How much does it cost to promote on Instagram? " unosoft

What is the investment needed to get results in targeting an active audience?

It’s a question on the lips of every player involved in social media marketing, whether we’re talking about content creators, big or small, or brands that want to reach potential customers on these social media platforms.

More than 80% of consumers trust recommendations from people they trust (word-of-mouth marketing), which is why brands are constantly looking to build and maintain relationships with content creators in Social Media, known as influencers, micro-influencers or nano-influencers.

On the other hand, however, to reach potential customers, brands can also take advantage of highly effective targeting tools, such as Facebook Ads, through which they can run ads on both Instagram and Facebook.

In many ways, running ads on Insta is pretty much the same as advertising on Facebook, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, since IG is part of the ecosystem controlled by Facebook.

In this article you will learn the essentials for understanding this active marketing channel.

You’ll get a better understanding of the price you have to pay to deliver ads on Instagram, you’ll learn the opinions of key industry players like Florin Grozea and Cristian China-Birta, as well as relevant insights from 4 influencers and micro-influencers active on Insta.

CONTENTS:

The first part of the article, we will talk about:

In Part II:

Florin Grozea, founder MOCAPP.net (Infuencer Marketing platform), si Cristian China-Birta, Founder and Managing Partner of the Social Media Agency Kooperativa 2.0, but also one of the most experienced and talented bloggers in Romania., will talk about:

Part III will be devoted to influencers:

Iuliana Mihai (@iulianamihai): +30,000 followers
Andreea Calutoiu (@andreeacalutoiu): +13,000 followers
Dalia Bugnar (@daliabgnr): +11,000 followers
Beatrice (@beatriceforsure): +2700 followers

… who will talk about:

Part I

Types of campaigns you can run on Instagram

The first thing you need to consider is that the major types of campaigns you can run are:

1. Advertising campaigns run through Facebook Ads, with objectives such as:

Reach and Brand Awareness – to increase page visibility
Engagement – to increase the number of likes and comments
Clicks and Traffic – for attracting potential customers to your business website
Video Views – to boost the visibility of video posts
Leads and Conversions – for sales

In this case, it is important to mention that these objectives can also be targeted in the framework of eventual PPC campaigns to retarget the audience that interacted with your page content.

2. Influencer Marketing Campaigns, with objectives such as:

Brand Awareness – attracting the attention of an audience to the brand, products or services offered by a company
Affiliate Marketing – generate sales by offering discount codes, discount links or dedicated products
Boosting the visibility of the page to a new audience – promoting the brand to a new mass of people who are likely to become customers
Increasing the popularity of the IG – through contests and branded content collaborations to attract more followers to the page
Customer retention – Audience loyalty and building a community of brand ambassadors (Word-Of-Mouth/Evangelism Marketing)

What is the cost of advertising on Instagram through Facebook Ads?

To understand the investment you need to make it is important to understand that all of these Social Media channels have the audience (people) present as an asset and that that attention is bid for through Facebook Ads.

On average, the average cost per click (CPC), on Instagram, varies depending on your industry and target audience.

In this case, the cost per click can range from under 1 leu and, in some situations, can exceed 3 lei.

It is expected that in competitive industries, the cost of Instagram Ads campaigns can reach significantly high amounts, but it is important to monitor whether those ads generate a positive ROI (Return on Investment).

At the same time, it’s also important to consider that these ads, in addition to the conversion goals you can set, give you the opportunity to build trust-based relationships with your audience and make a connection on an emotional level with potential customers.

A concrete answer to this question can be provided by my colleague, Alexandra Lovin, a specialist in PPC campaigns with low CPC and positive ROI.

If you would like to initiate a discussion with Alexandra, I invite you to visit the unosoft agency contact page.

Types of ads available in Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads allows brands to promote themselves through sponsored posts in the form of: photo, video, carousel, stories and ads in the Instagram Explore feed.

Each of these promotional opportunities comes with its pros and cons, so let’s see how they can be used by a brand.

Sponsored photo posts run on Instagram via Facebook Ads, can be used to tell the brand story in a visual way through creative photography.

For ads in the Explore feed, photos can be at resolution:

1080×1080 (square)
1920×1080 (landscape)
1080×1350 (4/3 – portrait)

For photo ads placed in Stories, Instagram accepts a unique photo resolution of 1080×1920.

