Besides creating ads in Advertise, Social Media Management also allows you to create Facebook and Instagram ads in Publish. This functionality is helpful to boost posts on the fly as well as to promote existing posts that you have already published. The seamless interaction between Advertise and Publish helps you to quickly move from creating your advertising assets to pushing your promoted content live.
Note:
To create ads in Publish, your Facebook ad account must be connected to Social Media Management. Any channels you would like to promote content on must be connected as well. If a user wants to create ads on a post, they must have the appropriate role in the ad account and for the channel in Brandwatch — to create ads with the specific ad account as well as to post on the channel.
In this article:
What Content Can I Promote in Publish?
In Publish, you can promote Facebook and Instagram posts. You can promote content in the following scenarios:
- While creating a new Facebook post.
- While viewing an existing Facebook post.
- While viewing an existing Instagram image or video post.
Note:
It's not possible to create ads on an Instagram Story or Carousel post due to limitations of the network API.
How are Ads Created in Publish?
You can create ads in Publish while creating a Facebook post or when viewing a published Facebook or Instagram post. On the left-hand side of the post interface, you will see the Promote section, which you can use to promote your post. You can choose to create an ad in one of your existing Ad Account's Ad Sets, or you can create a new Ad Set (either in a new or existing campaign).
There are three ways to create an ad in Publish:
- Add your post to an existing Ad Set.
- Create a new Ad Set and add your post to it.
- Create your ad in an existing Ad Set by using Smart Labels on your post (pre-defined labels configured to automatically add posts to Ad Sets). Smart Labels are only available to users with access to the Advertise module.
Once you add your post to an Ad Set and define the ad settings, your ad will show as in review and will be reviewed by Facebook. If your ad is rejected for any reason, you will receive an email with more information.
Provided the ad is approved, your post will display in Publish with a Promoted tag. Please bear in mind that if you have promoted an existing Instagram post, a new Facebook dark post will be visible in Publish to reflect the promotion.

Note:
While promoting Instagram content in Publish, it will only be possible to select from existing Ad Sets which that already include Instagram as a placement. You can still create new Ad Sets as needed.
Which Users Can Create Ads in Publish?
To be able to create ads in Publish, you will need to meet the following criteria:
- Have the ability to create posts in Publish (e.g. any user with a user role of Content Creator or above).
- Have the ability to create ads for the applicable Ad Account in Social Media Management (e.g. any user with Promoter or Advertiser access to the Ad Account).
Provided you can create posts in Publish and have the correct access to the Ad Account in Social Media Management, you will be able to follow the steps below to assign Ad Sets to a post.
Note:
To create new Campaigns and Ad Sets, users will need to have Advertiser access to the applicable Ad Account. Users with the Promoter role can only create ads using existing Campaigns and Ad Sets.
Creating Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads in Publish
If you have not yet created a Campaign or Ad Set, you can create either from the Publish module when promoting your post.
- While creating or viewing a post in Publish, look for the Promote panel on the left-hand side of the interface. Click the Boost button to create an ad for your post. (Alternatively, if you have set up Smart Labels in Advertise, you can apply a Smart Label in the Labels panel to add your post to an existing Ad Set.)
- In the popup, select an Ad Account you want to create a new Ad Set in, and click the Create new ad set button. (Alternatively, you can choose one of your already existing Ad Sets and go directly to the ad creation).
- Choose an objective for your new ad Campaign, or use an existing campaign to view those already created in Advertise or on Facebook natively.
-
Give your Ad Set a name, set a budget, and define its start and end dates. Determine the targeting of your Ad Set by selecting either Use a Saved Audience or Target Manually. You can select targeting criteria such as location, languages, and interests, and use an existing Custom Audience or Lookalike Audience.
Lastly, choose the placements of your Ad. With Automatic placements, Facebook decides on the best placement to show your ad, while selecting Manual placements lets you pick the exact places where your ads should appear.
Click the Create button to save your Ad Set and use it later, or continue on to the ad creation by clicking the Create and Boost button.
- To finalize your Ad Set, set your ad duration and tracking and then click the Boost button.
Creating Ads on Posts Using Smart Labels
If you have already set up Smart Labels in the Advertise module, you can apply a Smart Label to your post by following the steps below:
- While creating or viewing a post in the Publish Editor, look for the Labels module on the left-hand side.
- Type to search and select the Smart Label in the text box.
- Confirm the promotion in the approval popup.
Note:
You can link one Smart Label to multiple Ad Sets, which can have different active duration timelines. When you add the Smart Label while creating a post or on an already published post, ads will be created only in the Ad Sets that are active by that time.
Adding Smart Labels to a Publish Campaign
A unique way to utilize Smart Labels is to attach them to a Publish Campaign created in the Publish Calendar. When you add Smart Labels to a Publish Campaign, the Smart Labels will become associated with all stock items included in the Campaign. As a result, when the team uses any of the stock items to create new posts, both the Smart Label and the promotion associated with it will be applied.
To get started, please follow the steps below:
- While creating a Publish Campaign, look for the Labels section under the Details tab.
- Type to search and select your Smart Label in the text box. You can identify all Smart Labels by a unique icon.
- Check the Apply labels to stock box in order to promote all content created from the stock items added to the Publish Campaign.
Your Campaign is now supercharged with Smart Labels and your local teams can create promoted Campaign content with ease.