Instagram Promotion: How to Boost an Instagram Post (Pro Tips)

Do you have a great Instagram post you want more people to see?

Are you looking to boost engagement on your existing posts?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then it might be time to promote your posts. Promoting an Instagram post (a.k.a. Instagram boosting) is a great way to get your content in front of more people and rake in those precious likes, comments, and shares.

In this post, we’ll give you some tips on how to promote Instagram posts for maximum reach and impact. Plus, some top-secret industry tips you won’t get anywhere else.

Let’s get started!

What is Instagram promotion (a.k.a. Instagram boost)?

Instagram promotion is the act of paying to have your post seen by more people. When you promote or “boost” a post on Instagram, it will appear in the feeds of users who don’t follow you. Promoted posts can also appear in the Stories or the Explore tab.

Instagram boosts and promoted posts are a type of Instagram advertising. You’ll have the ability to target your audience by interest, location, and more.

The benefit of promoting your post is that you can reach a larger audience and get more engagement on your posts, which can lead to more followers.

Promoted Instagram posts also give you insights into how well your content is performing and who is seeing it, beyond just your regular audience.

What types of Instagram posts can you boost?

You can boost any type of Instagram post, including:

• Photos
• Videos
• Carousels
• Stories
• Posts with product tags

Boosted posts will appear in the Stories or the Explore tab. If you have an Instagram Professional account and Promote is available, you’ll see Boost Post as an option when you upload a post to your Feed.

Benefits of promoting an Instagram post

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms with over 1 billion monthly active users. Of those users, 90% follow business accounts, which gives you an opportunity to reach a highly motivated audience.

On top of that, Instagram has high engagement rates with posts averaging around 1.94%. By contrast, Facebook and Twitter have engagement rates of 0.07% and 0.18%.

Promoting your content on Instagram can help you reach a larger audience, get more engagement, and encourage people to take action on your posts.

There are a few reasons you might want to promote an Instagram post:

• To increase brand awareness: If you’re trying to reach new people who are likely to be interested in your products or services, promoting a post is a great way to do that.
• To get more engagement: Promoted posts can help you get more likes, comments, and shares, which can lead to organic reach and new followers.
• To drive traffic to your website: If you’re promoting a post with a link to your website, you can track how many people are clicking through to your site. Promoted posts can also lead to more sales or sign-ups.
• To reach your target audience effectively: Instagram’s targeting lets you choose who sees your promoted post. You can target by location, age, gender, interests, and more to better reach more interested customers.
• To collect data on marketing strategies: Every boosted post will come with data on how well it performed. You can use these metrics to see what’s working and adjust your strategies accordingly.

How to promote an Instagram post

To promote or boost an Instagram post, you’ll need to have an active Instagram Professional account. Once you have that setup, follow these steps.

1. Go to your Instagram Feed and click the post you want to boost. Then, click Boost. Keep in mind, Instagram recommends only boosting posts with images smaller than 8 MB to ensure the best quality.

2. Next, fill in details about your ad like the Goal, Audience, Budget, and Duration. The goal is the results you hope to see from this ad while the audience is who you want to reach with your message. The budget is how much you’re willing to spend on this ad per day. The duration is how long you want your ad to run.

3. Once you finish these steps, click Next. If you haven’t already connected your Instagram account to a Facebook Page, you’ll be prompted to do that now. Choose an existing account or click Skip to move on.

4. Complete your boosted post by clicking Boost post under Review.

From there, your ad will be submitted to Instagram for review and begin running once it’s approved.

Did you know you can also create Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns directly through Hootsuite? Follow this guide to learn more.

How to promote an Instagram post in Hootsuite

If you already use Hootsuite to manage your Instagram ads, you’re in luck! You can boost Instagram feed posts directly from your Hootsuite advertising dashboard. Just follow this step-by-step-process:

1. Go to Advertise, and then select Instagram Boost.
2. Select Find a post to Boost to see a list of your organic Instagram posts.
3. Choose the post you want to promote, and select Boost next to it.
4. In the Boost settings window, select the ad account you want Meta to charge for the boosted post, and select Save.
5. Enter the rest of your Boost settings.
6. Choose an objective (engagement, video views, or reach). Meta uses this information to show your post to people who are likely to take the action you want.
7. Choose your audience. If you want to customize the audience, select Edit and specify which attributes to target, like location, gender, age, and interests.
8. Choose whether you want Meta to promote your Instagram post on Facebook, or just Instagram.
9. Set your budget and the length of your promotion.
10. Select Boost on Instagram.
    1. Review the performance of your boosted Instagram posts in Hootsuite at any time by going to Advertise, and then selecting Instagram Boost.
    2. Select an ad account from the list to see all Instagram Boost campaigns associated with it. From here you can see reach, amount spent, and engagement for each campaign.

