A small business should launch its first Instagram ad through Meta Ads Manager, not with the Boost post button. In Ads Manager you choose the objective, the placements, the schedule and the budget. Start the test with one objective, one audience and a few ads. Add Google when you see at least one of four signals: people already search for your service, it is needed at the moment of a problem, leads from the feed get more expensive, or you have something to show in search.
Whether to pick Instagram or Google at all is a different question, and I cover it in Google Ads vs Instagram ads. Here we only set the ad up, whether you are a plumber, an HVAC company, a dentist or a lawyer.
Two ways to run an ad on Instagram
The first way is boosting a post straight from Instagram. The second is Meta Ads Manager, Meta’s advertising dashboard. The difference is how many settings you control.
| Question | Boosting a post on Instagram | Meta Ads Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Where you start | In the app: your profile, Professional dashboard, Ad tools, Choose a post | In the dashboard: create a campaign |
| What you advertise | A post or story you have already published | A separate ad with its own creative, destination and links |
| What you set | Goal, audience, budget, duration | Objective, budget, schedule, audience, placements, ad identity, destination, creative |
| Who it suits | Showing one post quickly and getting acquainted with ads | Owners who want leads and want to see where the ad runs |
| What to keep in mind | Boosting from the Instagram iOS app requires paying with available funds, and Apple keeps a service fee | Meta is rolling out a new recommended setup, so the steps may look slightly different |
The Boost post button is, in my opinion, the most expensive way to learn. Meta’s help page lists four settings for it: goal, audience, budget and duration. Placements and the schedule are described for Ads Manager instead. You pay, and you see less of what you are buying. If the iPhone fee bothers you, the same page suggests using instagram.com instead of the iOS app.
Step by step in Ads Manager: objective, audience, placements, budget, creative
The steps below follow Meta’s help page on Instagram ads. The interface keeps changing: for the Traffic, Awareness and Engagement objectives Meta is rolling out a recommended setup similar to Advantage+ campaigns. Your screen may differ, and the manual options remain available.
- Open Meta Ads Manager and click + Create.
- Choose an objective that supports Instagram as a placement and is closest to your goal, then click Continue. For a service business the Leads objective usually fits, because it is built around inquiries. An awareness objective buys impressions, not inquiries. You may see a campaign score on the right: it only predicts how optimized the campaign is before publishing.
- Set the audience. Start with one: the city or service area where you work and the age of your customer. Do not stack ten interests at once, or you will not know what worked.
- Pick placements. Meta recommends Include all available placements, so your ad runs across several Meta platforms, including Instagram. To run only on Instagram, click Show more settings and select Instagram under Platforms. On a first test I would keep the recommended option and narrow it later, once I can see where leads come from.
- Set the budget and the schedule: a daily amount and the dates. The next section covers the amount.
- Click Next and fill in the ad identity: your Facebook Page or a connected Instagram professional account. Then add the destination, the creative and the related links. If you have no website, look among the destination options for a lead form on Instagram or messages instead of a website; the list of options in your account may differ.
- For the creative, take one clear image or a short video of the service and one action: call or message. Prepare two or three versions so you have something to compare.
- Check the preview and submit the ad for review. Once it is approved, it appears on Instagram.
How much to put into a test budget
Meta’s help page does not give one minimum amount. Minimum budgets depend on your business vertical, budget type, buying type, bid strategy, optimization, currency and schedule, and they may vary by country and objective. If your budget is below the minimum, Ads Manager shows an alert. If it meets the minimum but may be too low for good results, you may see a recommendation. So I will not invent a number: you will see it as you create the ad.
What is known for sure:
- If you use the cost per result goal bid strategy, the daily budget should be at least five times your goal. Meta’s own example: a $5 goal means at least $25 a day.
- A lifetime budget is also measured against the daily minimum. By Meta’s example, an ad that runs for five days needs a budget five times the daily minimum.
- A harder optimization event costs more: optimizing for purchases needs more budget than optimizing for landing page views.
- Be careful when you lower a daily budget late in the day, because the system may not have time to apply the change.
Work out your own test like this. The test budget equals the price of a lead you can afford, multiplied by the number of leads you need before you can draw a conclusion. Your economics set the price of a lead: how much you earn from a customer and what share of leads become customers. Meta does not say how many leads are enough, so do not decide on one or two. If that sum is too large for you, Instagram is too early. First check whether people already search for your service in Google.
How to tell whether the ad works
- Count leads, not likes: calls, messages, forms. Ask every new customer how they found you and write the answer down.
- Divide your spend by the number of leads to get the price of one lead. Compare it with the price you are willing to pay.
- Count the price of a customer too, because some leads never become sales.
- Do not trust scores. The campaign score only predicts how optimized the campaign is before publishing, and the opportunity score, per Meta’s help page, does not reflect actual or future performance.
- For a boosted post, read the stats in the Ad tools section. Do not judge the first days: an ad goes to review first and begins running after approval.
When to add Google: four signals
Instagram creates interest, while Google catches people who already search. Add search when you see at least one signal from the table. These are my rules of thumb, not platform thresholds. Before you launch search, still check the demand in Keyword Planner: with no searches, there is nobody to show the ad to.
| Signal | How to check | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| People search for your service in your area | In Keyword Planner (it needs a finished Google Ads account with billing details), enter the service with your city and look at the approximate searches per month | There is demand the feed does not catch, and a search campaign would reach people who already look |
| Customers need the service at the moment of a problem | Ask your recent customers how long ago they decided to call | At that moment a person does not scroll, they search |
| Leads from the feed get more expensive with the same ads | In the dashboard the price of a lead rises while the creative has not changed | The audience may be wearing out, though competition or the season can also be the cause; check a second channel instead of only raising the feed budget |
| You have something to show in search | A page for one service, a phone that gets answered and a way to log inquiries | Search will expose the weak spots at once, and remarketing can bring back site visitors |
Google does not replace Instagram; the two work as a pair. How to show ads to people who already visited your site is in the guide to remarketing in Google Ads, and what targeting means in search is in targeted advertising and targeting in Google Ads. How a Google Ads specialist differs from a paid social specialist is in this comparison.
When this does not apply
Ads do not rescue a weak offer. If your profile has no description and no contact, and nobody answers the phone, buying impressions in the feed is too early.
A test shows nothing if its budget is smaller than the price of a few leads or below the minimum Ads Manager shows. The money goes, and there is no conclusion.
If your ads are about credit, employment, housing, social issues or politics, and you are based in the US or target US audiences, Meta’s help page says you must choose the matching category from the Special Ad Category dropdown menu.
A test is the only honest answer here: nobody knows whether the feed will produce leads for you until you run it, and the signals above are my rules of thumb, not platform thresholds.
When the people who search for your service are already visible, the logic changes. The step-by-step version of putting search next to the feed without wasting budget is in my book on Google Ads for business owners.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →Questions and answers
Do I need a website to run ads in Ads Manager?
Meta’s help page lists a destination among the steps, and that is where you decide where the ad leads. Whether messages or a lead form are enough for your service depends on the service, but leads vanish if nobody answers them. You will need a page for one service once you add Google search.
How long does ad review take?
Meta’s help page gives no timeframe; it says only that an ad begins running after it is reviewed and approved. For a boosted post, notifications about the start of review and the decision arrive in the Activity Feed. Do not relaunch the ad before a decision arrives.
What do I do if Ads Manager says my budget is too low?
The error appears when the ad set budget is below the minimum. Open the ad set in Ads Manager and raise the budget to the required amount. The minimum is calculated as a daily amount even when you set a lifetime budget.