My First Experience With Online Advertising on Instagram…

I am a beginner in digital marketing and recently I ran my first Instagram ad. For me, online advertising simply means using the internet and social media platforms to promote my content and services through paid ads. The biggest benefit is that I can reach a specific audience, track their response in real time and start experimenting even with a small budget..

What Online Advertising Means to Me…

In simple words, online advertising is the promotion of a brand, product or service on websites and other digital platforms.These ads can appear on search engines, social media, apps, emails and videos where people spend their time every day. Compared to traditional advertising, online ads give more precise targeting, better measurement and a clear view of how every rupee is performing.

Why I Chose Instagram Ads…

Since I am already active on social media, Instagram felt like the right place for my first experiment. It is a visual platform where people love to watch photos, short videos and reels, so creative content can perform very well. Instagram ads also run on Meta’s ad system, which gives access to Facebook’s strong targeting and analytics tools.For me this was the perfect combination of engaging visuals, accurate targeting and clear reporting.

Budget Planning With a ₹90 Account Spending Limit…

As a beginner, my biggest concern was budget control. I did not want to overspend, so I set an account spending limit of ₹90 in my Meta ad account, as shown in my screenshot. This limit works like a cap on the total amount that can be spent from the account. Once the account reaches this limit, all active ads automatically stop running, which protects me from spending more than I planned.

This feature gave me the confidence to test ads without fear. I knew that no matter how many campaigns were active, the total advertising cost would never go beyond ₹90. For anyone starting out with a small or fixed budget, this kind of control is extremely helpful.

My Ad Objective: Getting Profile Visits…

The main objective of this campaign was not direct sales but awareness and profile growth. I promoted one of my Instagram posts and selected “Profile visits” as the goal so that more people would visit my profile, see my work and maybe become followers or future clients. In online advertising, choosing a clear objective is very important because Instagram delivers and optimizes your ad differently depending on that goal.

Reading My Results: Views and Reach…

After the ad finished, I opened Instagram Insights to see the performance. In the “Ad overview” section, I first saw the number of views, which was 1,075. Views show how many times my video ad was played or appeared on users’ screens. Seeing more than a thousand views from just ₹90 made me feel that my content had actually reached a good number of people.

Below that I saw the reach, which was around 1,090 accounts. Reach tells me how many unique people saw my ad at least once, even if they did not interact with it. In digital marketing, both views and reach are important: views show how often the ad circulated and reach shows how many different people received my message.

Campaign Details: Impressions and Cost…

In the payment details section I could see all my campaigns with their impressions and costs. One campaign had 1,123 impressions, another 1,601, and another 2,769 impressions, each with different amounts spent like ₹2.83, ₹36.41, ₹24.97 and ₹25.79. Impressions show how many times my ad was displayed on screens, even if the same user saw it multiple times.

From these numbers I can estimate the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) and see which campaign gave me more exposure for less money. When a creative generates many impressions at a relatively low cost, it tells me that the content is relevant and that the platform can easily show it to people.This kind of analysis will help me scale the best‑performing creatives and stop or improve the weaker ones in the future.

What I Learned From This Online Advertising Test…

This first experiment taught me several important lessons about online advertising. I learned that it is absolutely possible to start with a small budget as long as the objective is clear and every rupee is tracked. I also realized how valuable tools like account spending limits are for beginners, because they prevent accidental overspending and keep campaigns under control.

Another big lesson was that an ad should not be judged only by likes. I now look at views, reach, three‑second plays, profile visits and overall engagement before deciding whether a campaign was successful. This data‑driven way of thinking showed me that digital marketing is not just about creativity; it is also about reading the numbers and making smart decisions based on them.

My Plan for Future Campaigns…

For my next campaigns I want to make a few improvements. First, I will add stronger calls‑to‑action in my creatives, such as Follow for more tips or Visit my website for services, so that viewers know exactly what to do after seeing the ad. Second, I will test different audiences and interest groups to discover which segments respond best to my content..

I also plan to run A/B tests where I compare two different creatives or captions with the same budget and see which one generates better views, reach and engagement. By checking Instagram Insights regularly—looking at profile activity, accounts engaged and follower growth—I will keep adjusting my strategy and improving my results over time.

This first Instagram ad has not only given me some useful numbers but also a lot of confidence. Now I can publish this experience as a case study on my website to show my real work in digital marketing and to help other beginners understand how they can start online advertising with a small budget and clear goals.