An Overview of Instagram Ads Specifications and Sizing to Follow In 2020

Instagram ads play a significant role in business marketing. This is known to almost all businesses but what may surprise them is the fact that it will play a major role in 2020 given the fact that the image sizing according to the ad specification is necessary. Therefore, you will need to know about Instagram ad specs and sizing. You will need to know the type of ad campaign to start in 2020 as well. 

To start with, you will need to know the different types of Instagram ad campaigns that are available on Instagram that you can choose from, one or a couple of them according to your need. When you understand each of these Instagram ads it will help you to:

• Choose the most suitable one
• Decide the layouts to use for that specific ad campaign and
• Know the ways to improve the return on your investment.

Advertising on Instagram needs proper planning and creation of the ads, setting it up according to the desired specifications and sizing. 

To start your campaign, you must first know the reason for your advertising. Knowing your objective is important because this will help you to design the most suitable ad for your business which will be relevant to the specific industry.

Instagram Stories image ad

One of the most commonly used ads on Instagram is the Instagram Stories image ads. Since its launch in 2017, there has been a significant increase in the user base noticed. Moreover, users typically get highly engaged while watching Instagram Stories image ad. They respond to it well and share it with their friends and family. 

• The main reason for the popularity of Instagram Stories image ad is that this feature allows the brands to appear in the Instagram Stories feed of people.
• Another significant reason is that this feature allows the brands to create their ads that can contain up to six images.

More importantly, you will get a chance to tell the story of your brand in a more exciting, fun and engaging way. 

The best part of Instagram stories ad is that it takes up the entire screen of the mobile device. This means that there is no scope that the users will miss these ads. However, you will need to follow the Instagram Stories image ad specifications. These are:

• Caption – Any text
• Format – 9:16
• Maximum resolution – 1080 x 1920
• Minimum resolution – 600 x 1067
• Photo content – For 5 seconds
• File type – .jpg or .png
• Maximum image size – 300 MB

You can take a cue from reliable and reputable sites like blastup.com and others of a similar kind to get some idea to create the best Instagram Stories Ads. To add a story, you can select “Stories” in the Placement section.

Instagram carousel ads

This type of ad is much similar to Facebook carousel ads. This popular type of ad format will allow you to post multiple images or videos in a single ad. This will provide an even higher return as compared to Instagram Stories image ads. The good thing about Instagram carousel image ads will prevent the users flip through the content at a fast pace and keep them around for a while. 

The specification and sizes of carousel ad image are:

• Resolution – 1080 x 1080 pixels
• The aspect ratio – 1:1
• The formats – Either .jpg or .png
• Maximum image size – 30 MB per image or card and
• Photos – 2 to 10 images per ads.

If you plan to use Instagram carousel video ads you can use at the most 10 videos in a single ad. In order to make sure that the content has the right balance according to your brand voice. If you follow these specifications, your video will not overwhelm the audience when they go through your single post.

• Minimum resolution – 600 x 600 pixels
• Maximum resolution – 1800 x 1080 pixels
• The aspect ratio – 1:1
• Format – MP4
• Maximum video size – 4 GB per video
• Maximum video length – For 60 seconds and
• Videos – 2 to 10 per card.

Make sure that you use a thumbnail image when you create Instagram carousel video ads with not more than 20% text in it.

The three types of Instagram image ads

There are ideally three types of Instagram image ad. Instagram landscape or horizontal image ad is wider and taller. The sizes and specifications of these images are:

• Minimum resolution of 600 x 315 pixels
• Maximum resolution of 1200 x 628 pixels
• The aspect ratio of 1.9:1
• Format in JPG or PNG
• Size of 30MB
• Minimum caption length of 125 characters
• Maximum caption length of 2,200 characters.

Instagram square image ad is a hybrid of landscape and vertical images but longer than horizontal image and shorter than the vertical image with the following specs:

• Minimum and maximum resolution of 600 x 600 and 1080 x 1080 pixels
• The aspect ratio of 1:1
• Format in either JPG or PNG
• Maximum image size30MB and
• Minimum and maximum caption length of 125 and 2,200 characters.

The default vertical image ad comes with extra length and following specifications:

• Minimum and maximum resolution of 600 x 750 and 1080 x 1350 pixels
• The aspect ratio of 4:5
• Format in either JPG or PNG
• Image size of 30MB
• Minimum and maximum caption length of 125 and 2,200 characters

Irrespective of the type of IG ad you use, you will have one specific advantage over most of the social media sites. You users will see just one Instagram post at a time. This means that the post will get the entire screen and will not have to struggle for real estate with other posts.

Summing it up

The IG ads will help you to keep up with the changes in the algorithms and the trends. These ads will help you to stay consistent and get more followers, even if the social media scenario keeps on changing.

The Instagram ad campaigns are a very powerful medium to reach the audience. This importance will grow more in 2020. However, make sure that the images are of proper size. Therefore, make sure that you put your best foot forward with proper knowledge of the ad specifications.