Guide to Advertising on Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

Launching Ads and Boosted Post

All ads for Facebook and Instagram can be used on both platforms. When setting up an ad in Ad Manager on Facebook, you can determine where you would like ads to be shown. Meta recommends running a mix of ads on both platforms for the greatest results.  

You must connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page disclaimer. This requires that your League’s name on Instagram be similar to your Facebook page name.

Facebook requirements for Instagram Ads

Special Ad Category 

When setting up an ad, you must select Special Ad Category (social issues, elections, or politics) to assign your page disclaimer to your ad. If this is not selected, Facebook will reject your ads until they are corrected.  

Facebook will let you know why your ads were rejected. Refer to this page for more information on why ads are rejected. Learn more about selecting a Special Ad Category here.

Objective 

Meta allows you to choose your objective for your boosted post and Facebook/Instagram ads. Your League should choose the objective that best fits your marketing strategy and goals. The primary ad objectives we recommend using are: 

• Awareness  
• Traffic  
• Engagement  
• Leads  

Learn more about the types of objectives on the Meta Business help center.  

Budget 

Advertising on Meta provides cost-effective ways to reach your target audience. Based on your goals and the amount of time your plan to advertise, Meta will suggest a minimum spend.

LEARN MORE ABOUT Budgeting your ads on Meta  

Audience  

You must determine whom your League wants to reach through Facebook/Instagram advertising and Facebook boosted posts. This will determine how you will target your audience on Meta. Meta allows targeting based on age, sex, location, interests, and behaviors.  

Meta allows specific targeting, which allows advertisers to create and choose specific audiences they would like to advertise including detailed targeting, custom audiences, or lookalike audiences. You can also target more broadly and rely on Facebook to determine the best audience. We recommend setting a target audience to ensure your message is getting to the right audience. 

Learn more about Facebook audiences to choose what best aligns with your goals and how to set up an audience.  

Facebook/Instagram Ad  

There are three levels to creating your ads in Ads Manager:

• Campaign: Set your campaign goals.   
• Ad Set: Define the ad aspects, such as audience, ad placement, budget, and schedule.   
• Ad: Design your ad, such as choose ad format, upload images or video, and add texts & links.

Follow these instructions from Meta to create ads in Ads Manager: 

• Create your campaign From the main table in Ads Manager, select Create to open the Create a campaign window. In this window, you’ll select the basic settings for your new campaign, ad set, and ad. You can also use existing campaigns, ad sets, or ads to create new ones. 

• Refine your settings Select Continue to move on to the editing pane. This pane will open in an expanded view, but you can select the arrow pointing right to minimize it. In the editing pane, you’ll choose a campaign objective, audience, placement, and ad format. 

• Publish or save as draft When you’re ready, select Publish or Close to save your draft. 

Once you have published your ads, they will go into review before going live. Ad approval can take up to 24 hours. If your ads, are rejected Meta will let you know why and you will be required to make a change before ads are approved to go live. 

Important Note: To combat mis- and disinformation Meta requires that you select Special Ad Category social issues, elections, or politics. If you do not select this, your ads will not run.   

Learn more about setting up an ad using these resources: 

• Create a campaign in Ads Manager 
• Create an ad set in Ads Manager 
• Create an ad in Ads Manager 

Creative

All Facebook/Instagram ad designs must follow the League’s brand standards for LWV and VOTE411. Canva is a common, easy-to-use tool Leagues can use to create designs for ads. Learn more about how to use Canva for League work here.  

Things to consider when designing ads: 

• Minimize copy on ad design to most important information 
• Use colors that are easy to read  
• Always include your League logo  
• Keep a DEI lens  

Before designing your ad, please refer to Meta’s requirements and specifications for ad design.  

Boosted Post 

Boosted posts are ads created from posts on your Facebook Page. Boosting a post on your League’s Facebook page can be used to help reach and engage more Facebook users at a lower cost. Like Facebook ads, boosted posts can also be shared on Instagram.  

Post can be boosted in Ad Manager, but a simpler way to boost a post is by clicking the “boost post” button on the post you want to boost on Facebook. Once you have selected your objective, target audience, and budget Meta will show a suggested minimum spend to get achieve the greatest results.

After you indicate your budget, determine where you want your Boosted post to be placed then select "Boost post now," to boost your post.

Once you have published your Boosted post, it will go to review before going live. Approval can take up to 24 hours. If your post is rejected Meta will let you know why and you will be required to make a change before your Boosted post is approved to go live. 

learn more about boosting Facebook posts

Important Note: To combat mis- and disinformation Meta requires that you select Special Ad Category social issues, elections or politics. If you do not select this, your ads will not run. 

Additional Resources  

The Meta Business Help center offers tons of resources on advertising with Meta. For additional questions you may have about advertising on Meta, you can reach out to the LWVUS, marketing manager, LaQuita Howard at [email protected].