Pro tip: You can also boost Instagram posts from an Instagram Stream, Composer, or Planner. See the detailed instructions in our Helpdesk article.

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Instagram post promotion cost

One of the biggest benefits of promoting Instagram posts is that the cost is completely up to you. Promoted posts can cost as little as $0.50 per click, and you can set a daily budget so you never spend more than you’re comfortable with.

If you’re unsure what kind of budget to use for your promoted post, try setting up a draft campaign in your Instagram Ads Manager. Here, you’ll be able to see Audience Definition and Estimated Daily Results metrics which will give you an idea of whether your budget settings will be sufficient to reach your target audience.

Can you promote Instagram Reels?

Yes! As of 2021, you can now promote Reels on Instagram.

Promoted Instagram Reels will appear in the same places as regular Reels: the Reels tab, Explore, and in your feed. When a user taps into a reel from any of these locations, they’ll enter a viewer that exclusively shows Reels that scroll vertically.

Reels ads are full screen and vertical, similar to ads in Stories, and can be up to 30 seconds long. Audiences can also like, save, and share Reel ads.

Check out this guide to learn how to promote Reels on Instagram.

5 tips for Instagram post promotion

It’s easy to promote Instagram posts to get your content in front of more people. But as with any paid promotion, there are a few things to keep in mind to make sure you’re getting the most out of your investment.

Here are a few tips for promoting Instagram posts.

1. Use Instagram-specific features

While Instagram made its name as a photo-sharing app, today it’s so much more. Promote Instagram posts using all of the platform’s features, from Stories to Reels to Live.

The more you make use of Instagram’s features, the more chances you have of ranking in its algorithm. Not only will this help you reach more people, but it will also help you build a more engaged following.

2. Think about your target audience

One of the benefits of boosting Instagram posts is that you already have a built-in audience. But that doesn’t mean you should take them for granted.

Before you promote your Instagram post, take a step back and think about who you’re trying to reach.

• Who are you speaking to?
• What are their interests?
• What kind of content do they respond to?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions off the bat, try digging into your Instagram analytics to see how your previous posts were received. If you notice your Reels get the highest engagement or that carousel posts have the most shares, promote those first.

Your Hootsuite dashboard contains all the information you need to tailor your promoted Instagram posts to your audience. Use Hootsuite Analytics to figure out what time of day to promote your post and measure the impact after its live.

3. Promote carousel posts

Research has shown that carousel posts increase engagement rates on Instagram. Static carousel posts can boost engagement by as much as 5%! Add a video to that carousel, and you’re looking at an almost 17% increase.

To make the most of this format, try creating a carousel post of 8-10 images or video clips. On the first slide, ask your audience a question or include a powerful call to action. This will entice users to swipe left to see the rest of your content.

Don’t forget, you can create Instagram carousel ads quickly and easily with Hootsuite! Plus, track, optimize, and grow your Instagram presence directly from your dashboard.

4. Make use of product tags

If you’re set up for Instagram Shopping, you can promote Instagram posts that feature product tags. Doing this will drive people directly to a product details page on Instagram, where they can learn more about the product and make a purchase.

This is an especially effective way to promote your products if you’re running a promotion. Promote Instagram posts with product tags to let your audience know that there’s a special deal going on, and make it easy for them to take advantage of it.

Learn how to set up Instagram shopping here.

Source: Instagram

5. Promote your best posts

Image and video quality is an important part of the Instagram user experience—and it’s also a major ranking factor in the Instagram algorithm.

That means, if you want your content to be seen by more people, you need to make sure that the images and videos you’re promoting are high quality. Promoting your best posts will ensure that, not only is your audience seeing your best content but that it’s well-received.

When you’re looking for posts to promote, consider the following:

• The quality of the image or video
• The engagement (likes, comments, shares)
• The overall reach (how many people saw it)