Instagram ads are an essential part of a robust Instagram marketing strategy. They help businesses drive brand awareness, encourage conversions, and even fine-tune their organic Instagram content.
We spoke to growth strategy expert Jaclyn VanSloten, who runs the marketing firm Femra Consulting, to learn how to use Instagram ads in 2026. Read on for a step-by-step guide to getting started with Instagram ads and examples of successful campaigns for inspiration.
What are Instagram ads?
Instagram ads are paid posts that promote your business, products, or services. Like organic content, ads can be standalone images, image carousel, or videos. They appear to Instagram users in feeds and Stories, or in the Explore or Reels tabs.
Running Instagram ads can help businesses increase brand awareness and make money on Instagram by tapping into the platform’s vast shopping network. Around the world, the platform is the second most used social site for shopping (Facebook ranks first). Among younger consumers, however, Instagram ranks number one.
The advantages of Instagram advertising include:
- Flexible pricing that lets you set your own budget
- User-friendly self-serve ad platform with Meta Ads Manager
- Detailed reporting for actionable insights
- Precise audience targeting options
How do Instagram ads work?
Businesses purchase Instagram ads through a bidding process. You set a budget, then Meta compares bids between you and other companies with the same target audience.
There are two main ways to create Instagram ads. The first is to set up a Meta Ads Manager account and build your campaigns from there. If you want to create complex campaigns with advanced audience targeting, you’ll need to take this route, which we’ll explain in detail later on.
Here’s what the Meta Ads Manager dashboard looks like:
The second way to create Instagram ads is by boosting existing posts from within the Instagram app or desktop website.
Anyone with a Professional account (Creator or Business) can boost posts. You can keep your post’s existing text, add new text, or create multiple text variations that Meta can show interchangeably. Just as if you were running a full campaign through Ads Manager, you’ll set a budget and schedule for your boosted posts. However, you won’t have the same depth of customization and targeting options.
You can boost posts before or after you publish them. To boost before you post, simply toggle on Boost post from the options menu.
Instagram ad examples
Here are three examples of top-notch Instagram ads, with insights from growth strategy expert Jaclyn VanSloten, on what makes them successful.
Hulken
The bag brand Hulken makes durable rolling bags perfect for carrying groceries across city streets. This ad for the company’s core product shows that Instagram ads don’t need to be overly complicated in order to be effective.
This feed ad (meaning it appears to users in their main Instagram feeds) includes a customer testimonial, the product’s five-star rating, a list of product features, and a clear “Shop now” call to action (CTA). It’s an effective lower-funnel ad for Instagram users who may have browsed Hulken products before and are in the final stages of making their purchase decision.
The ad creative is a simple, professional product image. That’s how you know it’s conversion-focused. As Jaclyn explains, “Awareness will be Reels and Stories—full-screen, immersive, and a little bit more authentic and not as polished. It’s more emotional. Conversion will be a bit more polished. It will be feed or Carousel and then a clear CTA.”
Jones Road Beauty
The makeup brand Jones Road Beauty posts organic Instagram content that frequently features the brand’s founder, celebrity makeup artist Bobbi Brown. “It’s built almost entirely on authentic founder-led content,” says Jaclyn.
“Their paid ads often look identical to their organic content,” Jaclyn explains. She notes that this tactic can inspire trust, which can translate to a higher click-through rate (CTR).
In this paid Instagram ad, Bobbi Brown appears in an organic-style video showcasing the company’s Miracle Balm.
Our Place
The ecommerce brand Our Place sells high quality, visually pleasing cookware. Jaclyn explains that the brand’s paid social strategy features a “mix of creator integrations, influencers, and high-end photography.” This professional photography style can sometimes make Our Place stand out on Instagram, where other brands often opt for a more low-fi style.
In this ad, Our Place showcases its non-toxic air fryer and countertop oven in a professionally staged photograph. The light yellow of the oven matches the warm tones of the foods on the counter and the CTA banners, creating a highly polished image.
This style works for Our Place.
