Did you know that the average cost per clickfor Instagram ads is $0.75?
Over the past several years, Instagramadvertising has exploded thanks to the acquisition by Facebook back in 2012.The social network now offers a range of different advert types that hasattracted millions of advertisers to the platform.
If you’re planning to run ads and campaigns onInstagram, then you’re probably wondering how much they cost. Maybe you alreadyhave some experience with other networks such as Google and Facebook Ads, butInstagram is new territory.
To help you plan your Instagram ad campaign,we’re taking a look at how much Instagram ads cost, what affects the cost, andwhat you can do to reduce your cost.
The first and most obvious question is: what’sa reasonable monthly budget for Instagram ads?
How Much Does It Cost ToAdvertise On Instagram?
Before starting any digital marketingcampaign, it’s essential to get a good understanding of the costs involved.There’s no point spending $100 on advertising to get little to no results. Butif you knew you’d need at least $500 to test the waters and get results, thenmaybe you’d rethink your strategy.
So how much does it cost to advertise onInstagram? And is it worth your money?
For a starter campaign, advertisers can expectto pay an average of $10 a day to test the waters. Which would equate to around$300 a month. Of course, depending on the level of competition and the chosenniche, it can significantly affect the cost of Instagram advertising.
In some industries, $10 might get you 20clicks a day, while in others you’ll be looking at 10 or less.
When it comes to Instagram advertising, you’llquickly realize that their pricing depends on a whole range of factors.
What Determines The Cost OfInstagram Ads?
Just like the various other pay per clicknetworks out there, Instagram also uses a range of factors to determine howmuch advertisers pay per click.
As Instagram is part of the Facebook group,you can be certain that they use similar factors that calculate the cost ofFacebook ads.
If you want to get the most out of your adspend, then you’ll want to pay close attention to these factors.
Competition
As with all pay per click networks, the levelof competition and number of advertisers bidding on the same demographic dramaticallyaffects how much ads cost per click. If nobody is targeting a specificdemographic, then the chances are the cost per click will be significantlylower than other demographics with more advertisers.
Since Instagram uses demographic targeting,the more advertisers who are targeting the same demographic group will see amuch higher cost per click. Compare this to advertisers who target less populardemographics in different countries, and they’ll have much cheaper clicks.
Having too many competitors can lead to abidding war were they keep increasing their bid, which leads to high cost perclicks. This is also another important factor that has a considerable effect onhow much advertisers pay.
Bid Amount
One of the most significant factors when itcomes to determining how much Instagram ads cost is the advertiser’s bid. Thebid amount determines how much an advertiser is willing to pay for a singleclick on their Instagram ad. Of course, every advertiser want’s to pay aslittle as possible per click, but the lower you place your bid, the fewerclicks you’ll receive.
However, in highly competitive markets, havinga low bid simply isn’t practical.
To make bidding easier and more efficient foradvertisers, Instagram has a similar feature to Facebook, which helpsadvertisers automatically adjust their bids. This means it will adjust theirbid amount depending on certain factors such as how valuable they think a useris, or how likely they are to click an ad.
Ad Relevancy
If you’ve ever used the Google Ads PPCplatform, then you will know just how important ad relevancy is. The last thingInstagram wants to do is show an ad to a user that isn’t relevant, as itsignificantly reduces the chances that they will click it. This ultimatelymeans that Instagram won’t get paid.
In order to get more people to click your adand to reduce your average cost per click, making it as relevant as possible toyour target audience is crucial.
If people respond positively to your ad byliking, clicking and commenting on it, this will increase your ad’s relevancyscore over time. At the same time, having a low relevancy score will increasehow much you end up paying per click.
How To Lower Your Instagram AdCosts
Now you have a good understanding of thedifferent factors that affect how much Instagram ads cost, how do you keep yourCPC as low as possible?
Known as ad optimization, there are a few waysthat advertisers can tweak their ads to pay significantly less and stretchtheir ad budget.
Here are a few ways to ensure that you pay thelowest amount possible when running Instagram ads.
Optimize Ad Delivery
Before you start adjusting your campaign andplaying with the settings, you should first ask yourself, what is the goal ofmy Instagram campaign?
Depending on what you are trying to achievewill determine what settings, options and bidding strategy you use.
Instagram has plenty of AI which can help youget the most out of your budget based on your goals. If you’re specificallylooking for more conversions, then Instagram’s AI will target people who aremost likely to convert.
Compared to regular and manual targeting, thistype of ad delivery can drastically reduce your cost per click and get you morefor your money. Nine times out of ten, it will outperform standard ad deliverysettings, leaving you with more conversions and profit.