Sponsored video ads in Instagram offer the opportunity to capture the audience’s attention in a dynamic way, through audio and moving frames integrated into the video format.

In terms of the time limit for video ads placed on Instagram, the situation is as follows:

for video ads placed in Explore, the maximum time limit is 60 seconds.
for ads placed in Stories, the maximum duration of video material is the same as the duration of a Story, i.e. 15 seconds.

Carousel advertisements offer the possibility to add more photos or video material in a single ad, which gives additional space to expand the creative concept integrated in the promotion strategy.

What is the value of an ad on Instagram using influencers?

Nowadays, even in Romania, many brands choose to collaborate with different social media content creators who have relevant audiences, with goals of:

brand building on the market
promotion of products or services
interaction with target audience

However, being a booming industry, the prices associated with influencer marketing campaigns are not 100% public and can vary widely, influenced by certain criteria, specific to each case.

In any case, the investment in an Influencer Marketing campaign can start from tens of euros or barters with stock products, in the case of campaigns with nano or micro-influencers, and can reach tens of thousands of euros, in the case of large campaigns where influencers with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers are integrated.

In case we are talking about a strong brand with a very large budget to invest in promotion, which requires the participation of several major influencers in the same campaign, the budget can easily exceed several hundred thousand euros.

What are the ways a brand can collaborate with content creators?

In general, interaction with influencers that fall into the categories: nano (2k – 10k followers) and micro (11K – 50K followers) can be done directly.

If a brand opts for an Influencer Marketing campaign, carried out together with an influencer with hundreds of thousands or millions of followers (such as Late Night, Selly, 5Gang, or Bianca Adam), things get complicated and the investment increases considerably.

Basically, there are 3 ways you can initiate a partnership for an Influencer Marketing campaign:

Direct – Some influencers are happy to negotiate directly with brands themselves. However, you have to consider that a significant part of this industry is professionally represented by talent agents, managers or influencer networks.
Agents – An agency that constantly collaborates with influencers can be a convenient solution, because often costs are negotiated and brands can benefit from advantageous offers.
Multi-channel networks (MCNs) – Networks that represent a list of influencers and collaborate only with those content creators who are part of their network (which may mean limited options). Also, in this case additional costs for media and intermediary services may arise.

6 ways influencers can make money from Instagram

Instagram offers countless monetization opportunities for content creators.

In principle, these opportunities differ from case to case, depending on a number of criteria, such as:

Number of followers
Nice
Commitment rate
Conversion potential (Average conversion rate)

Depending on the position of the influencers in relation to these criteria, financial gains may be lower or higher.

In either case, they can absorb brand budgets by:

Pay per post (PPP) – allows brands to pay a fixed amount for a single post or a series of posts.
Pay per campaign – Integrating influencers into a larger campaign and working with them on a set amount for the duration of the campaign.
Pay per click (PPC or CPC – cost per click) – a payment method whereby the influencer is paid for each click on the link in the post(s) made for the brand.
Pay per purchase (cost per acquisition – CPA) – is a method of payment whereby influencers are paid when their efforts generate customers for the brand.
Barter – Campaigns that usually involve nano and micro influencers that brands reward with products, services, travel or other experiences that do not involve direct financial remuneration.

8 reasons to choose Instagram advertising for your business

Instagram is a great way to expand your business’s interaction with your current and future customers. If you’re still wondering what Instagram promotion means and how you can use it in your marketing efforts, then it’s good to learn more.

Since its inception, Instagram has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for companies looking to expand their online presence and product visibility. While there are paid advertising and sponsorship opportunities, advertising on Instagram is free, and companies can establish a significant following without the expense. On the other hand, you have the opportunity to take advantage of other marketing methods , using paid advertising on Instagram.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is an extremely popular photo and video sharing social media platform. Companies that choose Instagram sponsorship and use specialists or influencers are more successful in their online marketing campaigns.

If you’re still not convinced if it’s worth it to turn to Instagram advertising, here are 8 reasons that will convince you that the approach is really worth it.

