Short answer
Facebook and Instagram ads are run from Meta Ads Manager using the same account. You prepare a business portfolio, ad account and payment method, and set up the Meta Pixel and Conversions API. Then you choose an objective that fits your goal, set the audience and placements, and test creatives to shift budget towards ads that deliver.
8 min read
Where do you run Facebook and Instagram ads from?
Facebook and Instagram ads are managed from Meta's advertising system. The boost post button in the apps offers a quick route, but its targeting, measurement and testing options are limited. To drive sales or collect leads, campaigns need to be built in Ads Manager. The same campaign can run in the Instagram feed, Reels, Stories, the Facebook feed and Messenger together.
We explain which ad type we prefer in which situation on our Meta platform page. This article focuses on the steps to take an ad live from scratch.
How should the account structure be set up before advertising?
On Meta, a significant share of problems comes not from the ads but from a messy account structure. Ad accounts opened through a personal profile, or page permissions left with an employee who has left the business, can stop campaigns for days. For a solid start, follow this order:
- Create a business portfolio in your business's name in Meta Business Suite (formerly Business Manager).
- Connect your Facebook Page and Instagram professional account to this portfolio.
- Open the ad account inside the portfolio; choose the currency and time zone carefully, because changing them later is a hassle.
- Add the payment method and billing details.
- Turn on extra authentication for all admins, and give the agency partner access only.
- Verify your domain and create the Meta Pixel in Events Manager.
How do you choose a campaign objective?
Ads Manager is layered: the objective is set at campaign level, audience, budget and placements at ad set level, and creative at ad level. The campaign objective is the most important decision in determining who Meta shows the ad to; the system looks for the people most likely to take the action you choose.
- Awareness: To reach many people and stay memorable.
- Traffic: To bring visits to a website or app. It can drift towards people who like to click but do not buy.
- Engagement: For video views, post engagement or starting conversations.
- Leads: To collect enquiries through instant forms inside the ad or forms on your site.
- App promotion: For app installs and in-app actions.
- Sales: For campaigns targeting purchases or another valuable site action.
A business that sells starting with the traffic objective is a common mistake. If measurement is set up correctly, use the option that targets the business outcome directly.
How do you set audiences, Advantage+ and placements?
Targeting on Meta now depends less on long interest lists and more on giving the system the right signal. The main tools on the audience side are:
- Custom Audiences: Site visitors, customer lists, people who engaged on Instagram or Facebook, and video viewers. The foundation of remarketing; for the channel as a whole see our performance marketing service page.
- Lookalike Audiences: To reach new people who resemble your existing customers.
- Advantage+ audience: Uses the audience you define as a suggestion; the system can go beyond that frame where it sees better results.
Advantage+ is not limited to audiences; in sales campaigns it can also manage budget, placements and creative variations automatically. Starting with Advantage+ placements lets the system shift budget to more efficient surfaces. If there are content types or placements that are unsuitable for your brand, exclude them separately. Before widening automation, make sure measurement works correctly; the system amplifies faulty signals too.
How do you prepare and test creative?
On Meta, creative has become part of targeting. Since the system decides which image or video is shown to whom, preparing different messages that speak to different people is often more effective than splitting the audience by hand.
- Prepare vertical formats for Reels and Stories, and square or near-vertical formats for the feed.
- Show the main message and the brand in the opening seconds of the video; add captions with people watching on mute in mind.
- Try creatives that present the same product from different angles: price, moment of use, customer review, problem and solution.
- Use Meta's A/B test tool for comparative tests, and do not change many variables at once.
- Refresh creatives regularly once their performance starts to drop.
Why should the Meta Pixel and Conversions API be set up together?
The Meta Pixel reports visits and actions on your site to Meta through the browser. Because of browser restrictions, ad blockers and cookie choices, this data can be incomplete. The Conversions API sends the same events from the server and fills in the missing part. When using these sources together, deduplication with an event ID is needed so the same event is not counted twice. You can monitor the setup and event match quality in Events Manager. Consent management and a privacy notice that complies with KVKK, Turkey's data protection law, are also part of this setup.
How do you set up click-to-WhatsApp ads?
Click-to-WhatsApp ads send the user straight into a conversation with the business's WhatsApp account instead of to a website. Setting them up requires the WhatsApp Business account to be connected to your Facebook Page. In the campaign you choose messaging apps as the conversion location, tick WhatsApp and write the greeting message that opens the chat. It is a strong channel in service sectors, but it also makes it easy to generate low-quality chats. Measure success not by the number of messages but by conversations that turn into sales or appointments.
How do you read Meta ad results?
Reports in Ads Manager are calculated according to Meta's own attribution setting, and can count a user who saw the ad and later arrived through another channel as a result. So instead of treating the dashboard as the single source of truth, compare it with your site analytics and sales records. Look at the weekly trend rather than reacting to daily swings. Watching click-through rate, frequency and the landing page conversion rate alongside cost per result helps you see whether the problem lies in the creative, the audience or the site. Switch off ad sets that stay weak and move the budget to the ones that work.
Why do ad accounts get restricted?
Meta can restrict accounts that breach advertising policies, show suspicious logins or have payment problems. Bold claims on topics such as health, finance and weight loss, copy that addresses a person's characteristics directly, and promises that do not match the landing page are among the common reasons for rejection. Special ad categories such as credit, employment, housing and political content must be declared when the campaign is set up. When a restriction happens, you can see the reason and start an appeal from the Account Quality screen. Trying to get around a restriction by opening a new account usually makes things worse.
How is the cost of Meta ads formed?
Meta runs an auction for every impression. The winner is not decided by the highest bid alone; Meta weighs the bid, the likelihood of the person taking the desired action and the quality of the ad together. So a creative that attracts interest and does not receive negative feedback can bring more results with the same budget. Cost is also affected by the size of the target audience, the advertisers competing for that audience, the season, the campaign objective and measurement quality. New campaigns go through a learning phase; making frequent changes during it makes costs volatile. Meta changes minimum budget terms from time to time, so check current conditions in Ads Manager.
When do you need an agency for Meta ads?
A business promoting a single product or service with a small budget can manage basic campaigns itself. Specialist support speeds things up when creative needs grow, when technical setups such as the Conversions API and catalogues are required, when enquiries from WhatsApp need to be tracked together with the sales team, or when account restrictions keep recurring. We explain our approach to campaign structure, audience architecture and creative testing on our Meta Ads service page. If you would like to review your account together, you can reach us via our contact page.
Frequently asked
- What determines Instagram advertising fees?
- Instagram ads have no fixed price; it is set in Meta's auction. Your bid, the likelihood of the person taking the desired action, the quality of the ad, the size of the target audience, competition and the season all play a part. You set the upper limit on spend through your budget; check current minimums in Ads Manager.
- Should I open separate campaigns for Facebook and Instagram?
- In most cases there is no need. The same campaign can run on Facebook and Instagram, and the budget shifts automatically towards the placement with better results. Even so, creatives should be prepared for each placement's format, and the placement breakdown in reports should be reviewed regularly.
- Is boosting a post enough?
- It can help with quick awareness, but it is limited for driving sales or collecting leads. Ads Manager offers tools such as conversion-focused campaigns, Custom Audiences, detailed measurement and A/B testing. Without them it is hard to see what the budget turns into.
- Do I need a developer to set up the Conversions API?
- Some e-commerce platforms and tag managers offer ready-made integrations; in that case setup is relatively easy. Custom-built sites, or setups that send CRM data, need technical support. Whichever route you take, testing that event deduplication works correctly is essential.