“They are one of the few DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands where high-production ads still convert, because the aesthetic is core to the product,” says Jaclyn.
How much do Instagram ads cost?
According to research from social media marketing company Bïrch, the average Instagram CPM (cost per mille, an advertising metric that shows the price for 1,000 ad views) in December of 2025 for US audiences was $16.25 and the average CPC (cost per click) was $1.39.
But here’s the thing: Your CPC can vary widely depending on your campaign objective and the time of year. Take a look:
As you can see, average CPC ranged from 12¢ for a traffic campaign in May to $70.17 for a video views campaign in January. Overall, this data shows that video views and brand awareness campaign objectives tend to have higher CPCs than other campaign objectives.
Similarly, Bïrch’s study shows that CPM can swing widely based on your campaign objective, from less than 1¢ for a video views campaign in March to $41.13 for a lead generation campaign in November. Lead generation CPMs were consistently higher than CPMs for other campaign objectives.
Keep in mind there’s no one-size-fits-all benchmark. Your costs will depend on your target audience, industry, and the type of ads you’re running. The price of your product plays a role, too. Selling a $50 item? You’ll likely spend less to acquire a customer than if you’re marketing a $1,500 product.
When planning your Instagram ad strategy, consider two key factors: your overall campaign budget and how much you’re willing to spend per result.
Types of Instagram ads
Instagram offers a handful of ad placement options, each with their own advantages.
Story ads
Jaclyn says she leans a lot on Story ads, which are the full-screen vertical 9:16 ads that appear between people’s organic Stories. According to Q3 2025 data from marketing agency Tinuti, Story ads account for 41% of Instagram ad impressions.
“For brand awareness, Stories and Reels are the gold standard,” says Jaclyn. Viewers see Story ads between organic Story content from people they follow; They see Reels ads between trending content from accounts they don’t follow.
“Those two are really big for brand awareness and capturing attention, getting word out to a broad audience,” Jaclyn says. “And they’re very immersive.”
When a Story ad appears, it takes up the entire screen.
Here’s an example of an Instagram Stories ad from denim brand Oliver Logan. The ad introduces viewers to the company’s low-rise jeans with a casual shot of a model and a “Shop now” link.
Feed ads
Instagram feed ads, which make up 29% of Instagram ad impressions, show up in users’ main feeds. They appear between organic posts and can be standalone images or carousels. Brands can tag products and make them shoppable by creating Collection Ads.
If you have a Shopify site, you can link your storefront with Instagram Shopping to automatically import product data. You can do this by installing the Facebook & Instagram app for Shopify, which lets you start selling on Instagram. You might use these types of ads when you’re looking to directly encourage sales.
“When we get more into traffic and conversions, that’s where I start using some of the feed ads, like the carousel ads where there are multiple cards that you can swipe through or the shopping collection ads that are more for product discovery,” says Jaclyn. “Those are going to be a little bit lower-funnel.”
Jaclyn explains that these types of ads are especially important for targeting specific consumers. You’ll also want to include clear CTAs.
“Having those be a little bit of a harder-hitting message where there’s a really strong call to action to shop now, or whatever you want the user to do, is pretty important,” Jaclyn says.
Here’s an example from rug brand Revival Rugs. The carousel includes photos of Revival products alongside shoppable links.
Reels ads
Reels ads are full-screen vertical ads that pop up between videos on users’ Reels tabs. They make up 26% of Instagram ad impressions. Users can interact with them just like regular Reels—liking, commenting, saving, and sharing them.
“Reels are for brand awareness and reach,” Jaclyn says. She recommends using them to introduce your brand when you want to establish “this is what we do, here’s who we are, this is what we’re about.”
Here’s an example from Poplight, a brand that sells renter friendly adhesive lighting fixtures. The ad introduces Instagram users to Poplight’s unique product, showing viewers how easy it is to set up. This type of ad can help you put your brand in front of a wide audience, even if you don’t have a massive following on Instagram. That’s because the Reels algorithm prioritizes discovery.
