How much does it cost to advertise on Instagram?
It depends. For instance, companies are ready to pay nearly one million dollars for Cristiano Ronaldo to publish one promotion from his official Instagram account.
Surprisingly, the world-famous soccer player earned more than $47.5 million on Instagram in 2019, making him the platform’s highest earner. That’s more than his salary at Juventus.
If you aren’t interested in Instagram influencer marketing (which you should be!) and you just need numbers for calculating your Instagram ad budget, let’s get things straight from the beginning.
Marketers across the internet say that the cost per impression (CPI) on Instagram fluctuates between $5.00 and $6.00, and the cost per click (CPC) varies from $0.20 to $2.00 on average.
How much do Instagram promotions cost in your industry? If you need numbers that are 100% realistic, you should launch a few Instagram ad campaigns and get the numbers for yourself. Here’s why.
The Major Drivers of Instagram Ad Costs
Launching ads on Instagram is nobody’s business but your own. You should run some tests to find out how much you’re going to pay for promoting your company. Let’s start with some theory and learn the factors that influence the Instagram ads cost and the profitability of your ad campaigns.
Cost Driver #1 — Industry and Niche
Say you advertise an apparel brand. Your ads will be more expensive than ads posted by brands in other industries. The reason is high competition.
Cost Driver #2 — Location
Economics and financial solvency also affect the Instagram promotion price. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the average CPC in Vietnam amounted to $3.73, while the average CPC in Liechtenstein was $1.37 according to Statista.
Cost Driver #3 — Audience
There are two audience cost drivers you should take into account on Instagram.
The first is the type of audience you target. You have three options here:
- Target users by picking age, location, habits, interests, and other targeting details by hand in Ads Manager.
- Create a Custom Audience that consists of people you already know.
- Form a Lookalike Audience that includes people who have the same characteristics as people from your custom audience.
The second audience cost driver is the size of your target audience.
Cost Driver #4 — Placements
Placements are places where your Instagram ads show up.
If you’re ready to launch full-fledged ad campaigns instead of promoting several posts per week, you may want to run your ads not only on Instagram placements but on placements that belong to Facebook, Messenger, and the Audience Network.
Ads Manager offers an Automatic Placements option that allows Facebook to optimize your ad budget to show your ads automatically on placements where they’ll perform best.
Alternatively, you can confine yourself to Instagram placements only: Instagram Feed, Instagram Explore, and Instagram Stories.
However, keep in mind that if you choose this option, it may cost you a pretty penny. Placements on Instagram are the most expensive due to the fierce competition.
Cost Driver #5 — Bidding Strategy
When it comes to bidding, your Instagram ads price is affected by the bidding strategy you pick for your ad campaign. Bidding strategies include target cost, lowest cost, bid cap, cost cap, highest value, and value optimization with minimum return on ad spend bidding strategies.
Cost Driver #6 — Bidding Type
You can pay for the number of clicks made on your ads with a cost-per-click (CPC) bidding type or you can pay each time your ad gets 1,000 impressions. This bidding type is called cost per mille (CPM) or cost per impression (CPI).
Cost Driver #7 — Bid Amount
Don’t skimp on your Instagram ads when you’re sure they’ll guarantee you leads and conversions. The cool thing about Instagram ads is that you won’t spend more than you allocate.
Facebook charges only the amount necessary to beat your competitors. Say you bid for Instagram Stories ads. If your competitor bids $1.73, you’ll pay $1.74 to win.
Cost Driver #8 — Estimated Action Rates
This rating estimates the likelihood that a customer will engage with your ads. To know your chances, you can take advantage of the ad relevance diagnostics metric.
How to Lower the Cost of Instagram Ads
Now that you know the approximate Instagram promotion cost and its driving factors, here are ideas that will help you spend without using up all your budget.
Focus on Your Ad Set
Ad Set is a level in the ad campaign settings inside Ads Manager. It consists of three elements: Audience, Placements, and Budget & Schedule.
You need to choose the right audience, the right placements, and the right budget if you want your Instagram ads to cost you less. Testing is the only way to find the right fit.
Note that if your ad set turns out to be successful, you can save it and use it for future ad campaigns.
Turn On a Spending Limit for Your Ad Account
This feature is extremely useful for beginners to control the Instagram advertising cost. For instance, if you set a $70 ad spending limit, you know you won’t spend more than $70.
Here’s how to set a spending limit in four simple steps:
Step 1. Once you’re in Ads Manager, go to Billing.
Step 2. Click Payment Settings in the right corner at the top of your screen.
Step 3. Find the Set Your Account SpendingLimit section and click the button with the same name.
Step 4. Type in the maximum amount you want to spend and click Set Limit.
After you go through these four steps, your budget will be safe. Once you reach your ad spending limit, Facebook will automatically stop running your ads.
However, keep in mind that Facebook won’t let you set a spending limit if your ad account is set up for manual payments.
Ask for Help in the Facebook Help Center
How much does it cost to promote on Instagram? If you’re wondering this or have any other question or issue related to ad budgeting and payments, feel free to ask in the Ads Payment Support section of the Facebook Help Center.
Click the Contact us button below the Billing and Receipts History section to get started.
After that, choose your ad account and complete your inquiry. If necessary, you can describe your question in more detail as well as attach screenshots and other files.
When you’re finished, click Send to contact a Facebook help center specialist.
Set a Bid Cap for Instagram Ad Auctions
A bid cap is a bid strategy that allows you to get tighter control over the cost of every optimization event during your ad auctions. When you set your bid cap, you tell the system the maximum amount you want to spend per event.
We recommend not bidding too low, however, because it may limit your ad delivery.
Start Bidding with Instagram Video Ads Made Automatically
Now that you know the average cost of Instagram advertising, the factors that affect it, and recommendations for reducing your expenses, we have a surprise for you that will help you save your advertising budget.
Test Softcube AI right now and win your first ad auction. Good luck!