1. Still many people use Instagram.

According to Instagram, businesses’ social media presence currently brings in over 1 billion active users. Of this huge crowd, over 500 million people are on Instagram daily. Promotion on Instagram has reached enormous heights that we could not have imagined in decades past.

2. Any business can thrive

If you look at the price level of Instagram promotion, you’ll find that there are opportunities to promote on Instagram even for medium and small businesses. Regardless of the size of your company, the products or services you offer, a well-designed paid Instagram promotion campaign can be maximally successful.

Of course, even for the most well-known companies, success won’t come overnight, but if you have the support of a media agency with specialists in Instagram ad management, you have every chance of delivering the right message to your audience.

Companies can increase brand awareness and reach their target audience by keeping an active presence and maintaining a routine of at least one post a day.

3. Businesses can earn directly from Instagram.

Instagram has evolved over the years to enable e-commerce activity on the platform. Today, there is a greater emphasis on earning money through product placement using effective Instagram advertising.

The latest update allows users to discover and buy from brands directly through Instagram. Instagram also offers shopping posts, which allow companies to add tags to products in their photos with links that include a product description, price and the ability to “buy now,” which will lead the user to your online store

4. Stories make your business better known

Instagram is a great way to show potential customers that you’re more than just a faceless corporation. This can be done through many of the app’s features, through marketing efforts on Instagram but you’ll really make a great impression using live posts and stories.

Live posts on Instagram are also a great way to build relationships, trust and credibility with followers, as well as showing that there is a human side to your business. Such Instagram account promotion establishes a closer connection with your audience, who are more likely to interact with your company.

5. You can collaborate with influencers

For those who don’t know yet, influencers are online celebrities who often promote a brand or product and bring it into the mainstream. You’ve probably heard of influencer marketing and want to know how it can benefit your business.

An influencer marketing Romania can take your company’s sales to a new level through increased return on investment and access to demographics you wouldn’t normally reach. If you use the services of a well-known influencer, then they can advertise your company and products to millions of followers in just a few posts. Fear not, these influencer prices are unattainable. For any business, there is the right influencer to deliver the best influencer campaigns to support your business.

6. You can interact more effectively with customers.

Instagram is a platform where users can like, comment and share their favorite posts. The more likes and comments you get, the more visible your company becomes. You can get more likes by taking high-quality photos, using local hashtags and partnering with influencers. Any type of Instagram advertising is meant to develop this relationship with your customers.

7. Effectively monitor the competition

Your company can use Instagram to track your competitors and see how they interact with their customers. Watch closely to find out how often they post, what content they post, and what effects the posts have. Agencies that offer Instagram promotion services can also monitor your competitors’ Instagram activity.

8. Reach new consumers with Instagram ads.

With different Instagram ads, you’ll be able to reach new customers and expand your reach with customizable and trackable ads. You can target specific demographics and collect valuable user data that will help you with various social media marketing efforts.

Part II

As mentioned in the body of the article, the second part is devoted to some informed opinions from the industry.

In what follows, Florin Grozea and Cristian China-Birta, people with authority in the sphere of Influencer Marketing and Social Media Marketing in Romania, agreed to answer two questions related to the revenue that an influencer can get from Instagram, but also the benefits that a content creator can offer to a brand.

We start with the first question, namely:

How much income can an influencer make from Instagram alone?

Florin Grozea:

“Instagram is currently the most popular Social Media platform in the world.

In many statistics, when people talk about the Influencer Marketing market, they almost exclusively refer to Instagram – to understand how important this network is in the context of our discussion.

In Romania I know creators who earn more than 60-80 thousand euros per year just from campaigns on Instagram.

In the United States it is said that the biggest stars earn between 200,000 and 400,000 dollars per sponsored photo.

Those would be the maximum figures, of course.”

Cristian China-Birta:

“I would make a small (but huge!) nuance: you don’t make money from Instagram, you make money from the business you build around what you do on Instagram, because those who give you money, give you on the contract and on the invoice (if you don’t do that, I’ll tell you straight: you’re an evader) and follow some business goals (even if sometimes the influencer doesn’t understand them).

How much money you can make from the business you have on Instagram just depends on how good you are at managing that business.

Because a hundred thousand followers doesn’t guarantee that people will jump on you with money. But what conversions you bring to a customer out of a hundred thousand followers is the metric that the person giving you the money is tracking.

