Ads that click to Instagram Direct send people that click on your ads directly into conversations with your business in Instagram Direct. Use these ads to reach people at scale and deliver standout, individualized service.

Ads that click to Instagram support ads with an image, a video, a carousel, or a slideshow. You can also include call prompts in your ad.

If you’re interested in creating ads that send people to Messenger or WhatsApp chats, see Ads that Click to Messenger and Ads that Click to WhatsApp for guidance. You can also create ads that pick the destination the user is most likely to respond from, see Ads that Click to Multidestination for more information.

Ad Creation Overview

This document outlines the steps you need to follow to set up your integration for click to Instagram ads. You will need to:

Create an ad campaign

Create an ad set that links your ads to your ad campaign

Create an ad creative for the Instagram ad type you want to serve

Create an ad by linking your ad creative to your ad set

Publish your ad

Before you begin

This guide assumes you have:

An ad account with Meta⁠

An Instagram account

Uploaded any assets, such as images or videos, to be used in your ads to Meta servers

To make successful calls to all endpoints in this guide, you will need:

A Page access token requested by a person who can perform the ADVERTISE task on the Page

The following permissions must be granted a person using your app:

ads_management

pages_manage_ads

pages_read_engagement

pages_show_list

Step 1: Create an ad campaign

Start by creating your ad campaign. To do this, make a POST request to the /act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/campaigns endpoint where <AD_ACCOUNT_ID> is the ID for your Meta ad account. Your request must include:

Parameters

Name	Description
`name` string	Required. Name for the click to Instagram campaign.
`objective` enum	Required. Campaign’s objective. Supported objectives are `OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT`, `OUTCOME_SALES`, and `OUTCOME_TRAFFIC`.
`special_ad_categories` list<Object>	Required. Special ad categories associated with the click to Instagram campaign. See the Ad Campaign reference for more details.
`status` enum	Optional. Valid options are `PAUSED` and `ACTIVE`. If this status is `PAUSED`, all its active ad sets and ads will be paused and have an effective status `CAMPAIGN_PAUSED`.

Request

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Click to Instagram Campaign' \
  -F 'objective=OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'special_ad_categories=[]' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/campaigns

Response

On success, your app receives a JSON response with the ID of your newly created campaign.

{
  "id": "<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"
}

Updating

You can update a campaign by making a POST request to /<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>.

Reading

To verify that you have successfully created a click to Instagram campaign, you can make a GET request to /<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>. See the Ad Campaign reference for the complete list of available parameters.

Request

curl -X GET -G \
  -d 'fields=name,status,objective' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>

Response

{
  "name": "Click to Instagram Campaign",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "objective": "OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT",
  "id": "<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"
}

Step 2: Create an ad set

Once you have an ad campaign, create your ad set. To create an ad set, make a POST request to the /act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets endpoint where <AD_ACCOUNT_ID> is the ID for your Meta ad account. Your request must include:

