Reels Ads

Create a Meta ad with a focus on available reels placements and learn best practices around our ads operations.

Prerequisites

• You have previously created a Facebook app
• You are familiar with Marketing APIs and have enabled Facebook Login

If you do not meet those prerequisites, please refer to our developer documentation.

Sandbox Testing

Meta offers a testing environment, which doesn't actually deliver ads, but allows you to:

• Add Marketing API as a product within your Meta app in the Tools section to create and edit ads using our APIs without incurring costs
• Create an ad account to use the Marketing API

Read through our testing best practices.

Step 1: Access Asset

An access token is an opaque string that identifies a user, app, or Page and can be used by the app to make graph API calls. You can see when it expires and which app generated it. Marketing API calls on Meta apps need to include an access token.

Get an access token with necessary permissions:

• ads_management: make changes in selected ad accounts

• ads_read: read out ads data

• read_insights: read out performance insights

Use system access tokens as they have longer expiration times.

Additional Authorization Layer

To access Marketing API endpoints, you need to create a Business app. They are subject to an additional layer of Graph API authorization called access levels. During App Review, your app must also request specific permissions and features. You must complete Business Verification if your app will be used by app users who do not have a role on the app itself, or a role in a Business that has claimed the app.

If your app is managing other people’s ad accounts, you need:

• Advanced Access ads_read

and/or

• Advanced Access ads_management

Step 2: Fetch Ad Account

Fetch your advertisers ad account(s) and allow them to select the one for ads creation.

Through our Business Management API, you can see all the ad accounts their business has access to. This returns all ad accounts owned by a business. Note that you will need the business_management permission at app and user level. Refer to Business Asset Management APIs.

Sample Call

curl -G \
-d "access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
"https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/<BUSINESS_ID>/owned_ad_accounts"

Step 3: Create Campaign

A campaign is the highest level organizational structure within an ad account and should represent a single objective for an advertiser. These objects contain your advertising objective and one or more ad sets. This helps you optimize and measure results for each advertising objective. Learn more about creating, reading, updating and deleting a campaign here.

Sample Call

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My campaign"' \
  -F 'objective="OUTCOME_TRAFFIC"' \
  -F 'status="PAUSED"' \
  -F 'special_ad_categories=[]' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/campaigns

Step 4: Target Definition

To enable advertisers to reach specific groups, specific these parameters in your API requests:

• demographics (age, gender, location)
• interests
• behaviors

Then potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services will be reached.

Sample Call

curl -X POST \
  -F 'access_token=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  -F 'name=My Custom Audience' \
  -F 'subtype=CUSTOM' \
  -F 'description=People who live in New York, aged 25-40, interested in technology' \
  -F 'customer_file_source=USER_PROVIDED_ONLY' \
  -F 'targeting_spec={
        "geo_locations": {
          "countries": ["US"],
          "regions": [{"key": "4081"}]  # New York region key
        },
        "age_min": 25,
        "age_max": 40,
        "interests": [{"id": "6003139266461", "name": "Technology"}]
      }' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_YOUR_AD_ACCOUNT_ID/customaudiences

Step 5: Create Ad Set

Ad sets can have one or more ads. Ads within an ad set should have the same targeting, budget, billing, optimization goal, and duration.

You can set the budget, schedule, targeting, bid strategy, and placement options. Ad sets allow for fine-tuning how and where ads are delivered to specific audience segments, optimizing performance, and achieving marketing goals.

Key parameters:

• audience targeting criteria
• daily or lifetime budgets
• scheduling options to control when ads are shown

More comprehensive details here.

You can pick a manual placement that includes Instagram and Facebook reels ads, or default to automatic placements. If you do not specify anything for a particular placement field, it considers all possible default positions for that field.

Sample Call

curl -X POST \
  -F 'access_token=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  -F 'name=Reels Ad Set' \
  -F 'campaign_id=YOUR_CAMPAIGN_ID' \
  -F 'daily_budget=5000' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'start_time=2024-07-10T10:00:00-0700' \
  -F 'end_time=2024-07-20T10:00:00-0700' \
  -F 'targeting={"geo_locations":{"countries":["US"]},"age_min":18,"age_max":65}' \
  -F 'promoted_object={"page_id":"YOUR_PAGE_ID"}' \
  -F 'status=PAUSED' \
  -F 'instagram_actor_id=YOUR_INSTAGRAM_ACTOR_ID' \
  -F 'publisher_platforms=["instagram"]' \
  -F 'instagram_positions=["reels"]' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_YOUR_AD_ACCOUNT_ID/adsets

Placement Targeting: Reels Available Positions, Compatible Objectives, and Optimization Goals

Limitations

Step 6: Select Creative

Ad creatives are the visual and textual components of ads, which support the following ad formats:

• images
• videos
• carousels
• enabling customized ad designs

Automate design elements and optimize performance using our creative process.

Repurpose an Existing Reel as the Ad Creative

Users can provide a new asset or repurpose an existing reel from their Instagram account as the ad creative.