There are influencers in Romania who ask you 1,000 Euro per picture. If he sells 10 of these pictures, he has a 10.000 Euro business.

It’s just that there are few who really make money. And it’s only the ones who’ve figured out that they have to have a business mindset.

The others, most of them, who are frustrated that they have thousands of followers and people don’t jump on them with their money, have stayed at the artist stage and haven’t gotten into the business mindset.

Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. It’s just that they don’t make money, that’s all.”

What are the benefits an influencer can offer a brand on Instagram?

Florin Grozea:

“Influencers primarily bring awareness/branding – from this point of view, Influencer Marketing is subscribed to the field of Communication.

The larger and more general audiences (what we call Macro-Influencers and Celebrities), the more you pay for image association.

The more niche audiences (Micro-Influencers, Niche Experts, Specialists), the lower the fees, but also the lower the impact.

The ‘secret’ is to know your target audience very well (ages, gender, regions, income, hobbies, preferred platforms, fads, trends, etc.) and to find the Influencer who has that audience, which is why good Influencer campaigns are always done by Influencer experts, not done by ear.

It’s natural for any business to track sales, but the moment when the site visitor buys the product is the last in the buying journey/path.

In general a customer’s journey passes through several moments:

I hear > I know about > I appreciate > I’m convinced > I want to buy.

The first parts are from the Awareness area (and are handled by the Communications/PR department/agency), the last parts are from the Sales area (and are handled by the Sales team or, in the case of online stores, the website itself).

Influencers are meant to draw attention to new products/brands/offers, and possibly to add strength to already known products/brands/offers.“

Cristian China-Birta:

“This is a long discussion, but I’ll shorten it to make it clear.

I’d see three big, broad benefits:

Awarness. The brand reaches a large community of people through the influencer that would otherwise be very difficult to reach.

Refferal. It sends people to your site or subscribes them to your newsletter or whatever you ask them to do and it’s very measurable on the conversion line (versus awarness where the only indicator is “how many people saw”).

Association with the influencer’s brand. This is really cool. When it works, of course. I mean in the mind of the follower of influencer X your brand has no value associated with it. Which changes when the influencer says “mah, I like this brand”.

Part III

In the third part of this article we chose to talk directly to a few content creators (micro-influencers and nano-influencers) who are doing a great job and enjoying significant audiences on the Instagram accounts they own.

We were curious to find out:

How much do these people invest in promotion on Instagram and what’s the payoff?
How do they promote their accounts?

They answered our questions:

Iuliana Mihai (@iulianamihai): +30,000 followers on Instagram
Andreea Calutoiu (@andreeacalutoiu): +13,000 followers on Instagram
Dalia Bugnar (@daliabgnr): +11,000 followers on Instagram
Beatrice (@beatriceforsure): +2700 followers on Instagram
But also another influencer, with +13,000 followers on Instagram, who didn’t want to make his name public.

Let’s see what they responded.

How much do you invest in promotion and what do you earn from Instagram?

Iuliana Mihai (@iulianamihai) – +30,000 followers on Instagram:

“If the question refers to a specific balance per month, then I confess that I did not choose this option, and the equity is zero.

The gain, looked at from another perspective, I can say I am satisfied because the benefits are innumerable.

What’s the gain?

I like that I can interact with all sorts of people, and I’ve even made friends through it, being a little influencer.

I have chosen to work on a barter basis with many different companies in Romania that I think fit my niche.

The advantage of these barter campaigns is that they take away part of my personal budget that I used to use to buy those products.

Sometimes it’s also the curiosity to try out new products that I’ve been hearing about or maybe even something new.”

Andreea Calutoiu (@andreeacalutoiu) – +13,000 followers on Instagram:

“Does experience count? So far actual money I haven’t yet managed to win or even a contract.

I started collaborations about 4 months ago, but I was only contacted by small brands that were just starting out… like me for that matter.

But I can be proud that I gained “a lot” through instagram… I gained a lot of experience, learned to negotiate better (which I’m glad because I love to negotiate), met new people and formed “virtual friendships”.

From my point of view I have gained a lot, I feel 20% fulfilled that I have made new acquaintances (I am a very friendly and communicative nature).

