Instagram advertising: a guide for webshops (2026)

Instagram ads are bought in Meta

Advertising on Instagram happens in Meta Ads Manager, the same tool as Facebook ads. Targeting, auction and budget are shared, and Meta spreads the ads across Instagram, Facebook and the other placements itself, unless you lock them.

You can also promote a post straight from the Instagram app. It's quick, but gives you fewer choices of objective, targeting and measurement. If the ads need to sell products from a webshop, they belong in Ads Manager.

This guide covers what's specific to Instagram: the placements, the formats and the creative. The account, campaign structure and tracking are the same as on Facebook, and we go through those in the guide to Facebook advertising.

What you need to get started

Most of the setup is the same as for Facebook. If you already advertise there, you usually only need to connect your Instagram profile.

• An Instagram profile set up as a professional account.
• A Facebook page and a Business Manager that the Instagram profile is connected to.
• An ad account in Ads Manager with a payment method.
• The Meta pixel and the Conversions API on the webshop, so purchases from Instagram are measured.
• Creative in vertical format. Instagram is built for the phone, and most of what works is vertical.

The placements and what they're for

Reels is now the placement with the most cheap reach, and the one that looks most like organic content. Feed often converts better per click, because people scroll more slowly. Stories sits somewhere in between and is strong for retargeting, where people already know the brand.

• Reels: vertical full-screen video. Cheap reach, but the creative has to grab attention in the first second.
• Stories: vertical full screen between friends' stories. Good for offers and for people who've visited the shop.
• Feed: image, video or carousel between posts from people you follow. There's room for a bit more explanation here.
• Explore: ads among the content Instagram suggests. People are actively looking for something new.

Let Meta choose the placement

In practice you shouldn't choose placements by hand. Let Advantage+ placements spread the budget, and make sure instead that the creative exists in the right formats, so the ad doesn't look squashed wherever it lands.

When you lock the placement, you bid on fewer slots, and Meta can't move the money to where the result is cheapest. It's one of the most common reasons an Instagram campaign ends up costing more than it needs to.

Formats and sizes

Vertical 9:16 for Reels and Stories, 4:5 or square 1:1 for feed. If you only upload one format, Meta crops it itself, and the crop often cuts into the text or the product. It's better to make two versions and put them in the same ad, so Meta uses whichever fits the placement.

The aspect ratio matters more than the pixel dimensions. Deliver in high resolution and let Meta scale.

• Keep important text and the product away from the top and bottom of 9:16, where the profile name, buttons and caption sit on top.
• Make the videos work without sound. A large share of people watch with the sound off, so subtitles are a conversion lever, not a detail.
• Say the most important thing in the first few seconds. That's what hook rate is measured on, and what decides whether the ad gets shown more.
• A carousel uses the same ratio on every card. The first card has to work on its own.

The text on an Instagram ad

On Instagram the image or video carries the message, and the text below the ad confirms it. Put the most important thing in the first line, because the rest gets hidden behind a More button.

The headline and button display differently from placement to placement, and in Reels and Stories they take up very little space. So don't put the offer in the text alone. If the price or discount only appears there, most people never see it. Say it in the video itself or on the image.

Write the way your customers write. An ad that sounds like a press release falls flat between posts from friends and people you follow.

How to set up an Instagram campaign

The setup is the same as for a Facebook campaign. What's different is the creative and the preview.

1. Create a campaign in Ads Manager with the Sales objective, and choose Purchase as the optimisation event.
2. Choose your Instagram profile as the identity, so the ad is shown from your profile.
3. Leave placements on Advantage+ placements, unless you have a specific reason to lock them.
4. Upload the creative in both 9:16 and 4:5, and use the option to choose creative per placement.
5. Check the preview for Reels, Stories and feed one at a time, and fix crops and any text that gets covered by buttons.
6. Let the campaign run for a week before you judge it, and look at the results broken down by placement in Ads Manager.

When Instagram, and when Facebook?

The short answer is that you rarely have to choose. The placements compete in the same auction, and when the budget is spread automatically, Meta moves it to where the result is cheapest. Lock it to Instagram alone and you remove that option and risk paying more for the same thing.

There are situations where it makes sense to steer. If you only have vertical video, it fits Reels and Stories best, and a campaign that only uses those placements can be cleaner than one where the video gets cropped for feed. If you want to test a particular format or a particular creator, a separate campaign also makes the result easier to read.

Look at cost per purchase broken down by placement, not at CPM. A placement with a high CPM can still give the cheapest purchases. If the numbers show that one placement consistently gives more expensive purchases, try new creative made for that exact format before you switch the placement off.

What works at Danish volume

Creative that looks like a post rather than an advert. The product in use, an honest claim in the first few seconds, and a person rather than a packshot. That applies on Facebook too, but it's clearer on Instagram, where people expect the feed to feel personal.

Content from customers and creators (UGC) suits Instagram for the same reason. Run it as a partnership ad from the creator's profile, and the ad shows both their name and yours, and looks even more like something people could have found themselves.

Expect to replace creative more often than on other channels. The Reels format burns out quickly, and frequency climbs fast in a small market. Four to six new pieces of creative a month is a realistic starting point for an active account.

Catalogue ads on Instagram

If you have a product catalogue connected to Meta, the same catalogue ads that run on Facebook can be shown on Instagram. They show products based on what each person has looked at in the shop, and they're strong for getting back to people who have already considered a product.

The product images come from the feed, and on Instagram they sit side by side with posts from real people. A white packshot can look flat there. Consider lifestyle images in the feed, or add a frame with brand and price over the images, so the products don't get lost.

Common mistakes on Instagram

Most of the expensive Instagram accounts we see have the same problems. They're rarely about budget and almost always about creative and setup.

• A horizontal video from YouTube or the website that ends up small in the feed and cropped in Reels.
• Posts promoted in the app with the expectation that they'll sell like a sales campaign.
• Placements locked to Instagram without anyone checking whether it gives cheaper purchases.
• Text and price at the bottom of a vertical video, where the buttons cover them.
• The same Reel running until frequency is high and click-through rate has dropped.
• Success measured in followers or likes when the goal is sales.

How to measure whether it works

Start with cost per purchase compared with contribution margin per order. That's the number that decides whether the budget goes up or down. Everything else is for working out why.

For video, hook rate and hold rate are the most important operating numbers. Hook rate shows how many people stop in the first few seconds. Hold rate shows how many keep watching. If hook rate is low, it's the start of the video that needs redoing. If it's high but nobody clicks, it's the message or the offer.

Compare with sales in the shop as well. Some of the demand Instagram creates only turns into a purchase later, via Google or a direct visit, and Ads Manager doesn't always see that part.

What it costs to advertise on Instagram, and what it has cost at the webshops we run Meta for, is covered in the article on Instagram advertising prices.