You can create ads from existing, organic Instagram or Facebook reels that are eligible to be promoted, provided they are:

• Less than 90 seconds
• Have a full-screen (9:16) vertical aspect ratio
• Free of copyrighted music, GIFs, interactive stickers or camera filters from a third party
• Not shared to Facebook

To repurpose an organic Instagram reel as the ad creative for a new ad campaign:

1. Obtain the Instagram Business account ID, which needs to be connected to a Facebook Page

   • GET/{ad_account_id}/connected_instagram_accounts or
   • GET/{business_id}/instagram_business_accounts

2. Find the Reel You Want to Promote

   • GET/{ig-business-account-user-id}/media

3. Provide Ad Creative

   • Instead of specifying instagram_actor_id in the creative spec, set instagram_user_id as the Instagram user ID
   • Specify source_instagram_media_id as the media ID
   • Optionally, update call_to_action for your promotion

Leverage boost_eligibility_info as a convenient way to determine whether media is eligible to be boosted as an ad and boost_ads_list to trace related past boost Instagram ad information.

Sample Call

curl -i -X POST \
https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT>/adcreatives?object_id=<PAGE_ID>
&instagram_user_id=<IG_USER_ID>
&source_instagram_media_id=<IG_ORGANIC_MEDIA_ID>
&call_to_action="{'type':'LEARN_MORE','value':{'link': '<YOUR_LINK>'}}"
&access_token=<API_ACCESS_TOKEN>

Gen AI Creative Toolbox

You can automate the generation of diverse and engaging ad elements, such as: images, videos, and text. These AI-driven tools help optimize ad performance by tailoring content to audience preferences and enhancing creative variety. Ad creation will result in higher engagement and better campaigns.

Step 7: Preview Ad

Preview the ad in the Facebook and Instagram Reels formats tabulated below using:

• Ad ID
• Ad Creative ID
• Ad Creative spec

Sample Call

curl -X POST \
  'https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_{ad_account_id}/adpreviews' \
  -F 'access_token={your_access_token}' \
  -F 'creative={
        "object_story_spec": {
            "instagram_actor_id": "{instagram_actor_id}",
            "video_data": {
                "video_id": "{video_id}",
                "title": "Check out our new product!",
                "description": "Exciting new features and benefits.",
                "call_to_action": {
                    "type": "LEARN_MORE",
                    "value": {
                        "link": "https://www.example.com/product"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }' \
  -F 'ad_format=INSTAGRAM_REELS'

Step 8: Schedule Ad Delivery

To book an ad using the marketing API, create an ad group object and link your ad set object to the Ad Creative. Use /act_{ad_account_id}/ads to submit your Ad object, and validate the response to confirm successful booking. This step finalizes your ad setup, making it ready for delivery based on the configurations provided.

Sample Call

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My Ad"' \
  -F 'adset_id="<AD_SET_ID>"' \
  -F 'creative={
       "creative_id": "<CREATIVE_ID>"
     }' \
  -F 'status="PAUSED"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/ads

Step 9: Review Performance

Use the Insights API to fetch metrics from ad account to ads:

• act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/insights
• <CAMPAIGN_ID>/insights
• <ADSET_ID>/insights
• <AD_ID>/insights

When running a campaign on Instagram and Facebook, add breakdowns=publisher_platform to see the stats of Facebook and Instagram placements separately, as shown in the sample call below. When breaking down insights by Placement level, it will be possible to see how ads perform via Instagram and Facebook Reels placement.

Sample Call

curl -X GET \
  'https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/{ad_account_id}/insights' \
  -F 'access_token={your_access_token}' \
  -F 'level=campaign' \
  -F 'fields=campaign_name,impressions,clicks,spend' \
  -F 'breakdowns=publisher_platform,platform_position' \
  -F 'filtering=[{"field":"platform_position","operator":"IN","value":["instagram_reels"]}]' \
  -F 'time_range={"since":"2024-06-01","until":"2024-06-30"}'

Important Considerations

New Objectives Supported in ODAX (Outcome-Driven Ads Experiences Objective Validation)

• OUTCOME_APP_PROMOTION
• OUTCOME_AWARENESS
• OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT
• OUTCOME_LEADS
• OUTCOME_SALES
• OUTCOME_TRAFFIC

Rate Limits

The Marketing API has its own rate limiting logic and is excluded from all the Graph API rate limitations. The feature that impacts the Marketing API rate limit quota is Ads Management Standard Access. By default, you get Standard Access when you add the Marketing API product to your App Dashboard, which provides you development access to the Marketing API. To increase the rate limiting quota, upgrade to Advanced Access.

Creative Essentials

Reels ads turn attention into action, supercharging results. When you build them the right way, they are even more effective.

1. Build in 9:16 video to make your video captivating: Reels is a full-screen, immersive video format. To help your creative feel at home here, consider leading with video and resizing it to 9:16.

2. Build in safe zones so that your messages are clear: Work within the safe zones so your text sticker overlays, calls to action or key messages aren’t obscured by the Reels user interface. Keep the bottom 35% of your 9:16 creative free of text, logos, and other key elements.

3. Build for sound on to make your video entertaining: Audio – whether that's music, voiceover or sound effects – is a key driver of engagement and entertainment on Reels.