I didn’t set myself a target of “I want to earn so much money”.

And I’m not thinking about it very intensely at the moment either, for the simple reason that I also have a basic job that takes up about 9 hours of my daily time and my time for income from Instagram at the moment is very limited, but I can occupy myself enough to promote the small pages that are just starting out….+ review with pro/con opinions is easy.

That’s about how much I’ve gained through Instagram, friends – connections and new acquaintances from other areas.”

Dalia Bugnar (@daliabgnr) – +11,000 followers on Instagram:

“I don’t earn anything from Instagram. That’s the most appropriate response I can give. However, the truth is that my passion is taking pictures, editing them, arranging them and creating quality content.

It’s not easy, but when you’re driven by passion, nothing can be impossible.

I gain experience, knowledge, make new friends, discover new things, perfect what I do and do it with all my heart.

The truth is that since I was a little girl I loved discovering new places and posing them, posing in beautiful places and enjoying other people’s art.

And Instagram, it’s the perfect place where you gain friends, acquaintances, meet clothing designers, find out their stories and share yours with them, it’s like a virtual family.

I could go on and on about this topic, but I’m sure I’ve touched on the essence. Instagram is my second home.”

Beatrice (@beatriceforsure) – +2,700 followers on Instagram:

“I like to think that Instagram is a platform that is always open to something new, the truth is that you can integrate with a wide variety of products and services as long as you know how to promote them.

First of all, I don’t make a fortune from Instagram and I’m not looking for that.

I see all exposure as an easier means of communication between companies/talented people who have something to offer and the thirsty table for new at every turn. I became an ambassador for a company even, in that way receiving commission from sales.

I don’t think I asked for money for exposure as much as I collaborated on barter with those who wanted to reach my audience.

I prefer barter collaborations because I have the opportunity to test a product/service myself and then form an opinion, so I know clearly what the potential winner of the competition would benefit from.

I think that’s how we all win, especially if nobody has anything to hide.”

Content creator (anonymous) – +13,000 followers on Instagram:

“I’ve been working with some brands in Romania for a while now and everything is done under contract.

Mainly, for the posts I make on my Instagram page I charge between 75 and 100 euros per post. Sometimes the collaborations are barter and then the price of the post almost doubles or the ratio is 1+1/2.

I’ll say I make 200 euros a month cash, sometimes more, sometimes less or not at all, if I’m away or have no activity or just don’t accept below that threshold or the product/service doesn’t fit on the page/doesn’t resonate with it.

In addition to the actual post, I also offer to promote it on stories, which also propagates to my blog’s Facebook page.”

How do you promote your Instagram page?

Iuliana Mihai (@iulianamihai) – +30,000 followers on Instagram:

“I’ve owned my Instagram account for a few years, and this growth of my account has been gradual.

I turned to ways to use the benefits of the app and was always researching ways to expose content.

Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing, which means the strategies have always been different.

I’ve recently had a tendency to sponsor a post, but I thought about it more and realized that this might negatively affect me if not thought through very well.

So I dropped the idea and focused on all the benefits of the app: likes, comments, saves, tags, questions on posts and, of course, stories and ongoing collaborations.”

Andreea Calutoiu (@andreeacalutoiu) – +13,000 followers on Instagram:

“I’ll tell you honestly, I don’t have a method by which I promote my page specifically.

Lately I’ve been turning to giveaways a lot, and one of the requirements was “share” in the contest.

Along the way I started posting care/make-up products or products I tried for the first time, started interacting with people who messaged me and asked me what I thought of the products and what their benefits were, etc.

Most of the time my colleagues share my content… I wanted to resort to promoting the page for a fee, but I’m kind of very skeptical when it comes to introducing the card and in addition to that I saw people who resorted to this method, and the ads from them became more and more “aggressive” and I ended up spamming them.

I don’t think that paying money to promote your page is the “smartest” move, because unintentionally by advertising aggressively you are pushing and “forcing” the person to follow you and interact with you.

From my point of view you have to let the account “grow” naturally, at least that’s how I do it (although sometimes I force the note through giveaways), I let the man follow me on his own initiative to support me because he wants to not because he came across an ad with my account.

