What to prepare before you touch Ads Manager
Most failed campaigns break before the ad is even built. Ads only bring a person to your offer, so if the next step is weak, the money is wasted. Check the basics first.
- A professional Instagram account connected to your Meta business portfolio
- An ad account with the right currency and time zone, plus a payment method
- A pixel installed and a lead event tested, if you send people to a website
- Two or three creatives sized for the feed and for Stories
- One person responsible for answering leads the same day
Choose the campaign goal and budget
Click Create and pick a goal that matches what you want people to do. For enquiries about a service, Leads is the usual choice. For purchases on a website, choose Sales. Awareness and Traffic optimise for views and clicks, so they rarely produce the enquiries you are hoping for.
Name the campaign clearly; in a month you will not remember what “New campaign 3” was. Then decide where the budget sits. At campaign level, the system spreads money across ad sets itself. At ad set level, you control each audience separately, which is easier to read in a first test. Set a daily budget that can realistically produce several results a day, because a tiny budget gives the system too little to learn from.
Decide where people go and who sees the ad
In the ad set, choose the conversion location: an instant form, Instagram messages, a Telegram link, a website or a phone call. For a salon, clinic, training centre or delivery service in Tashkent, a lead form or chat is the simplest start. You do not need a finished website, and people leave contacts in two taps.
Next comes the audience. Pick a city or a radius around your address, and make sure the option covers people who live or currently are there. Keep age wide unless the product really has limits. Set a language only if your creative is in one language; in Tashkent it often makes sense to prepare separate Russian and Uzbek versions.
Do not stack dozens of interests. Use one set of closely related topics, or run a group without interests and let the algorithm search. The best first test is two ad sets with different audience logic, compared side by side. Leave placements on automatic at the start.
Build the ad: creative, copy and form
Select your Facebook Page and Instagram account, upload files in the right proportions and check the preview for every placement. Stories often crop text in an ugly way.
The first line of copy shows without expanding, so say who the offer is for and what it is. Then use one or two sentences for the main benefit and remove an obvious doubt: where you are, how fast someone can book, whether you accept Click or Payme. Finish with a clear action, such as filling in the form, messaging on Direct or calling. Skip hashtag piles and emoji clutter. Write two versions with different first lines so the platform can show you which works better.
If you use an instant form, keep the questions short, add a privacy policy link, and fill in the form yourself from your phone. That is the only reliable way to know the lead lands where you will actually see it.
Publish and manage the first days
For a website, add UTM tags to the link and confirm the pixel is selected at ad level. Press Publish. Ads go to review, which is usually quick but sometimes takes longer.
In the first days, change nothing without a serious reason, since the system is still learning. Check three things daily: the ads are delivering, leads are arriving, and someone is replying. After a few days, compare ad sets and ads by cost per result, switch off the clearly weak ones and move budget to the better ones. Always compare the dashboard with real enquiries and sales, because a lead in a report is not yet a customer.
Mistakes beginners make most often
The same few errors appear in campaign after campaign.
- Choosing the wrong goal, such as Traffic instead of Leads
- Adding too many interests at once
- Launching with a single creative, so there is nothing to compare
- Never testing the lead form and noticing missing leads too late
- Switching ads off after one day, before the system has learned anything
- Replying to leads hours later, when the interest has gone
When it makes sense to bring in a specialist
A self-run campaign is a good way to understand your market and test demand. When the budget grows, you need several directions or end-to-end analytics, or leads arrive but sales do not, it is worth handing setup to specialists. markdev sets up and manages Meta Ads for businesses in Uzbekistan. If you want to talk through your own case, write to us and we will suggest where to begin in your niche.
FAQ
Can I set up Instagram ads myself with no experience?
Yes, if you follow the steps and keep the first campaign simple: one goal, two ad sets and a few creatives. Leave advanced settings until you have first results.
Which campaign goal should I choose for enquiries?
Leads is the usual choice for service enquiries, and Sales for purchases on a website. Traffic and Awareness are not built to bring enquiries.
How long before I judge the results?
Give the system a few days to learn and avoid edits without a reason. Then compare ad sets and ads by cost and quality of leads, not by clicks.
What matters more, the audience or the creative?
At the start, the creative and the offer usually matter more than narrow interests. Test several creatives on a broad audience before building complex segments.
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