Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has launched a new feature that’ll prove quite handy for advertisers like you. Now you can target your ads and promotions to specific users who follow your Instagram account(s). While you’ve been able to target Facebook followers directly, targeting Instagram followers wasn’t possible. Previously, Meta Ads could only target users who had interacted or engaged with your Instagram account. That was too broad of an audience, consisting of anyone who might’ve stumbled across your profile whether they were one of your followers or not.

The obvious and immediate benefit here is the ability to target exclusive content and special offers directly to followers. Additionally, you’re now able to create Lookalike Audiences and/or Special Ad Audiences based on your Instagram followers, thereby enabling you to reach new prospective customers on the basis of your existing followers. This is sort of a game-changer for marketers in the business of building brands!

As a business owner, this new feature is significant as it allows you to create personalized ad campaigns that’ll better resonate with your followers, thus cultivating a deeper connection with your audience.

Here's a simple guide to creating a custom audience for your Meta Ads campaign that targets your Instagram followers:

Log in to your Meta Business Manager (business.facebook.com).
Go to the "Audiences" section.
Click the "Create Audience" button and select "Custom Audience."
Select “Instagram Account” as your source.
From the Events drop-down menu, select “Accounts Center accounts who started following this professional account.”
Name your custom audience and click "Create Audience."
Your custom audience is now ready to be used in your Meta Ad campaign.

By following these steps, you can create a custom audience based on your Instagram followers and use it to target your ads and promotions to this specific group of users. This can help you create more personalized and effective ad campaigns that resonate with your followers and potentially lead to increased sales. What’s more, you can use this custom audience to create Lookalike and/or Special Ad Audiences based on your existing followers.