Ads are a powerful way to extend your reach and amplify your efforts on Instagram and beyond. 

I’ve personally used ads to earn millions of streams on Spotify, and our agency has helped artists and creators from just about every genre do the same. 

But most people either use ads only at the most surface level or simply shy away from them altogether because they somehow feel… icky. 

I get it. 

I was an ad hater for years. 

Until I figured out how to leverage them to reach my goals. 

So instead of only using ads to get more followers in random countries you’ll never step foot in—”I’m huge in Bangladesh, bro”—let me show you how they can fit into your long-term growth strategy. 

The right way. 

Engagement isn’t everything 

Before we can use ads on Instagram to reach our goals, we first need to understand where they fit into our overall marketing system. 

The best way to illustrate this is with a basic funnel like this: 

Now, this is a simplified version, but there are three core elements to a marketing funnel: awareness, consideration, and making a purchase, or converting. 

And as you can see, I’ve placed ads right in the middle: consideration. 

There’s no doubt you can use ads to build your following on Instagram (or anywhere else for that matter), and you can also use ads to sell stuff directly on-platform. 

(I mean, honestly, you can run an entire marketing funnel from awareness to purchase on Instagram without ever pulling anyone off the platform).

The problem is this is great for IG but bad for us. 

You may be building an audience on Instagram, but are you building a community? Are you building relationships? And if so, how are you deepening that? 

We want to build a relationship with our audience, not just give them pretty videos from time to time, and we certainly don’t want to lose them in the abyss of Instagram, never to be seen or heard from again. 

If we’re thinking long-term, our ultimate goal is to pull people off of Instagram and into our world.

Specifically, into our email list. 

The benefits of ownership  

In the land of social media, email still reigns supreme, especially in the US. 

According to this article, over 90% of Americans use email. 

For context, less than half of the country uses Instagram. 

Posting organic content is a wonderful way to build a rapport with like-minded people on social media, but you and I both know the algorithm doesn’t always show our content to our followers. 

And when it shows our stuff to people who don’t follow us, there’s no guarantee we’ll ever find them again. 

We can use ads to “capture” the attention of all of those people—followers, folks who have sent a DM, saved posts, or just viewed our content—and we can retarget them with a well-timed ad and an attractive offer to pull them off-platform and earn their email address in exchange for something they already want. 

Once we have their email address, we can deepen that relationship and earn their business if and when they’re ready. 

And if they’re never ready, that’s ok too. 

We’ve still earned their trust, and that’s more important than anything. 

So instead of letting Team Meta keep all the benefits of your labor on IG (can we please at least bring back Reels bonuses, Zuck?), maybe it’s time to give ads another shot and pull people into your world for a change. 

If you can do that, you’ll be untouchable. 

P.S. I’ll be going more in-depth on this topic in Thursday’s YouTube video, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet. You won’t want to miss it.