Use Automatic Bidding
A rookie mistake that many beginners fall foron Instagram advertising is the use of manual bidding. Lots of advertisersthink that by using manual bidding, they have more control over their ads andthat they’ll save money in the long run. They might have more control, butmanual bidding is definitely holding back their campaign’s full potential!
Without any historic bidding data already inyour account, manual bidding is pretty pointless. Instead, beginners should betaking advantage of Instagram’s automated bidding AI in order to collectvaluable information on how much they shouldbe bidding.
Once the AI has worked its magic, you canalways revert back to manual bidding, but without that precious data, you couldaccidentally be paying more than you need to.
Enable Frequency Capping
How many times have you seen the same ad overand over again? After a while, they start to become very annoying!
If you want to ensure that your budget isbeing spent effectively across Instagram, then you should consider enablingfrequency capping. When running a reach or brand awareness campaign, Instagramwill try to target as many people as possible. But if people aren’t clicking orinteracting with them, then this can actually end up costing you more.
Remember, if your ads don’t get likes,comments or clicks, then your relevancy score could plummet, which increaseshow much you pay per click!
By enabling frequency capping, you can reducethe number of people who aren’t interested in your ad and keep that score inthe green.
Improve Ad Relevancy
The final way to reduce your Instagram adscost is to improve your ad’s relevancy. Unless you’re a marketing god, thechances are you won’t produce the best ads on your first try.
This means that there is always room forimprovement when it comes to your ads and campaign. If you want to keep yourcosts as low as possible, then A/B testing new ads to find the most relevantone is crucial. The end game is to find an ad that has the highest level ofengagement and therefore, the highest level of ad relevancy.
If one ad is getting you 10 likes a day, howcan you change it to get you 20 likes a day? By testing new ad formats andcreatives, you’d be surprised at how much your “perfect ad” can be improved.
Instagram Ads Cost vs FacebookAds
By now, you probably have a good idea of howmuch Instagram ads actually cost and the different factors that contribute tohow much advertisers pay.
But how do Instagram ads compare to othermarketing platforms such as Facebook ads? Which one costs more and which isworth the money?
Like we mentioned earlier, Instagram wasbought by Facebook in 2012, and since then, it has been included in Facebook’sad system. In fact, in order to run Instagram ads, you need a Facebook account.
Since Instagram uses Facebook to manage itsads, the ad targeting is also very similar and uses demographic and locationtargeting.
According to statistics from AdEspresso,the average CPC for Instagram ranges from $0.70 to $0.80. To make it a singlenumber, we’ll average it out to $0.75.
Of course, there are many factors that canchange the cost per click of ads, including the campaign type, location, andindustry.
With further statistics from AdEspresso, they also reported that theaverage CPC for Facebook ads ranges from $0.20 to $1.47 depending on thecampaign objective. With the average of all the different campaign types comingin at $0.74.
Although the average CPCs on both networks arepractically the same, this number will vary significantly depending on otherfactors. This means that if your CPC on Facebook costs more than your CPC onInstagram, then it’s likely down to your niche or individual campaignobjective.
Instagram Ads vs Google Ads Cost
Google Ads is the largest PPC network in theworld by far. With over $100 billion spent on advertising every year, it showsno signs of being knocked from the number 1 spot any time soon.
But how does the pricing compare betweenInstagram ads and Google Ads compare?
As we already know from above, the averagecost per click on Instagram ranges from $0.70 to $0.80. Of course, it can varydramatically depending on certain demographics.
Compare this to Google Ads, and the resultsare not so straightforward. For starters, Google has two separate networks.Their search display network which displays text ads only on their Googlesearch engine, and their display network which displays creative ads on 3rdparty websites.
According to statistics from WordStream, the CPC average for Google searchads is $2.69 across all industriesand $0.63 for display ads.
This means search ads are significantly moreexpensive than both Instagram and Facebook ads. This is likely due to theamount of competition, search volume, and different targeting options. On theother hand, display ads are slightly lower than Instagram ads, which makes thema strong competitor.
Summary
To summarize, the cost of advertising on Instagram can vary greatly depending on a whole range of different factors, which we covered. If you’re thinking of starting an Instagram campaign, then you’ll probably be looking at a few hundred dollars a month just to test the waters.
We also explored that not only do Instagramads cost roughly the same as Facebook Ads, but they are also much cheaper thanGoogle search ads. However, compared to Google’s display ads, they are slightlymore expensive. This means that it might be a good idea to test out bothplatforms before drastically increasing your ad spend.
