Facebook promotions seem like a way of draining your bank account for little return, but if you use them in the right way as a blogger, influencer or business, you can turn the engagement into followers and potential sales. One of my followers gave me some amazing feedback and requested I specifically write a blog post about promotions on Facebook and Instagram. Coincidentally, I did a test a couple of months back to see how setting up these campaigns works and put some different factors (and people) to the test. All of my answers are based on my own experience and knowledge - so with that being said, let’s jump on in.

The first question is a double whammy…

“I’ve just started my Instagram page and would like to grow my following. Are Instagram Promotions an effective tool to enable me to do this? Have you ever used the Instagram Promotions tool? If so, how did it work for you?”

Yes, they can be effective when set up correctly. When I first started my Instagram page, I ran campaigns focusing on the wrong things (not realising) and wasted my money. After a few months of wasted campaigns and money, seeing only likes, not actual follower growth (scroll back to my first 5 or so posts), a Facebook Ad Account manager reached out to me to help optimise what I was doing. They recommended I set up all my ads within the Facebook Ad Manager on Facebook.com rather than through Instagram. I did this and saw some growth, but realised that focusing too much on who would see my ad actually took away from the purpose of growth. Recently (as my testing but also because why not) I ran two paid campaigns to see if the Instagram Promotions tool would provide the same growth or more than what I was seeing about a year ago when I talked with the Ad Account Manager. What I found was that using the Instagram algorithm to assess who was best to target actually worked, but the key was having me in the image. I think this is pretty much essential unless you have a really engaging or professional photo with a good caption that entices people to find out more - otherwise, people are interested in people. I used to work at a huge Advertising Tech company and they ran tests to see what people engaged with more in terms of ads, this was one of the biggest, yet most straightforward takeaways and no matter what I share, I see the benefit when people are in the pictures.

“If I pay to use Instagram Promotions, what can I expect to receive in return?”

Ultimately, you set your goal. If you want followers, you can set up your ads to attract people to visit your profile or follow you, if you want sales, you set this up as the mechanic through which people engage with your promotion.

“So, I’ve decided to go ahead and use Instagram Promotions, how do I know what budget to set? Would I benefit more from having a long-running promotion with a low daily spend or a shorter promotion with a higher daily spend?”

From my experience, higher budget daily over a longer time period (obvious isn’t it?) - the more you spend and the longer you promote, the more you will see. In terms of the fact that as influencers, you are likely not generating a large Instagram business income yet (I’m positioning this from a beginner perspective) so make your money work for you. Spending a smaller amount over a longer amount of time will not only spread out your campaign but allows the algorithm to learn your audience or potential audience better and could potentially attract more followers/etc for you.

Do brands ever ask you to use Instagram Promotions to increase the reach of the sponsored post/story?

Yes, but you have (should have) the choice to opt into this. If they approach you and ask, consider the benefits or drawbacks. If you are worried about security or page access, ask them how they will be promoting and to whom. On the other hand, don’t forget that if you’re worried about their access when you are done with the campaign, you can remove them from access to your Instagram account. Remember that this could benefit you in that you are getting paid promotion that you are not paying for. I once had a partnership with a brand and they asked to promote my content, and I received a huge growth, so much so that I wish they had continued promoting my post. At the same time, requesting to promote your post does not always been they will directly be promoting the post on your profile once you grant them access. They may create a second promotion that will be promoted through your account but not directly via your post and this can also be managed in the Facebook Business Manager in the same area that you would add a brand to be an advertiser.

Would I be better off promoting a story or post?

When you go to promote on Facebook Ad Manager, you can choose where your post can be seen. I’d recommend promoting a video and sizing it specifically if you are going to run in stories, otherwise, a normal post is fine in either. Really this is dependent on what you believe your potential audience will engage with. If you think a story you shared got lots of traction and it can take your account further, share that. If you think that your post was highly engaging and has a great caption to go with it that will draw people into your account use that. I will say that if you’re on the border of what to promote, go with a post that did well.

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The last thing I do want to share is that seeing your ads come up on other people’s Instagram may be cringe-worthy, but ultimately, like speaking to your followers on stories, you’ll become more comfortable with promoting yourself and your account as you grow. There’s no getting around your existing followers potentially seeing your paid ad as they will be in your target audience, but just sit back and take a deep breath and think about how much you want to grow and help your account succeed and that this may be a step you take on your journey. If anything, maybe other people will be inspired to do the same.

As I mentioned, this isn’t an exhaustive Q&A, this is just the top line, but should help you understand more about running promotions on Facebook and Instagram. If you have any other insight or are an expert on this topic, please do share in the comments, and if you have any questions, ask away.