Parameters

Name	Description
`bid_amount` unsigned int32	Required if bid_strategy is set to `LOWEST_COST_WITH_BID_CAP` or `COST_CAP`. The maximum amount you want to pay for a result based on your `optimization_goal`.
`bid_strategy` enum	Optional. The bid strategy for this campaign to suit your specific business goals. See the Ad Campaign reference for more details. Values: `LOWEST_COST_WITHOUT_CAP`, `LOWEST_COST_WITH_BID_CAP`, `COST_CAP`
`billing_event` enum	Required. Must be set to `IMPRESSIONS` for ads that click to Instagram. Meta bills you when your ad is shown to people.
`campaign_id` numeric string or integer	Required. A valid click to Instagram campaign you wish to add this ad set to.
`daily_budget` int64	Required if `lifetime_budget` is not set. The daily budget defined in your account currency. Allowed only for ad sets with a duration (difference between `end_time` and `start_time`) longer than 24 hours. Either `daily_budget` or `lifetime_budget` must be greater than `0`.
`destination_type` string	Required. Set to `INSTAGRAM_DIRECT` for single-destination click to Instagram ads.
`end_time` datetime	Required when `lifetime_budget` is specified. When creating an ad set with a `daily_budget`, specify `end_time=0` or leave this field empty to set the ad set as ongoing with no end date. Example: `2015-03-12 23:59:59-07:00` or `2015-03-12 23:59:59 PDT`. UTC UNIX timestamp.
`lifetime_budget` int64	Required if `daily_budget` is not set. The lifetime budget of the ad set defined in your account currency. If specified, you must also specify an `end_time`. Either `daily_budget` or `lifetime_budget` must be greater than `0`.
`name` string	Required. The name of the click to Instagram ad set.
`optimization_goal` enum	Required. What the ad set is optimizing for. Depending on the campaign’s objective, the ad set may be eligible for different optimization goals. `OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT`: Engagement objective can optimize for `CONVERSATIONS`, and `LINK_CLICKS`. `OUTCOME_SALES`: Sales objective can optimize for `CONVERSATIONS`, `OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS`, `LINK_CLICKS`, `IMPRESSIONS`, and `REACH`. `OUTCOME_TRAFFIC`: Traffic objective can optimize for `CONVERSATIONS`, `LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS`, `LINK_CLICKS`, `IMPRESSIONS`, `REACH`, and `POST_ENGAGEMENT`.
`promoted_object` AdPromotedObject	Required. The object this ad set is promoting across all its ads. For ads that click to Instagram, `promoted_object` has the following conditions: `page_id`: Required. The ID of the Facebook Page. See Ad Set, Promoted Object for more details.
`start_time` datetime	Optional. The start time of the ad set. This field will default to the current time if no value is provided. Example: `2015-03-12 23:59:59-07:00` or `2015-03-12 23:59:59 PDT`. UTC UNIX timestamp.
`status` enum	Optional. The status of the ad set. It can be different from the effective status due to its parent campaign. This field will default to `ACTIVE` if no value is provided. Vales: `ACTIVE`, `PAUSED`, `DELETED`, `ARCHIVED`
`targeting` Targeting object	Required. The targeting structure of an ad that clicks to Instagram. See Targeting for more details.
`time_start` datetime	Optional. Interchangeable with `start_time`.
`time_stop` datetime	Required when `lifetime_budget` is specified. Interchangeable with `end_time`.

Visit the Ad Account Ad Set reference for the complete list of available parameters.

Request

curl -X POST \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  -F 'bid_strategy=LOWEST_COST_WITHOUT_CAP' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'daily_budget=<DAILY_BUDGET>' \
  -F 'destination_type=INSTAGRAM_DIRECT' \
  -F 'name=Click to Instagram Ad Set' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=CONVERSATIONS' \
  -F 'promoted_object={
    "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>"
  }' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'start_time=<START_TIME>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": { "countries":["US","CA"] },
    "device_platforms": ["mobile", "desktop"]
  }' \
https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Response

{
  "id": "<AD_SET_ID>"
}

Updating

You can update an ad set by making a POST request to /<AD_SET_ID>.

Reading

To verify that you have successfully created a click to Instagram ad set, you can make a GET request to /<AD_SET_ID>. See the Ad Set reference for the complete list of available parameters.

Request

curl -X GET -G \
  -d 'fields=name,destination_type,optimization_goal,bid_strategy,status' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_SET_ID>

Response

{
  "name": "Click to Instagram Ad Set",
  "destination_type": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT",
  "optimization_goal": "CONVERSATIONS",
  "bid_strategy": "LOWEST_COST_WITHOUT_CAP",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "id": "<AD_SET_ID>"
}

Step 3: Create an ad creative

The ad creative allows you to add assets to your ads. To create an ad creative, make a POST request to the /act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives endpoint where <AD_ACCOUNT_ID> is the ID for your Meta ad account. Your request must include:

Parameters

Name	Description
`name` string	Required. The name for your ad creative.
`object_story_spec` AdCreativeObjectStorySpec	Required. An object containing information about a message. See Ad Creative Object Story Spec for more details. Required: `page_id`: The ID of the Facebook Page `instagram_actor_id`: Instagram Account ID. There are three ways to obtain an Instagram account ID: Business Manager owned Instagram account, Page connected Instagram account, and Page backed Instagram account. Optional: `link_data`: The spec for a link page post or carousel ad `photo_data`: The spec for a photo page post `text_data`: The spec for a text page post `video_data`: The spec for a video page post
`degrees_of_freedom_spec`	Optional. See Standard Enhancements for Advantage+ Creative for more details.

Visit th Ad Creative reference for the complete list of available parameters.

If you see the error “Creative Must Provide enroll_status for Standard Enhancements” on v17.0+, refer to Standard Enhancements for Advantage+ Creative and fix it.

Filling out a Page welcome message

The default message that a customer sees is “Hello! Can I get more info on this?”. You can create more tailored user experiences for your ads that click to Instagram by customizing your ads’ greeting message in the page_welcome_message field under object_story_spec.

Example

Adding text icebreakers with an optional automated response. String interpolation {{user_first_name}}, {{user_last_name}}, {{user_full_name}}, and {{page_name}} can be used in the greeting message and automated response. For example, “Hi {{user_first_name}}. Welcome to {{page_name}}!”

"page_welcome_message": {
  "type": "VISUAL_EDITOR",
  "version": 2,
  "landing_screen_type": "welcome_message",
  "media_type": "text",
  "text_format": {
    "customer_action_type": "ice_breakers",
    "message": {
      "text": "<GREETING_MESSAGE>",
      "ice_breakers": [
        {
          "title": "<ICEBREAKER>",
          "response": "<AUTO_RESPONSE>"
        },
        {
          "title": "<ICEBREAKER>",
          "response": "<AUTO_RESPONSE>"
        },
        {
          "title": "<ICEBREAKER>",
          "response": "<AUTO_RESPONSE>"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Ad creative create examples

Image Creative

Refer to Ad, Image for more details.

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Sample ad creative' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>",
       "instagram_actor_id": "<INSTAGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID>",
       "link_data": {
         "message": "<AD_PRIMARY_TEXT>",
         "image_hash": "<IMAGE_HASH>"
         "page_welcome_message": "<PAGE_WELCOME_MESSAGE>",
         "call_to_action": {
           "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
           "value": {
             "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
           }
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

Video Creative

Refer to Video and Carousel Ads for more details.

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Sample ad creative' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
       "message": "<AD_PRIMARY_TEXT>",
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>",
       "instagram_actor_id": "<INSTAGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID>",
       "video_data": {
         "video_id": "<VIDEO_ID>",
         "image_url": "<THUMBNAIL_URL>"
         "page_welcome_message": "<PAGE_WELCOME_MESSAGE>",
         "call_to_action": {
           "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
           "value": {
             "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
           }
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

Ad that uses a messaging flow configured on a partner app

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Sample ad creative' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>",
       "instagram_actor_id": "<INSTAGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID>",
       "link_data": {
         "message": "<AD_PRIMARY_TEXT>",
         "image_hash": "<IMAGE_HASH>"
           "call_to_action": {
           "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
           "value": {
             "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
           }
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'asset_feed_spec={
       "additional_data": {
         "partner_app_welcome_message_flow_id": "<FLOW_ID>",
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v19.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

For more information about messaging app flows, refer to Welcome message flows in the Messenger Platform documentation.

Carousel Creative

Refer to Video and Carousel Ads for more details.

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Sample ad creative' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>",
       "instagram_actor_id": "<INSTAGRAM_ACCOUNT_ID>",
       "link_data": {
         "message": "<AD_PRIMARY_TEXT>",
         "page_welcome_message": "<PAGE_WELCOME_MESSAGE>",
         "call_to_action": {
           "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
           "value": {
             "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
           }
         },
         "child_attachments": [
              {
                "image_hash": "<IMAGE_HASH>",
                "call_to_action": {
                  "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
                  "value": {
                    "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
                  }
                },
                "name": "<AD_HEADLINE>"
              },
              {
                "video_id": "<VIDEO_ID>",
                "picture": "<THUMBNAIL_URL>",
                "call_to_action": {
                  "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
                  "value": {
                    "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
                  }
                },
                "name": "<AD_HEADLINE>"
              }
         ],
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

Response

On success, your app receives a JSON response with the ID of your newly created ad creative.

{
  "id": "<AD_CREATIVE_ID>"
}

Creating ad creatives using Instagram content

Instagram Posts

Refer Use Posts as Instagram Ads for more details.

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Sample ad creative from Instagram post' \
  -F 'object_id=<PAGE_ID>' \
  -F 'instagram_user_id=<INSTAGRAM_USER_ID>' \
  -F 'source_instagram_media_id=<INSTAGRAM_POST_ID>' \
  -F 'call_to_action={
       "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
       "value": {
         "link": "https://www.instagram.com"
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

Instagram Images

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Sample ad creative from Instagram image' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>",
       "instagram_actor_id": "<INSTAGRAM_ACTOR_ID>",
       "link_data": {
         "message": "<AD_PRIMARY_TEXT>",
         "picture": "<IMAGE_URL>"
         "page_welcome_message": "<PAGE_WELCOME_MESSAGE>",
         "call_to_action": {
           "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
           "value": {
             "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
           }
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

Creating ad creatives using Facebook content

Refer to Use Posts as Instagram Ads: Facebook Posts for more details.

