The Instagram advertising conversation is usually pitched at budgets in the tens of thousands. Most small businesses do not spend that. A candid look at what $500 a month actually achieves, based on three small businesses reviewed for this piece, is more useful.
What the money buys
$500 a month, well targeted, buys roughly 8,000 to 15,000 impressions to a locally-defined audience. Clickthrough on a well-crafted creative is around 1.2 per cent. Conversion from that click to a sale, for the businesses reviewed, ranged from 2 per cent to 7 per cent.
What worked
Two things. First, tightly-defined geographic targeting; national campaigns at this budget produce nothing. Second, creative that used the business owner's own voice and, where possible, face.
What didn't
Broad-audience awareness campaigns. Video creatives longer than nine seconds. A/B tests with fewer than 200 clicks per variant, which produced statistically meaningless results but felt like data.
