A lot of people are surprised to hear that you can run Instagram ads in Facebook Ads Manager. Not only is it possible, it's easy to do yourself.

An important thing to know is that both Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta, which is why both these platforms work seamlessly using just one Ads Manager. But, before you go into the Ads Manager and start building your ads, there's a few things you have to do first.

Preparation

The first thing to think about is whether you want to connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page, because it's not mandatory. In this blog and video, we haven't done that because we're going to show you how Facebook lets you get away with that. But, you might still want to consider it if you want to connect both your accounts and have access to them within your Business Manager. Connecting both accounts will allow your to cross-post your content, which means that you can post on both Instagram and Facebook simultaneously. It will also enable you to view insights into the audience on both networks, so we'd highly recommend this if you're looking to grow your social media presence.

The second thing to consider is the content of your ad. What is your ad going to say? What are the images or the videos that you're going to use to create your ad? We always recommend that you prepare your strategy before you go into the Business Manager to create your ad.

Finally, you need to think about your advertising objective. There are a few objectives to pick from, and we'll show you those below. If you know this before jumping into Ads Manager, this will make building your ad much quicker.

A great tip on finding the right objective, is to determine what the buyer stage is for your campaigns. Knowing your audience’s buying stage is an essential aspect of creating an effective social media advertising strategy. Understanding whether your audience is aware of their problem, actively searching for solutions, or ready to make a purchase, will help you tailor your content to be more relevant and impactful.

Our video below provides guidance on how to identify and understand your audience’s buying stage and how to use this information to set up your advertising objective.

Placements

The way that you would build an Instagram ad is very similar to the way that you would build a Facebook ad. If you have built a Facebook ad before, this might be really simple for you. Instagram is simply a placement within the Ads Manager. Placements are the locations where the ad is going to be displayed. For example, Facebook News Feed, Facebook right-hand column, but also Instagram Feed, Explore or Stories.

If you've finished your preparation and you're ready to go, jump into Ads Manager and watch the video at the top of this page, starting at 2:00. For a quick summary, follow the steps below.

How to run Instagram Ads in Facebook Ads Manager

1. Create a New Campaign
2. Choose a Campaign Objective
3. Select a budget and schedule
4. Create or select an audience
5. Under Placements, select 'Manual placements'
6. Under platforms, select Instagram
7. Finalise your ad and hit Publish

Create a New Campaign

Choose a Campaign Objective

Select a budget and schedule

Create or select an audience

Under Placements, select 'Manual placements'

Under platforms, select Instagram

Finalise your ad and hit Publish

Congratulations! You're now running ads on Instagram using the Facebook Ads Manager. If you're looking for best practices for Facebook ads, as well as an in-depth guide on how to use the Facebook Ads Manager, download our Facebook Marketing course brochure.