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT>/adcreatives
  ?object_story_id=<postOwnerID_postID>
  &instagram_actor_id=<IG_USER_ID>
  &call_to_action="{'type':MESSAGE_PAGE,'value':{'app_destination':'MESSENGER'}}"
  &access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>"

Where object_story_id is the post ID in the format of postOwnerID_postID and instagram_actor_id is either a Page-connected Instagram account ID or the Page-backed Instagram account ID. See more details in Set Up Instagram Accounts With Pages.

Updating

You can update an ad creative by making a POST request to /<AD_CREATIVE_ID>.

Reading

To verify that you have successfully created a click to Instagram ad creative, you can make a GET request to /<AD_CREATIVE_ID>. See Ad Creative for the complete list of available parameters.

Request

curl -X GET -G \
  -d 'fields=name,object_story_spec{link_data{call_to_action,page_welcome_message}}' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_CREATIVE_ID>

Response

{
  "name": "Sample ad creative",
  "object_story_spec": {
    "link_data": {
      "call_to_action": {
        "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
        "value": {
          "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"
        }
      },
      "page_welcome_message": {
        "type": "VISUAL_EDITOR",
        "version": 2,
        "landing_screen_type": "welcome_message",
        "media_type": "text",
        "text_format": {
          "customer_action_type": "ice_breakers",
          "message": {
            "text": "Sample greeting message",
            "ice_breakers": [
              {
                "title": "Sample icebreaker 1"
              },
              {
                "title": "Sample icebreaker 2"
              },
              {
                "title": "Sample icebreaker 3"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "id": "<AD_CREATIVE_ID>"
}

Alternative objective ID in creating an ad creative

Use this API to get connected Instagram accounts with the Instagram Account Backed Page ID (IABP ID).

curl -X GET \
  -F 'fields="iabp_id"' \
  -F 'business_id=<BUSINESS_ID>' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/connected_instagram_accounts_with_iabp

Then when you use post as ads, you can use the IABP ID as the value of object_id.

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT>/adcreatives
  ?object_id=<IABP_ID> // iabp_id instead of page_id
  &instagram_user_id=<IG_USER_ID>
  &source_instagram_media_id=<IG_ORGANIC_MEDIA_ID>
  &access_token=<API_ACCESS_TOKEN>"

Step 4: Create an ad

Ads allow you to associate ad creative information with your ad sets. To create an ad, make a POST request to the /act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/ads endpoint where <AD_ACCOUNT_ID> is the ID for your Meta ad account. Your request must include:

Parameters

Name	Description
`name` string	Required. The name for your ad creative.
`adset_id` numeric string or integer	Required. The ID of the ad set.
`creative` AdCreative	Required. The ad creative to be used by this ad. You may supply the `creative_id` of an existing ad creative or create a new ad creative by including all required fields. See Ad Creative for more details.
`status` enum	Required. The configured status of the ad. Values: `ACTIVE`, `PAUSED`, `DELETED`, `ARCHIVED`

Request

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=Click to Instagram Ad' \
  -F 'adset_id=<AD_SET_ID> \
  -F 'creative={
       "creative_id": "<AD_CREATIVE_ID>"
     }' \
  -F 'status=PAUSED \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/ads

Response

{
  "id": "<AD_ID>"
}

Call to action

You can also set a call to action when creating your ad.

"call_to_action": {
  "value": {"app_destination":"INSTAGRAM_DIRECT"},
  "type": "MESSAGE_PAGE"
}

Updating

You can update an ad by making a POST request to /<AD_ID>.

Reading

To verify that you have successfully created a click to Instagram ad, you can make a GET request to /<AD_ID>. See the ad reference for the complete list of available parameters.

Request

curl -X GET -G \
  -d 'fields=status,adset_id,campaign_id \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_ID>

Response

{
  "status": "PAUSED",
  "adset_id": "<AD_SET_ID>",
  "campaign_id": "<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>",
  "id": "<AD_ID>"
}

Step 5: Publish your ad

Verify your ad exists in Ads Manager. When you are ready to publish your changes, select your campaign, the ad set for the campaign, and the ad, and click the Publish button.

You can also publish your ad using the API by sending a POST request to /<AD_ID> with the status parameter set to ACTIVE where <AD_ID> is the ad you want to publish.

Request

curl -X POST \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_ID>

Response

{
  "success": true
}

Your ad will be reviewed by Meta, and the effective_status will be PENDING_REVIEW. Once approved, the status will automatically update to ACTIVE, and your ad will be delivered.

Request

curl -X GET -G \
  -d 'fields=status,effective_status' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_ID>

Response

{
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "effective_status": "PENDING_REVIEW",
  "id": "<AD_ID>"
}

Did you find this page helpful?