How to Promote Your Instagram Post

Want to know what happens when you promote a post on Instagram?

For the answer to either or both of those questions, read on.

Why Promote a Post?

First question: why promote a post on Instagram?

The answer is simple: to get more exposure for your business.

It’s the same answer you would expect to hear when anyone asks: “Why advertise?”

Because promoting a post on Instagram is essentially advertising.

You might think that paying to advertise on a social media channel that gives you a free platform to promote your brand is a waste of money. But it isn’t.

That’s for a couple of reasons.

For starters: do you think that every single person in your target market is following you on Instagram? I very seriously doubt that’s the case.

So there are still Instagram users who aren’t yet following you and would be interested in what you’re selling.

If you pay to promote your posts, you can reach those folks. That’s because Instagram allows you to target people based on demographics and interests.

Another reason you might want to promote a post: because Instagram’s algorithm might not show all your content to people who follow you.

Yep. It’s frustrating but it’s true.

Instagram uses an algorithm to surface posts in people’s newsfeeds. It may be the case that, on some occasions, your posts don’t “make the cut” when people who follow you are scrolling through their feeds.

That’s why you can even promote a post to people who follow your account.

I know that seems like a complete waste of money at face value. And maybe it shouldn’t be that way.

But it is.

Sometimes, you need to make absolutely certain that even people who follow you on Instagram see a specific post. And the best way to make sure that happens is by promoting it.

Okay, now that I’ve answered the “why,” let me get into the “how.”

How to Promote Your Instagram Post

First, make sure you have a business account. If not, learn about how to convert your personal Instagram account to a business account.

Next, visit your profile on Instagram and tap the post you’d like to promote.

Pro-tip: Instagram advises you to avoid promoting posts with images greater than 8 Mb. That’s because those huge images might take too long to load on a smartphone not connected to wifi.

Below the image of your post, tap Promote.

Next, Instagram will ask you what you’re trying to accomplish with the promoted post. You have several options to choose from:

• Brand Awareness – Tell people about your company and what it does.
• Reach – Engage with as many people in your target market as possible.
• Traffic – Send people to your blog or app.
• Engagement – Get people to react to your post by adding comments or clicking like.
• App Installs – Convince folks to download your app from Google Play or the App Store.
• Video Views – Show your video to people most likely to watch it.
• Lead Generation – Gather contact info from people interested in your brand.
• Messages – Connect with folks on Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, or Messenger.
• Conversions – Convince people to take a specific action (like buying a product).
• Catalog Sales – Highlight products of interest to people in the target audience.
• Store Traffic – Promote a mom-and-pop shop in your local community.

Since you’re promoting a post, it’s most likely the case that you’ll want to go with Brand Awareness, Reach, or Engagement.

You’ll also get asked about the important thing: your budget.

Instagram wants to know how much you want to spend every day on your promoted post. And it wants to know how many days you want to run the promotion.

Multiply those two numbers together and that’s the total budget for the campaign.

Instagram recommends that you start with a minimum budget of $5 per day for 6 days. Let that run and see what kind of response you get.

If you like what you see, increase the budget.

If you’re not getting very good results, consider dropping the campaign in favor of a more effective one.

Instagram will ask you to connect to a Facebook account. If you don’t have a Facebook account linked to your Instagram business account, tap Skip.

Once you get to the preview screen and you’re happy with everything, tap Create Promotion.

At that point, the folks at Instagram will review your post to make sure it meets company standards. That probably won’t take too long, though.

Once your promoted post is approved, it starts running immediately.

Wrapping It Up

There you go. Now you know how to promote your Instagram post.

The next step: get started.

But before you “dive in,” make sure you promote a post that you think will resonate well with people in your target audience.

Then follow the steps above to promote it.