And as for collaborations with brands… uh here honestly I think they go very much by content, the saying “man looks at the face”.

In conclusion, I let my account grow slowly, not forced, that’s like in life… the more you force, the harder it is mentally to accept some things. (Let’s face it, if I spend money on ads and see I only get 10-20 followers, I’m disappointed that deh’ I paid for this service and “people don’t want me”, what’s wrong?).”

Dalia Bugnar (@daliabgnr) – +11,000 followers on Instagram:

“Pretty good question. Let’s start at the beginning.

In the beginning I was promoting my posts, my own creation (if you remember those pictures of arrangements: cards, flowers, coffee, chocolate, croissant), and I loved doing that.

I was getting quite a few likes and that kept me going (this was two years ago). Over time, the app started getting new updates and the posts were getting pretty hard to reach the people following me.

I currently don’t pay Instagram to promote my posts, nor stories, but neither do the posts themselves in the Feed. More recently I’ve started collaborating with companies that make slippers, but also clothing.

I promote their products, and they promote me for dressing and posing their products.

My job is not an easy one, I spend a lot of time on the phone, I try to use as many editing programs as I can and I try to perfect my style, continuously.

As an answer to the question, I’ll make it clear: I promote my page by promoting other designers and that’s how I manage to grow as much as I can, or at least maintain myself.”

Beatrice (@beatriceforsure) – +2,700 followers on Instagram:

“I’ve never paid for promotion, although I see that button daily and know it would help me.

I’m just trying to show my family on Instagram that I’m honest, I’m me, that they see me as a friend and not some random chick advertising various products.

I post as often as time allows, so I try to keep a connection between us all, I post and repost to the story, sometimes serious situations, sometimes things that amuse me.

I want to share with you every moment and make even a bad day a post, it is necessary to expose the reality that nobody lives a perfect life.

I promote myself in everyday life when I meet beautiful people I feel I resonate with.

I prefer to grow slowly and organically with followers who resonate with my content.

I don’t recommend buying followers, as tempting as it may be and as much as you think you’ll get your share of “fame”, it’s seen as a ploy from afar and you’ll be penalized not only by Instagram, but by people looking for people like them, real people.

It also matters enormously in engagement to have active people on your profile, not just a large number of followers who simply don’t feel a connection to you.”

Content creator (anonymous) – +13,000 followers on Instagram:

For the promotion of the Instagram page I didn’t find too
many ways, I use boost on posts that I find “catchy”, contests with
prizes or stickers with the NAME Tag of the page pasted in hot areas of the city
/ places where I travel.

Boosting posts doesn’t bring me satisfactory results,
but from 10 euros upwards, the contests have also started to stagnate, but in
the only reasonable solution in terms of price and results, and
stickers don’t work in Romania because not everyone knows that stickers
can scan or there are people who don’t even know what they are.

Another way of promotion is sharing posts or stories on my personal Facebook profile, including all my media channels (Blog, YouTube, personal Facebook page and profile, Instagram) are somehow united and I always promote on one channel and the others.

CONCLUSIONS

Instagram still remains a very attractive, albeit complex, territory for content creators, as does Facebook, despite the problems of recent years.

We’re talking about an extremely attractive niche for brands, a territory where Facebook (still) rules the roost, sucking tens of billions of dollars annually from the advertising campaigns that brands run on its two platforms: Facebook and Instagram.

But the competition is (apparently) pretty fierce.

SnapChat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and Tik Tok are all fighting for their slice of the audience in this huge market of billions of users, apparently limited only by network coverage.

Even so, these platforms are still far from the market share that Facebook (+2 billion users) and Instagram (+1 billion users) have.

That’s why brands still prefer to allocate the bulk of their social media budgets to the two platforms, even though Facebook is facing:

big image problems
major data leaks
an aging audience
an environment dominated by fake news and hate speech

Despite these problems, Facebook is apparently managing to keep the Instagram platform at bay, and it shows.

Every day new content creators emerge, eager to promote themselves and monetize their work, and brands stand in line to implement their promotion strategies.

It’s clear that today, Instagram is the most attractive platform for both content creators and brands.

But niche is volatile, and things can change from day to day.

What tomorrow will bring remains to be seen.

RECAP: