How to Run Instagram Ads: Setup, Billing and Placements Explained

There are two ways to run Instagram ads ("ยิงแอด ig" in Thai searches). The first is the promote (Boost) button under a post in the Instagram app, which requires a professional account. The second is building a campaign in Meta Ads Manager and choosing to show the ads in Instagram placements such as Feed, Stories, Reels and Explore. The promote button suits pushing one post quickly, while Ads Manager suits cases where you need detailed control over placements, how you are charged and how sales are measured.

This guide focuses on setup, billing and placement choice, the three things people ask about most when they start running Instagram ads. The mechanics come from the Meta and Instagram help centres. Screens and menu names change often, so always check them against the actual screens in your own account.

Should you run Instagram ads through Meta Ads Manager or the promote button?

Both are real ads paid to Meta, and both are shown with an ad label. The difference is the level of control.

The promote button in the Instagram app

You choose a post or Reel you have already published, choose a goal and an audience, set a daily budget and number of days, and pay in the app. Common goals are more profile visits, more website visits and more messages; the actual options depend on the account and region. The advantage is speed. The limit is that you have little control over placements and creative testing, and if you boost without connecting a Meta ad account, the Instagram help centre says you lose access to some Ads Manager features, such as saved audiences.

Meta Ads Manager

This is the full system shared by Facebook and Instagram. It has three levels: the campaign (where you choose the objective), the ad set (audience, placements, budget and schedule) and the ad (brand identity and creative). You can create new ads that never need to be posted on your profile first, choose placements yourself, run several creatives to compare them, and connect the Meta Pixel or Conversions API to measure conversions on your website.

A simple rule: if your question is "did more people see this post?", the promote button is enough. If your question is "how many sales or chats did this money bring back?", use Ads Manager.

Do you need an Instagram business account and a Facebook Page?

The answer depends on how you run the ads:

• The promote button in the app requires switching to a professional account first, which comes in two types: business and creator. The Instagram help centre says a first boost from a professional account does not require connecting a Facebook Page or a Meta ad account, and Meta limits this to businesses boosting their Instagram posts for the first time.
• Meta Ads Manager: the Meta help centre says you need a Facebook Page to run Instagram ads through Ads Manager, and you connect your Instagram account in the ad's identity step. If you have no Instagram account at all, Meta lets your Facebook Page represent the brand on Instagram, and Meta notes that your Page details will then be shown on Instagram in place of an Instagram profile.
• A business portfolio (Meta Business Suite) is one of two ways Meta lists for connecting an Instagram professional account to Ads Manager; the other is through your Facebook Page's settings.

A security warning: the Instagram help centre notes that once a Meta ad account is connected, anyone with access to your Instagram professional account can use that ad account for ads and see your payment information. If several people on a team share one password, move to managing access through Ads Manager permissions instead.

How to run Instagram ads through Ads Manager

1. Choose the campaign objective. Ads Manager has six objectives: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales. Choose based on what you actually want to happen, not on which number looks good.
2. Set up the ad set. Define the audience (location, age, interests, or audiences built from your own data), a daily or lifetime budget, and the schedule.
3. Choose placements. Use Advantage+ placements, or pick placements yourself where your objective still allows it (explained below).
4. Set the identity and creative. Choose the Facebook Page and Instagram account that will appear as the advertiser, then upload images or video or use an existing post, and add the text and a call-to-action button.
5. Add a payment method and submit for review. The ad is checked against advertising policies before it starts running.

How much do Instagram ads cost and how are you charged?

There is no fixed rate for Instagram ads, because Meta uses an auction. Your ad competes with other advertisers for each impression, based on the bid and the ad's performance. The budget you set is a spending ceiling, while the cost per result depends on competition, audience, timing and creative quality. This guide therefore does not quote prices or minimum budgets in baht. Check the budget screen in your own account, which shows amounts in your ad account's currency.

When you get charged

Meta calls this setting "When you get charged": the event that causes money to be taken from your budget. The options depend on the objective you choose. Some objectives only charge for impressions, while others let you pay when someone clicks a link. If you pay per click, Meta charges only for clicks, and ads that were not approved before receiving any impressions or clicks are not charged.

How payment is collected

• Automatic payments apply to credit cards, most debit cards and PayPal. Meta charges you when your ad costs reach your billing threshold, and charges again on your monthly billing date for any remaining amount. New accounts start with a low threshold that may be raised as payments succeed. You can find your account's threshold in the Ads Manager payment settings.
• Manual payments (prepaid funds): you add money to the ad account first, and Meta deducts ad costs from that balance up to once a day. There is no billing threshold.
• Monthly invoicing is for eligible advertisers, who pay by invoice instead of being charged automatically.

The key point is that once an ad account is set to automatic or manual payments, it cannot switch to the other. Choose the setting that matches how your business handles money from the start. If you want to pay before the billing date, you can use the Pay now option. When you boost from the Instagram app, you are asked for payment details the first time you boost, and if you connect a Meta ad account, the boost uses that account's payment method.

Another common source of confusion is that Ads Manager numbers and receipts do not match. Meta notes that the clicks or impressions shown in Ads Manager may differ from the number you are charged for on the receipt.

How Instagram Story ads differ from Feed and Reels ads

Instagram has several ad placements, each appearing at a different moment in how people use the app, so the creative that works differs:

Instagram Feed

Shown in the main feed between posts from accounts the user follows. People scroll past quickly, so the first image and the first line of the caption must make clear what the post is about straight away.

Stories

Shown full screen and vertical between people's Stories. Viewers can tap past in a fraction of a second, so the creative should be full-screen vertical, show the brand and offer early, and leave room at the top and bottom so the account name or call-to-action button does not cover key text. Meta has a separate design requirements page for Stories ads, worth opening before production.

Reels

Shown in the Reels tab between short videos. It is also full-screen vertical video, but viewers are in entertainment mode. Ads that look like ordinary clips, with sound and a self-contained story, usually blend in better than a still image cut down from a Feed ad.

Explore

Shown when users tap into a post from the Explore page and keep scrolling. These people are looking for something new, so they are more open to unfamiliar brands than in the main feed.

If your creative production budget is limited, make at least two formats: full-screen vertical for Stories and Reels, and a Feed format. Stretching a Feed image into Stories usually leaves empty borders or covered text.

Instagram-only placements or Advantage+ placements?

Ads Manager gives you two options:

• Advantage+ placements let the system spread the budget across placements on Facebook, Instagram and Meta's other networks, wherever it expects the best results. Meta recommends this as the default.
• Manual placements let you pick only the placements you want, for example turning off everything except Instagram Feed, Stories and Reels. Meta is rolling out a change: for Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales campaigns you no longer choose placements manually at the ad set level, while Awareness and Traffic campaigns keep manual placements.

Advantage+ gives the system room to find cheaper impressions, but results may flow to placements your creative was not designed for. Where manual placements are still available, Instagram-only placements make sense when the creative was designed only for Instagram, when the brand wants people to visit its IG profile or send a DM, or when you need Instagram-only reporting for a client or management. A practical approach is to start with Advantage+, open the breakdown by placement report to see where the budget went and what each placement's cost per result was, and only then decide whether to restrict placements.

Which numbers to watch when measuring Instagram ads

The numbers to watch depend on the objective, but a basic set applies to every campaign:

• Results and cost per result: the number of results for the chosen objective and the cost of each. These are the main figures to use when comparing campaigns.
• Reach and frequency: how many people saw the ad, and how many times on average each person saw it. If frequency keeps rising while results fall, it is often a sign of creative fatigue.
• Link clicks and CTR show how well the creative gets people to take the next step.
• Website conversions require the Meta Pixel or Conversions API to be installed first; otherwise measurement stops at clicks.
• Messages and chats: for campaigns that close sales in DMs, look at conversations started, then count yourself how many actually bought.

The promote button vs Meta Ads Manager at a glance

This table summarises the differences that affect how you choose to run Instagram ads, based on the Meta and Instagram help centres:

What this means for Thai businesses

Many Thai businesses close sales through chat, both Instagram DMs and LINE, so a messages goal often matches how they really sell better than a goal for more likes. But someone has to answer chats in time while the ads run, or a good-looking cost per chat will not become sales. The second point is payment. If the business needs documents for its accounts, set up the ad account properly in Ads Manager and download receipts from the payment section regularly, instead of boosting from several phones with different cards. The third point is language: Thai-language creative that can be read on a single screen works well in Stories and Reels, where people stay for only a few seconds.

If the brand already runs Facebook ads, keeping Instagram in the same ad account lets you compare costs across platforms in one report. For the Facebook side, see Facebook ads.

Instagram ads FAQ

What is the minimum budget for Instagram ads?

There is no single number that applies to every account, because Meta shows the budgets you can set according to your ad account's currency and campaign settings. Use the figure your budget screen shows, and remember that a budget is a spending ceiling, not a price that guarantees results.

Can you run Instagram ads without a Facebook Page?

Yes, if you use the promote button in the app from a professional account, where the first boost does not require connecting a Page. To use Meta Ads Manager, though, you need a Facebook Page.

Do you pay for ads that are not approved?

No, if an ad is not approved before it receives any impressions or clicks, Meta says you are not charged for it.

Should you use Advantage+ placements or Instagram only?

Start with Advantage+ if you have creative in every format, then check the placement breakdown. If the creative was designed only for Instagram, or you must report results by platform, choose placements yourself, which Meta still allows for Awareness and Traffic campaigns.

If you want a team to structure Instagram campaigns in Meta Ads Manager and set up the Meta Pixel and Conversions API, see our Instagram ads service, or if you run several platforms together, see the overview at social media advertising.