Episode 47 – Instagram Story Ads for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ads Manager is your starting point for running ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network. It’s an all-in-one tool for creating ads,

How to create a story ad
You can create a Facebook, Messenger and Instagram Stories ad with the following tools:

– Ads Manager

Create a new ad or design one using an existing post from your Facebook Page or Instagram business profile.

Before you create an ad in Ads Manager, connect your Instagram account to your Facebook ad account. Learn how to connect with Business Manager. If you don’t use Business Manager, learn how to connect through your Page.

1. Go to Ads Manager.

2. Select + Create.

3. Choose an objective that supports ads in Stories. (traffic) Conversions, Reach, Traffic, App installs, Lead generation, Video views, Brand awareness

4. Choose the Audience for the ad. 

• Core Audiences Define an audience based on criteria such as age, interests, geography and more.
• Location – cities, communities and countries
• Demographics – age, gender, education, job title and more.
• Interests – interests and hobbies of the people you want your ad to reach
• Behaviour – Target your ads based on consumer behaviours such as prior purchases and device usage.
• Connections – Choose to include people who are connected to your Facebook Page or event, or exclude them to find new audiences.

2. Custom AudiencesGet back in touch with people who have engaged with your business, online or off.
Get in touch with people who already know your business.

Custom Audiences allow you to connect with people who have already shown interest in your business, whether they’re loyal customers or people who have used your app or visited your website.

• Contact lists – mailing list or crm
• Site visitors – Set up the Facebook pixel to automatically create a Custom Audience of people who visit your site or take certain actions there. 
• App users

3. Lookalike AudiencesReach new people whose interests are similar to those of your best customers.
Reach new people who are similar to your current customers.

All you need to do is create a source audience of people you know. Your ads will then reach people with common interests and traits.

I picked custom audience. Choose Instagram account. Everyone who engaged with my account time period of 90 days.

Name your audience.
Create a lookalike audience.

5. Choose Automatic Placements to run your ad across Facebook’s family of apps and services, which includes Stories. 

6. Choose Edit Placements to select or deselect Stories in Facebook, Instagram or Messenger. (Just select stories you can disable everything else)

7. Set the Budget & Schedule for your ad. Set a budget go as low as 1e per day but I’d suggest getting started with 2-3e.
8. Choose the Facebook Page and Instagram Account (optional) of your business. You have to have your facebook page linked to your instagram account. very easy to do. before you get started make sure you do this.

9. Choose Single Image, Carousel or Single Video as the ad format. If your ad format is carousel, you can add up to three carousel cards to your Story (Instagram only). Carousel ads in Stories requires 9:16 creative and must run in a standalone, Stories-only campaign.

10. Add images or videos. (upload from the video from your camera roll)

11. Choose a call to action and URL if you want. (i put in my instagram account here as I want more eyes on my account you can put your website or landing page up to you

12. Preview your ad in each placement. (if you are putting it in stories plus messenger and facebook get to see what the copy looks like in each place)

13. Complete remaining details, and select Confirm to publish your ad.

Congratulations you’ve just created your first Instagram story ad.