Reel ads can be cost effective, too. According to Meta, they’re 34.5% less expensive per placement than image ads—as long as you follow a few best practices. Those include keeping a 9:16 aspect ratio, adding audio, and keeping key messages in the “safe zone” (the upper 65% of your ad). If you place important elements lower, you risk being overshadowed by the Reels interface.
Explore ads
Explore ads appear on Instagram’s Explore tab.
“Those are also really great for brand awareness and reach because people are exploring—they’re really open-minded to new things,” says Jaclyn.
That said, they make up a small percentage of Instagram ad impressions at only 3%.
There are two types of Instagram Explore ads:
- Explore home ads. These show up as square tiles in the Instagram Explore home grid.
- Explore feed ads. These show up in the Explore Feed, which users enter after they click on a post in the Explore grid then start to scroll.
Here’s an example of an Explore Feed ad from clothing brand Deiji Studios advertising the company’s Black Friday sale. A Shop Now button makes it easy for viewers to start browsing the sale. Note that this type of ad is only visible once users start scrolling through their Explore feed; they don’t show up as tiles in the Explore grid.
Here, you can see an Explore home ad that appears directly in the grid for skin care brand Prequel. When you select it, you can see the full-size ad within the Explore feed.
Best practices for Instagram ad creative
- Embrace the organic feel
- Outline your objective
- Stay consistent
- Keep it short
- Write engaging and clear ad copy
- Make it interactive
- Monitor ad fatigue
- Leverage user-generated content
Here are a few tips to create successful Instagram ads:
Embrace the organic feel
As you design your creative assets, make sure you’re “embracing the native feel of the platform. Don’t make it look overtly like an ad,” Jaclyn says. This can prevent users from quickly scrolling past your ads once they realize they’re paid advertisements. One way to do this is by “boosting” your most successful organic content.
Here’s an example of a boosted post from the hair care brand Crown Affair. The company uses artistic, collage-style graphics that diverge from traditional product images.
Outline your objective
Jaclyn says that defining clear campaign objectives is important, along with running ads in specific categories.
“Making sure the format, creative, and measurement aligns with that objective,” says Jaclyn.
Meta Ads Manager offers a number of objectives to choose from, like brand awareness, sales, and lead generation. Your choice should impact the final design of your ads.
“For creative, awareness is going to be brand storytelling—the fun, feel-good, emotional creative. It’s a little bit longer, whereas conversion formats are going to be what the product is, your offer, what the benefit is—harder-hitting messages,” says Jaclyn.
Stay consistent
Once you find a design style that works for you, try to stick with it.
“Make sure the brand is consistent across the placements. Regardless of if you’re running Reels, Stories, or carousels, you want a similar look and feel,” says Jaclyn. “It’s really important if you’re trying to build a brand.”
This means staying consistent with visual brand identity elements like brand colors and typography. It also means using the same brand voice across your ads.
Keep it short
Your ad copy or ad videos don’t need to be long to be effective. If you’re making Reels, this means getting to the point—fast.
“Hook early, within the first two to three seconds,” says Jaclyn. “Especially for the full-screen formats like Reels and Stories. Keep content short and engaging.”
Jaclyn advises keeping videos to 15 to 30 seconds long. Here’s an example from healthy soda brand Poppi announcing a holiday giveaway. The ad quickly conveys its point by showing Poppi cans with festive coloring.
Write engaging and clear ad copy
Great visuals hook users, but it’s your copy that reels them in. Here’s how to craft copy that converts:
- Start with an attention-grabbing hook—a question, bold statement, or surprising fact.
- Keep it clear and concise, focusing on one key benefit or offer.
- Use active language that speaks directly to your target audience’s desires or pain points.
- Sprinkle in power words like “surprise,” “hurry,” or “certified.” These persuasive words elicit emotion or urgency but avoid sounding too salesy.
- For longer captions, put the most important information upfront and use line breaks for readability.
- Always include a clear, action-oriented call to action (CTA) that tells users exactly what to do next.
