features include a form builder and popup creator, enhancing your landing pages for maximum conversion. Each page created with Landingi is automatically optimized for mobile devices, with automated adjustments to dimensions and layout guaranteeing seamless viewing across all mobile screens. Over 170 integrations allow users to connect Landingi with their existing digital marketing toolkits, making it the best option for driving extensive campaigns. Landingi stands out as a top choice Instagram PPC software, providing the tools and flexibility needed to create effective and engaging landing pages.

Create a PPC Instagram Campaign with Landingi

Mastering PPC advertising on Instagram is essential for businesses aspiring to enhance their reach and maximize their ROI. By understanding the fundamentals of Instagram PPC and incorporating best practices, companies can precisely target their audiences, refine their campaigns, and achieve their marketing objectives with greater efficiency.

Creating a successful Instagram advertisement campaign requires defining clear objectives, gaining deep insights into your audience, and crafting visually captivating and persuasive ad content, but once the ad is live, continuous performance monitoring and data-driven optimizations ensure that PPC campaigns remain effective and bring sustainable results. The examples provided in this article highlight the power of strategic audience targeting, creative content, and timely promotions in enhancing user engagement and driving conversions. You must remember even the most compelling ads need optimized landing pages to realize their full potential and drive conversion, which impacts ROI.

By integrating the strategies described in this article and using the proper tools, you can harness the full power of Instagram advertising to achieve remarkable business growth. Elevate your PPC campaigns with high-converting landing pages using Landingi – try it now and design landing pages that perfectly align with your ads, and experience how an optimized page can significantly boost the success of your Instagram PPC campaign.