Advertise allows you to view, create, and manage ads for your Facebook and Instagram channels. Once you've successfully connected your Facebook ad account and set up a campaign and an ad set, you can follow the steps below to get started building your ads.

What Types of Ads Can I Create?

In Advertise, you can create the following types of Facebook ads, including Facebook ads with Instagram placements:

• Image posts
• Video posts
• Link posts
• Carousel (multi-link) posts

Creating an Ad

1. In Advertise, click Ads in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. In the top right of the Ads menu, click Create New Ad.
3. Select an existing ad set to create your ad in, then click Continue. You can filter your ad sets by campaign or campaign objective. (If you have no existing ad sets, you will be asked to create a new ad set.)
4. In the Ad setup screen, enter a name for your ad, select the applicable Facebook channel and Instagram channel (linked to the selected Facebook Page) to publish your ad to, and select your ad format. Your choice of ad formats will depend on your campaign objective. When ready, click Continue.
5. In the Creative setup screen, enter your ad text, upload your ad media (e.g. image or video files), and enter in any applicable properties for your ad such as a website URL, headline, etc. (See the Ad Properties section below for full details on each field). You will see a preview of your ad generated on the right-hand side of the menu as you add content. When ready, click Continue.

   Tip:

   You will see a recommended text length as you enter your ad text and headline and description. The recommended text length for ad text is 125 characters, 1024 characters maximum. The recommended text length for headlines is 27 characters, 255 characters maximum.

   Tip:

   Iris AI features such as the writing assistant and headline and description generator are available to help you produce content quickly and easily for your ad. Click on the Iris wand icon in the lower-right corner of the Ad text box to access AI features for your text such as grammar and spelling correction, text rephrasing, and more.

   After entering in your main ad text, click Generate Headline and Description above the Headline text box and Iris will automatically use your ad text to create a relevant headline and description for your ad.

6. In the Schedule and tracking screen, select the start time for your ad. You can select a date in the future if you would like to schedule your ad. The ad expiration date will automatically be pulled from the ad set the ad is associated with if the ad set has a default ad duration or if you select Run ad until the ad set expires. You can also select to delete the ad when it expires. Lastly, you can choose to add URL tags and a Tracking pixel and Conversion domain if you have selected the Conversions, Sales, Leads, or Engagement objective with some destination types (see the Ad Properties section below for full details on each field). When finished, click Create Ad.

Ad Properties

Note:

The ad properties that are available to you when you create your ad will depend on your campaign objective and ad placement. For example, ad text and a description will not be available for the Facebook Right Column placement.

In addition, sometimes an ad property will pre-populate from your campaign or ad set. For example, your Call to Action button will automatically be a "thumbs up" button if you selected the Page Likes campaign objective.

Labels (optional)

Add labels to your ad. These make the ad easier to locate in the Publish and Advertise modules. Any labels already assigned to your campaigns and ad sets will be automatically added.

Facebook channel

The Facebook channel dropdown allows you to pick the Facebook channel to publish your ad to. If your campaign objective is set to Reach, or Page Likes, Awareness, Engagement (with the Messenger or Facebook channel destination type), Leads (with the Instant Forms destination type), or if you have the WhatsApp destination type, the Facebook channel is already defined at the ad set level. Therefore, your ad will automatically be created for that channel and this option can't be edited on the ad level.

Instagram channel (optional)

You can select an Instagram channel to post your ad to if the Instagram account is connected to the Facebook Page you selected. If your campaign objective is set to Page Likes, your ad is not valid for Instagram and this option will be unavailable.

Instead of using an existing Instagram account, you can also use a "Page-backed Instagram account," which has Facebook create a facade Instagram account that is used purely for your ads. It automatically uses your Facebook Page name and image to create the facade Instagram account. You cannot log into the account and users cannot interact with it.

Ad text (optional)

In the ad text box, you may write your ad texts (125 characters recommended, 1024 characters maximum, including spaces). Facebook may trim or not support ad text for some placements. Review the ad previews in the center of the screen to find out which ad placements will contain text.

Image or video attachment

This option allows you to upload media files to your ad. For video or image ads, you can either add one video, or up to six images. For carousel ads, you can add up to 10 images or videos. Drag your files to the upload box or click anywhere in the box to open a local file browser. Alternatively, you can also hover over the upload box and click Ad Account Library to open a list of previously used media files.