Your CTA will vary depending on the goal of your ad.
“For conversion-oriented placements, you want either, ‘Shop now’ or ‘Learn more,’” says Jaclyn. “Whereas for Reels and Stories, it would be more like, ‘Discover.’”
Here’s an example of a conversion-oriented ad from supplement company Cymbiotika. The ad clearly communicates the hook—a 30% off sitewide sale—in bold font. The ad also uses urgency-inducing power words (“Last chance”) and a clear, clickable CTA button urging viewers to “Shop now.”
Make it interactive
To increase engagement, Jaclyn recommends adding interactive or immersive elements—like carousel swipes, a Story poll, or tappable shopping cards.
“There are a lot of things like that that are native to the platform that people know, like ‘If there’s an arrow, this is a carousel and I need to swipe,’” says Jaclyn.
Here’s an example of an in-feed ad from nonalcoholic aperitif company Ghia. Below the main ad creative is a series of shopping cards. Viewers can swipe to see more products or tap to learn more about the specific product.
Monitor ad fatigue
Jaclyn recommends reviewing and refreshing content regularly, especially if the content is trending.
“If you have something that was doing really well three to four months ago, it’s probably ‘out’ now,” Jaclyn says.
After you’ve picked which ads to run, Jaclyn says the most important thing to do is monitor frequency and ad fatigue.
“On social media in general, ads wear out really fast,” Jaclyn says, “So just make sure you have the funds to refresh creative on a fairly regular basis if you start seeing performance dropping.”
Leverage user-generated content
Posting user-generated content (UGC) to your Instagram account can help you develop brand trust, since you’ll be showing potential customers that other people already believe in your company and products. Turning this type of content into paid ads can help you spread this content more widely.
With Partnership Ads, you can create a joint post with an Instagram influencer. These types of ads also allow you to pay creators for testimonials that you can add in captions. This feature can be especially useful, given that 40% of Instagram users look for creator recommendations on the app, according to Meta.
Here’s an example of a partnership ad from skin care brand OneSkin in collaboration with creator Jennifer Latch.
You might also source UGC truly organically, without paying influencers. There are a handful of ways to encourage UGC, like consistently monitoring your mentions and tags, creating a branded hashtag and asking followers to use it, running contests or challenges aligned with your brand values, and reposting the best UGC on your brand profile to motivate others to post about you.
However you source your UGC, make sure to ask for permission before reposting.
How to create Instagram ads with Ads Manager
- Link your Instagram to your Facebook
- Create an Instagram ad campaign
- Choose your campaign objective
- Identify your ad budget and schedule
- Set up A/B testing
- Define your target audience
- Design your ads and create an Instagram ad set
- Choose your Instagram ad placement and publish
- Set up ad sequencing
- Analyze and optimize your Instagram ads
Before you get started making Instagram ads, make sure your Instagram account is in professional mode and you’ve created a professional Instagram bio that includes a link to your ecommerce store. You might also consider getting your Professional account verified on Instagram to increase brand trust.
Here’s your step-by-step guide to running ads on Instagram:
1. Link your Instagram to your Facebook
In order to use Meta Ads Manager, you need a Facebook business page. You’ll automatically have access to Ads Manager once you make your page. Once you do, you’ll need to connect your Instagram profile to your Facebook page.
- Head to Settings on your Facebook business page.
- Select “Linked accounts.”
- Select “Instagram.”
- Select “Connect account.” Note that your Instagram account will need to be in Professional mode in order to do this.
- Follow the prompts to finish the connection.
2. Create an Instagram ad campaign
Now that you’ve linked your Facebook and Instagram pages, it’s time to create your first campaign in Ads Manager. In Ads Manager, select “+ Create” near the upper left corner.
3. Choose your campaign objective
When you design Instagram ads in Meta Ads Manager, you’ll choose an objective for each of your ad campaigns. This objective impacts how Instagram delivers and optimizes your ad, and how you’ll pay for them.
