Ads that Click to Multidestination

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Copy for LLM

Ads in WhatsApp Status are available via the Marketing API. Learn more about ads in WhatsApp Status.⁠

This guide explains how to create and publish ads that click to multidestination using the Marketing API.

To create a multidestination ad, configure an ad campaign, ad set, ad creative, and ad through the Marketing API. When someone clicks the ad, it opens a conversation with the business in one of the messaging apps (Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp) that the person is most likely to respond from.

A multidestination ad can open any combination of these destinations: Messenger chat, Instagram chat, and WhatsApp chat.

If you’d like to create an ad that only goes to one destination, see:

Ads that Click to Messenger

Ads that Click to Instagram

Ads that Click to WhatsApp

Ad creation overview

This document outlines the steps you need to follow to set up your integration for click to multidestination 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 Multi Destination ad type you want to serve

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

Before you begin

This guide assumes you have:

An ad account with Meta⁠

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

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 multidestination 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 multidestination campaign. Currently, special ad categories aren’t supported for ads that click to multidestination, so it needs to be `NONE` or empty array. 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 Multi Destination Campaign' \
  -F 'objective=OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'special_ad_categories=[]' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/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 multidestination 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/v26.0/<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>

Response

{
  "name": "Click to Multi Destination 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 multidestination. Meta bills you when people see your ad.
`campaign_id` numeric string or integer	Required. A valid click to multidestination 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 `MESSAGING_INSTAGRAM_DIRECT_MESSENGER_WHATSAPP` if you want to use all three destinations (Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram). Set to `MESSAGING_INSTAGRAM_DIRECT_MESSENGER` if you want to use Messenger and Instagram. Set to `MESSAGING_MESSENGER_WHATSAPP` if you want to use Messenger and WhatsApp. Set to `MESSAGING_INSTAGRAM_DIRECT_WHATSAPP` if you want to use WhatsApp and Instagram. Note: If you include WhatsApp in the destinations, please make sure you have WhatsApp business number connected to your page. If you include Instagram in the destinations, please make sure you have Instagram business account connected to your page.
`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 multidestination ad set.
`optimization_goal` enum	Required. What the ad set is optimizing for. Must be set to `CONVERSATIONS` for ads that click to multidestination. Depending on the campaign’s objective, the ad set may be eligible for different optimization goals.
`promoted_object` AdPromotedObject	Required. The object this ad set is promoting across all its ads. For ads that click to multidestination, `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. Values: `ACTIVE`, `PAUSED`, `DELETED`, `ARCHIVED`
`targeting` Targeting object	Required. The targeting structure of the ad. 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=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'daily_budget=<DAILY_BUDGET>' \
  -F 'destination_type=<DESTINATION_TYPE>' \
  -F 'name=<AD_SET_NAME>' \
  -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/v26.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Response

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

{
  "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 multidestination 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' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/<AD_SET_ID>

Response

{
  "name": "<AD_SET_NAME>",
  "destination_type": "<DESTINATION_TYPE>",
  "optimization_goal": "CONVERSATIONS",
  "bid_strategy": "LOWEST_COST_WITHOUT_CAP",
  "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
`asset_feed_spec`	Required. Specify the destinations of ads that click to Multi Destination Required: `optimization_type`: Must be set to `DOF_MESSAGING_DESTINATION` for ads that click to multidestination. `call_to_actions`: Array of the selected destinations of ads that click to multidestination. It needs to match with the `destination_type` specified in the ad set. Messenger `{ "type": "MESSAGE_PAGE", "value": { "app_destination": "MESSENGER", "link": "https://fb.com/messenger_doc/" } }` WhatsApp `{ "type": "WHATSAPP_MESSAGE", "value": { "app_destination": "WHATSAPP", "link": "https://api.whatsapp.com/send" } }` Instagram `{ "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE", "value": { "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT", "link": "https://www.instagram.com" } }`
`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_user_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 the Ad Creative reference for the complete list of available parameters.

Filling out 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 multidestination by customizing your ads’ greeting message, icebreakers, and autofill messages in the page_welcome_message field under object_story_spec.

For more information about icebreakers, see the ice_breakers reference.

Limitations

Icebreaker titles must not be more than 80 characters.

Icebreaker responses must not be more than 300 characters.

