Instagram Advertising in the UAE: What Businesses in Dubai & Abu Dhabi Need to Know [Updated 2023]

With a community of over 1 billion users across the world, many businesses across the UAE and specifically the business hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been effectively creating social media ads on Instagram. ANY business can create powerful adverts for publishing on Instagram - here's all you need to know about the opportunities this platform presents for your business and how to get started with your own campaigns.

What Types of Businesses Will Benefit From Advertising on Instagram?

This simple answer here is almost every business that can visually showcase or represent their products or services using either powerful images or short videos. In the UAE, Instagram penetration is high among social media users, so there's a good chance that if you can showcase products and services visually, you can reach your business' target audience using this platform.  In fact, there are 6.68 million Instagram users in the UAE.

But for some businesses the opportunity is enormous.  If you are a restaurant owner or manager, florist, e-commerce website with multiple products, then Instagram Advertising is perfect for your business.

How do I Get Started with Instagram Advertising in the UAE?

There are 2 main ways to get started and build your business on Instagram.  Either speak to your digital marketing agency if you have one (or source one like Nexa, if you don't) or you can tackle through the process yourself.  If you choose the latter option, here are the steps that you need to take:

The process of creating ads within the Instagram app is simple and makes use of the same powerful advertising tools as Facebook. Get started by:
1. Create a business Page and profile
You need a Facebook Page and a free business profile on Instagram.
2. Set up your ad by selecting your objective, target audience and ad format within Ads Manager. You can also select a previously shared post and tap ‘Promote.’
3. Select your budget by deciding how long the ad will run for and your daily ad spend.
4. Publish your ad. You’ll be notified once it’s approved.

You can also use the Ads Manager to set up, make changes and track all of your Instagram Ads in Ads Manager on Facebook. This can be done on mobile and desktop.

Advertising Goals:
- Awareness (reach)
- Consideration (clicks, views and frequency)
- Conversion (sales, visits and engagement)

Targeting - Reach People Based On:
- Location
- Demographics
- Interests
- Behaviours
- Custom Audiences
- Lookalike Audiences
- Automated targeting

Types of Ads:
- Photo ads
- Video ads
- Carousel ads
- Ads in Explore
- Collection ads
- Story ads
*Instagram is working on implementing Instagram Shopping around the world. While it is not available in the UAE yet, your business can prepare to have customers making direct purchases on the app.

Instagram provides businesses with the opportunity to effectively reach audiences in various ways. Advertising through this platform is proven to be highly effective and with the platform working on features to make Instagram more business-friendly, these opportunities will expand even more.

Let's work together on your Instagram advertising. Get in touch with our team.