“Goals really impact the entire campaign,” says Jaclyn. “When I think about a goal, I think about what the creative should look like as well as what the call to action should be, and what the key performance indicators (KPIs) should be, and also who the audience is. I think it’s really important to be thoughtful about the goal that you’re choosing.”
You can use any type of ad placement with these different objectives, with a few exceptions: You can’t use shoppable ads for awareness, app promotion, or engagement objectives.
Here are your options:
- Awareness. This helps you get the word out about your business, product, or service. You’ll likely cast a wide audience net.
- Traffic. This encourages users to click through your ad to your website.
- App promotion. This encourages users to download your app.
- Engagement. This encourages users to engage with your profile through likes, comments, shares, or follows.
- Leads. This is for collecting user data like email addresses.
- Sales. The sales objective is designed to drive conversions. You’ll likely use this to target users at the bottom of the marketing funnel.
4. Identify your ad budget and schedule
Decide whether or not to use Meta’s Advantage+ budget tool, an AI software that can help you optimize your campaign with the best placements at the best times for the least amount of money. Then, choose how much you want to spend on your ads. You can also choose to spend more on your ads during certain times (for example, during the holiday season, when there’s increased competition).
Make sure to pace yourself. “Increase spend gradually. I do find sometimes people just throw a bunch of money and then are done,” Jaclyn says. “In the initial phases, you want to be testing and learning, so scaling gradually and putting more money at the placements that are performing well.”
5. Set up A/B testing
If you want to trial run your ads, you can set up A/B testing within Meta Ads Manager. You’ll have the option to compare results across metrics, such as cost per three-second video play and cost per add to cart.
“Testing creative is a big thing,” says Jaclyn. “Test different hooks, images, videos, and CTAs. Learn what works, and then double down on that.”
In the process, you might discover that your consumers don’t like a certain type of ad but love another. You can take these lessons into the future and replicate your successes (and avoid making the same mistakes).
You can also look toward your organic content for hints. The native Instagram Insights tool can help you out. “That’s my first place to go in terms of post-performance test creative,” says Jaclyn. “Especially if I’m just starting out as a small business and trying to understand what content resonates.”
6. Define your target audience
Instagram’s targeting tools let you zero in on your ideal customers by choosing characteristics like demographic traits and interests, ensuring your ads appear to the types of consumers you want to reach. There are a few ways to use these tools.
“Instagram touts that the best practice is to create a broad audience first, and then let the algorithm optimize,” Jaclyn explains. “If you’re a new first-time business, that’s a fine strategy, because then you can learn about who your audience is.”
Jaclyn notes that if you run a more established business and already know who you want to reach, it’s OK to specifically target those customers by noting their demographic characteristics and interests.
If you’ve set up custom audiences in Facebook, you can use these for your Instagram ads. You can also retarget website visitors or engage existing customers with custom audiences based on your ecommerce site data, which you can establish by installing the Meta pixel on your Shopify site.
Just keep in mind that your target audience will vary depending on the campaign objective you choose. “If I have an awareness campaign, I’m usually casting a broader audience net—maybe people who aren’t familiar with the brand. You just want to let people know, ‘Hey, we exist, and this is what we’re about,’” says Jaclyn.
“Whereas for conversion or shopping campaigns—lower-funnel—I’m going to have a narrower audience, and I’m going to be using tactics like retargeting to make sure to re-engage audiences.”
Additionally, you can begin to target the right users by creating lookalike audiences based on your Instagram followers. Instagram’s native Audience Insights tool can help you.
“For a business just starting out, it can help you learn more about your audience and tailor specific creative messages and targeting, and create sub-segments within your audience,” says Jaclyn. “It helps validate who your audience is, and you can refine it from there.”
7. Design your ads and create an Instagram ad set
Before your ads hit Instagram, you’ll need some eye-catching creative. The design will depend on your ad type (for example, a carousel ad needs multiple images, while a photo ad just needs one strong visual).
Once you’ve uploaded your creative assets, you can preview how they’ll look within Meta Ads Manager and create ad sets to group them.