Message text must not be more than 300 characters.

Example

Create the page_welcome_message object to add icebreakers with a greeting message.

"page_welcome_message": {
  "type":"VISUAL_EDITOR",
  "version":2,
  "landing_screen_type":"welcome_message",
  "media_type":"text",
  "text_format":{
    "customer_action_type":"ice_breakers",
    "message":{
      "ice_breakers":[
        {"title":"Can I make a purchase?","response":"This is a response 1"},
        {"title":"Can I see a menu?", "response":"This is a response 2"},
        {"title":"Where are you located?", "response":"This is a response 3"}],
      "quick_replies":[],
      "text":"Hi {{user_first_name}}! Please let us know how we can help you."}
  },
  "user_edit":false,
  "surface":"visual_editor_new"
}

Ad creative create examples

Add the page_welcome_message field to the creative as follows.

Request

curl -X POST \
-F 'name=<CREATIVE_NAME>' \
-F 'object_story_spec={
     "page_id": "438346666550309",
     "link_data": {
       "name": "<AD_HEADLINE>",
       "message": "<AD_PRIMARY_TEXT>",
       "image_hash": "<IMAGE_HASH>"
       "link": "https://fb.com/messenger_doc/",
       "page_welcome_message": "<PAGE_WELCOME_MESSAGE>",
       "call_to_action": {
         "type": "MESSAGE_PAGE",
         "value": {
           "app_destination": "MESSENGER"
         }
       }
     }
   }' \
-F 'asset_feed_spec={
     "optimization_type": "DOF_MESSAGING_DESTINATION",
     "call_to_actions": [
       {
         "type": "MESSAGE_PAGE",
         "value": {
           "app_destination": "MESSENGER",
           "link": "https://fb.com/messenger_doc/"
         }
       },
       {
         "type": "WHATSAPP_MESSAGE",
         "value": {
           "app_destination": "WHATSAPP",
           "link": "https://api.whatsapp.com/send"
         }
       },
       {
         "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
         "value": {
           "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT",
           "link": "https://www.instagram.com"
         }
       }
     ]
   }' \
-F 'degrees_of_freedom_spec={
     "creative_features_spec": {
       "standard_enhancements": {
         "enroll_status": "OPT_IN"
       }
     }
   }' \
-F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/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 to 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=<IG_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/v26.0/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_user_id": "<IG_USER_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/v26.0/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/v26.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT>/adcreatives
  ?object_story_id=<postOwnerID_postID>
  &instagram_user_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_user_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 multidestination 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{page_welcome_message},asset_feed_spec' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/<AD_CREATIVE_ID>

Response

{
  "name": "<CREATIVE_NAME>",
  "object_story_spec": {
    "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"
            },
            {
              "title": "Sample icebreaker"
            },
            {
              "title": "Sample icebreaker"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "asset_feed_spec": {
    "optimization_type": "DOF_MESSAGING_DESTINATION",
    "call_to_actions": [
      {
        "type": "MESSAGE_PAGE",
        "value": {
          "app_destination": "MESSENGER",
          "link": "https://fb.com/messenger_doc/"
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "WHATSAPP_MESSAGE",
        "value": {
          "app_destination": "WHATSAPP",
          "link": "https://api.whatsapp.com/send"
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
        "value": {
          "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT",
          "link": "https://www.instagram.com"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "id": "<AD_CREATIVE_ID>"
}

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=<AD_NAME>' \
  -F 'adset_id=<AD_SET_ID>' \
  -F 'creative={
       "creative_id": "<AD_CREATIVE_ID>"
     }' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/ads

Response

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

{
  "id": "<AD_ID>"
}

Call to action

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

"asset_feed_spec": {
  "optimization_type": "DOF_MESSAGING_DESTINATION",
  "call_to_actions": [
    {
      "type": "MESSAGE_PAGE",
      "value": {
        "app_destination": "MESSENGER",
        "link": "https://fb.com/messenger_doc/"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE",
      "value": {
        "app_destination": "INSTAGRAM_DIRECT",
        "link": "https://www.instagram.com"
      }
    }
  ]
}

See the Asset Feed Spec documentation for more information.

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 multidestination 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' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/<AD_ID>

Response

{
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "adset_id": "<AD_SET_ID>",
  "id": "<AD_ID>"
}