How to connect an Instagram account to a Meta ad account

Meta gives two ways to make an Instagram account available in Ads Manager: add the Instagram professional account to the business portfolio that has the ad account, or connect it to the Facebook Page you advertise with. Then, when you build the ad, the ad's Identity section has an Instagram account setting, with Connect account to add one. Meta says "only people with access to the ad accounts connected to the Instagram account can use the Instagram account to advertise".

Before you start

Meta's list of what you need to advertise for a Page and an Instagram account:

• A professional Instagram account. A personal account has to be switched to business or creator first, in the Instagram app under Account type and tools.
• Access to the Page: full control, or partial access with the Ads task.
• A role on the ad account: Admin or Advertiser.
• The Instagram account connected to the Page. Meta's article on Instagram ads also offers adding it to your business portfolio instead, as below.

Connect it through your business portfolio

Add the Instagram account to the business portfolio that has the ad account: Settings > Instagram accounts (below Accounts) > Add > Add Instagram account, then log in to Instagram in the window that opens and click Confirm. The full steps are in how to connect Instagram to your Page and business portfolio.

Meta says that once it is added, "new campaigns and ad sets will automatically include Instagram as a placement, and you can link new ads to this Instagram account".

To choose which ad accounts can use the Instagram account, Meta's developer guide says to select the Instagram account, click Add Assets and select the ad accounts. That guide still calls the tool Business Manager, so the button may be labeled differently in Meta Business Suite today. Its rule for which ad accounts qualify is the part that matters. The ad account has to be:

• owned by your business, or
• shared with your business while owned by the business that owns the Instagram account

It adds: "you cannot assign an ad account belonging to one client's business to an Instagram account belonging to another business, even if your business have admin access to both of them."

Connect it through your Facebook Page

If the Instagram account is connected to your Facebook Page, Meta says this "will allow anyone with access to manage ads for the Page to advertise on the Instagram account". Meta also says that if neither the Page nor the Instagram account is in a business portfolio when you connect them, it creates a business portfolio for you. The connection is made in the Instagram app under Edit profile > Page > Connect or create; see the connection steps.

Connect it in the Instagram app, for ads you create there

Instagram has its own setting for ads made in the Instagram app. It links the professional account to a Meta ad account, and Instagram says the ad account's payment method and ad settings are then saved to the Instagram account. In the app:

1. Go to your profile and tap Menu in the top right.
2. Below For professionals, tap Ads payments.
3. Tap Add new payment method with a Facebook account.
4. Check the ad account shown. To use another one, tap Switch ad account.
5. Tap Continue.

One warning from the same article: once you switch from a non-Meta ad account to a Meta ad account, you cannot switch back, and you lose access to the ads you created with the old one and cannot pause them. Pause those ads before you switch.

Choose the Instagram account when you build the ad

1. In Ads Manager, create a campaign with an objective that supports Instagram.
2. At the ad set level, the placements include Instagram when the objective supports it. To run only on Instagram, select Show more settings in the placements section and choose Instagram under Platforms.
3. At the ad level, connect your Facebook Page in the Identity section.
4. Below Instagram account, the Page you connected is selected automatically as the voice of the ad on Instagram. To add an Instagram account, click Connect account.
5. Before you publish, check that the Instagram ad preview appears. Meta says that shows the ad is eligible to run on Instagram.

When the agency runs ads from its own business portfolio

When an agency builds your ads in its own business portfolio, it needs two things in that portfolio:

• Your Instagram account, shared to its business with at least the Ads task. You give it under Settings > Partners > Add > Give a partner access to your assets; see how to give an agency access to Instagram.
• An ad account: yours, shared the same way, or one the agency owns.

Then Meta's same-business rule decides what the agency can pair. Your ad account and your Instagram account, both shared from your business, can be assigned together in the agency's portfolio. An ad account the agency owns can be assigned too, because it is owned by the agency's business. What it cannot do is pair one client's ad account with another client's Instagram account.

Meta's developer guide adds that after an ad account is assigned, everyone in that business who can run ads for the ad account can run ads on the Instagram account. So check who at the agency has the ad account before you share.

Troubleshooting: the account is missing from the list

• It is a personal account. Switch it to a professional account in the Instagram app.
• It is not connected to this ad account or Page. Add it to the business portfolio that has the ad account, or connect it to the Page you are advertising for.
• You cannot use the ad account it is connected to. Meta says only people with access to the connected ad accounts can advertise with the Instagram account. Ask for the Admin or Advertiser role, or for the ad account to be shared with your business.
• The ad account and the Instagram account belong to different businesses. The same-business rule above blocks it. Use an ad account owned by the Instagram account's business, or one your own business owns.
• The Page itself is missing from the dropdown (Meta's error #1443121). Meta lists it among the errors you may see without the right Page or Instagram permissions: you need full control or the Ads task on the Page. More Ads Manager errors are in Meta sharing errors and fixes.

If you have no Instagram account to connect, you can still reach Instagram: Meta lets your Facebook Page act as the ad's identity there.