You’ll have different upload requirements depending on the type of ad you want to create. Here’s what you’ll need to fill in for a carousel ad, for example:
You can also use templates to help ensure your creative aligns with Meta’s upload best practices. Here’s what a Reels ad template looks like:
8. Choose your Instagram ad placements and publish
Next, pick where on Instagram your ads will show up. The best placement will depend on your ad objective. Remember that Reels and Stories are best for brand awareness objectives, while shoppable carousel ads are better for more conversion oriented goals.
“Optimize for placements,” says Jaclyn. “Running a variety of different placements at the get-go—Feeds, Stories, and Reels—and then seeing what performs well is usually a good place to start if you’re a newer brand.”
When you’re ready, select “Publish” in the lower right hand corner.
9. Set up ad sequencing
Ad sequencing can help you create ads that better convert customers.
“Leverage remarketing and sequential messaging, so reaching people multiple times to really push your message forward,” says Jaclyn. “Especially for lower-funnel campaigns.”
You can set this up in Meta Ads Manager after you publish your ads. Once you publish, go back to the Ads Manager home page and select your campaign. Then, select “Edit” and enable “Ad sequencing.” To arrange your ads in order, select “Edit sequence.” Select “+ Ads” to add additional content to your sequence.
10. Analyze and optimize your Instagram ads
Launching your campaign is just the beginning. Once it’s live, keep an eye on its performance and test different ideas to find the most effective messaging, creative, and targeting.
In Ads Manager, you can:
- Edit your Instagram ad
- Set up testing
- Adjust targeting parameters
- View performance analytics
The metrics you track will depend on the objective you chose for your campaign. “When we think about KPIs, awareness will be CPM, reach, ad recall, lift, and brand metrics,” says Jaclyn. “Whereas conversion is going to be your cost per action and your return on ad spend (ROAS).”
If you’re placing conversion focused ads, Jaclyn recommends using Meta’s conversions API to figure out what’s actually working. This tool tracks purchases. You can add it to your Shopify site by selecting “Enhanced” from the Meta data-sharing options within your Shopify Admin.
Just as you may have used the performance of your organic content to inform your paid Instagram marketing strategy, you can take the lessons you learn from your paid ads and apply them to your organic content. “If you see things that perform really well in paid, use that information to help with your organic content,” says Jaclyn.
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Instagram ads FAQ
How can Instagram ads impact brand visibility?
Instagram ads can significantly enhance brand visibility by placing your company in front of your target audience while they’re on Instagram. You can target specific demographics and interests to make sure your ads appear to users who are likely to become customers. These users will see your ads while they’re scrolling their profile, Explore, or Reels feeds, or when they’re clicking through Stories.
Can anyone run Instagram ads?
While Instagram ads are widely accessible, there are a few requirements. You must be at least 18 years old, have an Instagram account in Professional mode, and have a Facebook business account to manage Meta Ads Manager from. Additionally, your ads must comply with Facebook’s advertising policies.
Is it better to promote on Instagram or Facebook?
The best platform depends on your target audience, product, and marketing goals. For example, if you’re targeting younger audiences with a lifestyle brand, Instagram might be your best bet. If you’re aiming for an older audience, Facebook could be more effective.
How much does it cost to put an ad on Instagram?
Instagram ad costs vary based on your target audience, budget, and competition. The average cost per click (CPC) in November 2025 was $1.43, according to social media marketing company Bïrch.
Are Instagram ads worth paying for?
Yes, Instagram ads can be a powerful tool to reach new audiences, drive brand awareness, and generate click-throughs to your online store. The key to success? Experiment with different ad types to find what works best for your brand.
How do Instagram ads work?
Instagram ads are sponsored posts that appear to Instagram users while they’re scrolling the app. Companies pay to show ads to specific audiences. Ads are available in different formats, like carousel, Stories, or Reels ads. Businesses can choose their target audience, budget, and campaign objectives, and Meta uses an auction process to determine which ads are displayed to users.