Find out more about the supported image and video properties in our media attachments guide.

Once you've added a video, you can optionally change the thumbnail to one of your own choosing.

If you add multiple images, each image will become its own separate ad. You can preview each by clicking through them at the top of the preview section.

Call to action

You can add a Call to Action (CTA) button to your ad and choose the text on it. There are a variety of options depending on the chosen objective and placement.

Tip:

For the Page Likes campaign objective, your Call to Action button automatically becomes a "thumbs up" button.

Link

Adds a link that will be the destination for any user who clicks on the Call to Action button or the link preview under the media. You can choose to either add a Website URL or a link for a Notification Topic.

If you've chosen either the campaign objectives Traffic (App), Conversion (App), or App Installs, the field is automatically populated with a link from your ad set.

Custom display URL (optional)

Instead of showing your link's URL at the bottom of your ad, you can choose to replace it with a better-looking link, or even a call-to-action text. The link behind your "Custom display URL" text will still point to the URL that you provided earlier.

Headline (optional)

The headline box allows you to enter a headline for your ad (27 characters recommended, 255 characters maximum (including spaces). Some placements support additional characters. You can review the ad previews in the center of the screen to see which placements can contain a headline.

Description (optional)

The description box allows you to add additional text to emphasize why people should visit your website.

Dark post (optional)

Checking this box will make the ad a dark post. Dark posts do not appear on your timeline as an organic version of your ad, but only in the spaces of your chosen placement.

Messenger setup (optional)

If your ad set directs traffic to your Facebook Messenger, your Call to Action button opens a Direct Message conversation between your page and the customer. You can create an automated message for when the conversation is started.

WhatsApp setup (optional)

Connect and verify the WhatsApp phone number associated with this channel to share your ad via WhatsApp.

Instant forms (optional)

If you're creating an ad with a Leads objective and Instant Forms destination type, you must choose a form to attach. Forms can be created in the Forms Library of your Facebook Page, under the Publishing Tools section. The generated leads can also be downloaded from the same location.

Ad start time (optional)

You can select your ad start time and date when creating an ad. The ad expiration date is determined by the ad set by default and the ad will automatically stop when the duration expires. You can choose to run your ad until it expires and/or delete the ad when it expires. When editing your ad, you can also choose to set a custom duration.

URL tags (optional)

With URL parameters, you can track how your links are performing, such as which link is getting the most traffic, where it's coming from, and what kinds of users are clicking it. If you wish to analyze the data, a website analytics tool such as Google Analytics is required.

Tracking pixel (Optional)

You have the option of adding a Facebook tracking pixel to your ad. For ads with a Conversions, Sales, Leads, and Engagement objective with some destination types, the pixel is inherited from the ad set and can't be changed. For all other objectives, the pixel is added by default but can be changed.

Conversion domain

For ads with a Conversion objective only, the conversion domain field is required when information will be shared with a pixel as it specifies where conversions will happen.

The conversion domain field will auto-populate with the most active domain which sent events to your pixel over the last 24 hours. Using the dropdown, you can choose from all domains listed in the Events Manager section of the Business Manager. If you don’t see one of your domains, you can manually type it in the field.

The selected conversion domain does not have to be the same domain as the link in your ad, though choosing a different domain will no longer optimize your ad for the correct conversions.

Managing Ads

You can view any ads you have created in the Ads menu within Advertise.

Viewing ad statistics

The statistics section in the Ads menu will give you an overview of the performance of your ads. You can apply various filters, search for labels, and change the date range in order to customize your view.

Editing ads

To edit an ad, click on the ellipsis (three dots) icon to the right of an ad, then select Edit.

When editing your ad, you can change its name, add or edit labels, set a custom duration, and more. When finished, click Save Ad to save your changes.

Creating Ads in Publish

If you've already been using Publish to create your Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn posts, did you know that you can boost your existing posts as ads and monitor ad insights directly from Publish? To learn more, visit our articles on Creating Facebook and Instagram Ads in Publish, Creating LinkedIn Ads in Publish, and Viewing Ad Insights in Publish.