Paid Social Advertising
Instagram Advertising
Instagram Advertising Agency: Advertise on Instagram With One Day Agency
Instagram is easily one of the biggest social networks globally, with about 2.25 billion active users every month. It's also among the most popular channels for advertising reach, given the size of the potential viewer base brands can engage with.
Originally designed as a visual-only platform, today there are multiple ad formats, each with respective benefits. That gives companies options to attract new customers and promote their offerings through creative ads, video content and highly targeted visuals.
While Instagram isn't a new channel, it's still one of the primary environments where trends are made, purchasing decisions influenced, and where communities gather. Ad styles like Reels can go viral overnight and Stories encourage instant clicks, reactions and conversations.
The Advantages of Instagram Advertising
Businesses and marketers can create native-formatted ads for Instagram. That means promotions and messaging can be placed within Explore pages, Reels and Stories without being intrusive, aligning with the organic content each user already wants to engage with.
Advanced targeting gives marketers limitless ways to align their ads with the consumer groups they want to reach, filtering audiences by aspects like demographics, locations, behaviour, interests and age.
Visually focused ad campaigns provide a great opportunity to use dynamic creatives to capture attention, presenting products, ideas or services in a way that draws the eye and cements brand recognition.
Instagram Advertising Model
Instagram is part of the Meta family, and brands can manage campaigns via the Meta Ads Platform, where they’ll also be able to handle corresponding promotions on other channels. Here’s a quick look at how it works:
Advertisers pick from several possible ad formats, ranging from straightforward single-image ads to carousels, videos, Stories and Reels.
They set their objectives to ensure campaigns are monitored to track progress against relevant targets. That could be, for example, to improve brand awareness, to grow a larger following or to achieve better engagement.
Targeting, as with all Meta channels, is detailed. Brands can select the specific parameters that matter most to them, retarget users who they’ve interacted with before, or create lookalike audiences.
Budgeting for Instagram ads is flexible, and brands can choose either manual or automated bidding depending on what makes the most sense, ensuring they’re not overspending or hoping for an ad to go viral with a minimal investment.
The secret to successful Instagram ads lies in developing content that fits into the user experience, adapting existing campaigns or creating fresh content that looks natural within a curated content feed.
Types of Instagram Ads
Static Image Ads
Single-image ads are the most-used advertising format, and something Instagram users are used to seeing. Standout imagery or photography is the best way to encourage users to like, share, comment, follow, or react, with options to add links to brand pages, products or accounts.
Instagram Video Ads
Video ads on Instagram are short-form, and brands can create snappy videos that show up in user feeds with a maximum running time of 60 seconds. They can also develop extended videos to tell a story or share a tutorial, publishing these promotions through Reels.
Carousel Advertising
Carousels are an easy way to incorporate several video shorts or images in one ad, with a format that users can swipe through, with individualised captions underneath. Marketers use this format to show pictures in a sequence, to highlight their product features, or to launch new ranges.
Instagram Stories
Stories appear as full-screen vertical ads, in a format that Instagram users scroll through, with content remaining visible only for 24 hours. Time-limited content creates a sense of urgency, and is ideal for promotions such as announcements, limited-usage discount codes or flash sales.
Reels Ads on Instagram
Reels are the Instagram content format that most often goes viral, with a similar feel to a TikTok post. These ads are a good option for brands trying to take advantage of new trends, with the ability to add stickers, hashtags or trending audio files that make a promotion feel more culturally relevant.
Explore Ad Promotions
The Explore page curates a huge range of content based on similar accounts, topics, styles, interests and hashtags – all linked to the individual user's past behaviour. Inserting ads into the Explore page helps users discover new brands, products and services, with clever targeting that ensures ads are perceived as natural.
Who Is Instagram Advertising For?
Developing Instagram ads that are designed for the aesthetics of the platform and that appear as native content is essential, as is targeting promotions correctly to ensure advertising is contextual and relevant.
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Retailers in the fashion and beauty industries, who create stylised content and drive sales with demos, giveaways and influencer partnerships.
Hospitality companies and food and drink producers, who use themed and atmospheric ads and videos to resonate with target age groups.
Travel and leisure providers, with travel content among the most watched on the channel, and where they share aspirational images to urge consumers to book.
Fitness and wellness brands are common Instagram advertisers, with Reels and Stories being easy ways to gain returns with quick shorts that are highly shareable.
Why Advertise on Instagram?
Provided Instagram ads are high-quality and on-message, they can form the starting point for brands to scale quickly, with repeat exposure often the best way to develop a strong following.
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Access to vast audience numbers, with billions of active monthly users who scroll, shop and share based on their interests and activities.
Creating a strong and recognisable brand identity that users relate to and find familiar, further improving engagement and reactions.
Options to utilise influencer partnerships and collaborations, providing instant access to potentially enormous audiences to extend reach and brand credibility.
Advanced analytics and targeting to refine ad strategy and campaign budgets based on real-time performance and the returns being achieved.
How Can One Day Help?
One Day works with brands across the industries, as a team of senior marketing consultants, creative design specialists and advertising experts who design and publish Instagram campaigns that stop users scrolling and incentivise a response.
We have years of expertise in trend monitoring, data-backed targeting and turning concepts into campaigns with great traction. Our role is to provide continual support and campaign coordination, from helping with initial creative direction through to A/B testing and ongoing optimisation.
Media Case Studies.
Read about some of our work and cases ranging from Pay-per-Click, Out-of-Home, Digital Ads, TV Advertising, Paid Social and more.
B2B Lead Generation - PPC, Paid Social and Creative
Pet Food Retailer - Out-of-Home Campaign
Footwear E-Commerce - Paid Social and PPC
Meet the Media Planning Team
Klaudia
Head of Department
Shelby
Media Planning & Buying
Scott
Media Planning & Buying
“Instagram is a social media channel where visual creativity is the vital ingredient for success. Understanding Instagram's culture, user behaviour, and how to make campaigns feel authentic is a delicate balancing act, but one that can transform a single ad into thousands of engagements.”
Ricardo Seixas, Founder and CEO, One Day Agency
Frequently Asked Questions.
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It all depends on your budget, the life stage of the brand and the outcomes you want to achieve – and natural, authentic content, especially live Stories and Reels, can work incredibly well for younger brands. However, it's also important to think about the style and visual appeal of your ads, as this is what brands rely on to achieve returns.
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Instagram's ad costs are influenced by numerous variables—ad type (Feed, Stories, Reels), competition (especially in verticals like fashion or finance), audience specificity, ad relevance, seasonal demand, and creative performance.
In summary:
Expect CPCs between $0.40 and $1.25 (with peaks above $3 during peak shopping periods).
CPMs range from $3 to $10, though widely reported averages hover near $8–$9.
Engagement is cheap—$0.01–$0.07 per like/comment/share.
Higher-value conversions (leads or product purchases) can range between $3–$50 depending on your audience and funnel stage.
