Running a promotion on Instagram and Facebook: what it really takes for a local business

Before you spend: is an ad the right tool for this offer?

An ad buys reach among people who don't know your business yet. That suits a new offer, a new branch or a quiet season.

Decide first what a result is for this offer: a WhatsApp chat, a phone call or a visit to the shop. Meta's own advice is to decide your business goal before you choose an objective for the ad.^[8]

For a wider view of what software can and can't take off your plate, see what an AI marketing assistant can and can't do.

What you need to set up first

• A Facebook Page for the business.
• An Instagram professional account linked to it. Instagram's help pages say you need a professional account to advertise from Instagram, and Page admin access when you boost with a Meta ad account.^[14]
• A WhatsApp Business account (the app or the API) connected to your Facebook Page or business portfolio, if you want the ad to open a chat.^[6]
• An ad account and a payment method. In India, Meta accepts credit cards and co-branded debit cards (Amex, Mastercard, Visa), and Netbanking or UPI as manual methods. The manual methods need the ad account country set to India and the currency set to INR, and can only be added when you first set up the account.^[11]
• For ad accounts that pay Meta India by recurring card, cards are verified under RBI e-mandate rules: Meta makes a small verification charge with an OTP and refunds it, your bank sends a notice at least 24 hours before each charge, and each charge has a cap.^[12]
• Clear admin access. Only an admin on a restricted account can ask Meta to review it, so make sure the owner, not only a staff member or a past agency, holds admin rights.^[5]

Boost a post or use Ads Manager?

A boosted post is an ad made from a post you have already published. It has fewer customisation and detailed targeting options than an ad built in Ads Manager, and it is still billed as an ad. Ads Manager offers more objectives and placements.^[3]

Pick the objective that matches the result you want

Ads Manager groups its choices into six objectives: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales.^[8] Click-to-WhatsApp ads, which send people straight into a WhatsApp chat with your business, can be set up under several of them, and the steps differ by objective.^[6]

A common mistake is paying for reach when what you wanted was conversations. If the result you want is a chat, set the ad up to open a WhatsApp chat, and judge it by the chats it brings, not by how many people saw it.

Audience and area

For a local offer, you can target an area around the shop rather than the whole city.

Detailed targeting has changed. Meta removed detailed targeting exclusions in 2025 (from 31 March in Ads Manager and from 10 June for boosts), and from 23 June 2025 it combined some interest options. Older campaigns that still used removed options stopped delivering from 15 January 2026 unless they were edited.^[9]

Some categories need age targeting. Ads for cosmetic procedures and for diet or weight-loss products must target people aged 18 and over.^[16] Alcohol ads must follow local law and target 18 and over at minimum, and in India the rules vary by state.^[17]

Meta also says advertisers must not use audience selection to wrongfully exclude groups of people.^[19]

Creative and offer wording that gets through review

Meta's Ads Guide lists the current image sizes and formats for each placement. Check it before you design, because the specs change.^[24]

For text on the image, Meta's best practice is a clean, large font with good contrast, one message, text that doesn't hide the picture, and text kept inside the safe zone.^[10]

Three of Meta's rules to know for local offers:

• Don't assert or imply something personal about the viewer. Meta's example: "Depression counseling" is allowed, but "Depression getting you down?" is not.^[15]
• Before-and-after images for cosmetic products and procedures are allowed with 18+ targeting. Weight-loss ads can't show close-ups of someone pinching body fat, and ads can't contain statements of inferiority about how someone looks.^[16]
• Deceptive pricing is prohibited.^[18] If you advertise a discount, make sure the price, the conditions and the dates are the ones a customer will actually get.

For ideas on what to promote in your trade, see our guides for restaurants and cafes, salons and parlours and gyms.

Budget, schedule and the learning phase

When an ad set starts, it goes through a learning phase. Meta says ad sets usually leave it after about 50 results in the week after the ad set's last significant edit, and that editing during learning resets it.^[1]

Meta advises realistic budgets, because a very small or inflated budget gives the delivery system an inaccurate signal. If an ad set isn't getting enough results to leave learning, Ads Manager shows "Learning limited".^[1]

With a small budget and a result that people take slowly, an ad may never leave learning. Choosing a result people actually take, such as starting a chat, and making fewer edits both help.

Review, rejection and account restrictions

• Ads are reviewed against Meta's Advertising Standards, mostly by automated systems with some human review. Meta says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, although some take longer, and ads can be reviewed again after they go live.^[2]
• Editing the targeting, creative, optimisation or billing event starts a new review; changing the budget, bid or schedule does not.^[2]
• If you think a rejection is wrong, you can request another review.^[2]
• A violating ad is rejected, and a business account or asset that is restricted can't be used to advertise.^[4]
• Only an admin can request a review of a restricted account. If an ad account disabled for a policy violation stays ineligible for reinstatement for 6 months, Meta says unused prepaid services may be forfeited where the law allows, and the account can't be reinstated after that.^[5]
• Failed payments can also get an ad account disabled. Meta's help page says you can then clear the balance with "Pay now".^[12]

After the click: answering WhatsApp chats

A click-to-WhatsApp ad opens a chat with your business.^[6] An unanswered chat is money spent for nothing, so decide who replies, and how fast, before the ad goes live.

• WhatsApp's 24-hour customer service window opens, and resets, each time the customer messages you. Inside it you can reply freely; outside it, only with approved message templates.^[21]
• Automated replies are allowed if there is a prompt, clear way to reach a person, such as a transfer to a human, a phone number or an email.^[21]
• Message people later only if they gave you their number and agreed to hear from you, and respect every block or opt-out request.^[21]
• People can comment on an ad. Meta's help pages say you can hide or report ad comments from Ads Manager.^[20]

The rules for offers in India

In June 2022, India's Central Consumer Protection Authority notified guidelines on misleading advertisements that cover bait advertisements and free-claim advertisements. Disclaimers must not hide material information and must be in the same language and font as the claim, and the guidelines provide for penalties on manufacturers, advertisers and endorsers.^[22]

The Advertising Standards Council of India's code says ads must be truthful, objective claims must be capable of substantiation, and ads must not mislead by implication or omission. It also says a product can't be called free if the customer has any direct cost beyond delivery, freight or postage.^[23]

This is general information, not legal advice. For a regulated category or a large campaign, check with a lawyer.

Keeping it working: creative fatigue and customer lists

Creative fatigue is when the same audience has seen your ad too many times, which can raise the cost per result. Ads Manager shows "Creative limited" when the cost per result is above your past ads but under twice as much, and "Creative fatigue" at twice or more.^[7]

If you upload a customer list to build an audience, use only data you have a legal basis for, and don't build lists from sensitive information such as health or finances.^[13]

The real effort, task by task

Here is the work in one place, with what changes if Vera runs the ad. The Vera column lists only what Vera does today; anything not listed stays with you or doesn't apply.

Do it yourself, hire an agency, or have Vera run it

When doing it yourself or using an agency is the better choice

Running an ad through Vera trades control for convenience. The ad runs from magicpin's Page, not yours, so your own Page doesn't build an ad history, and the chats arrive on Vera's WhatsApp number before they reach you.

If you want ads that carry your Page's name, want to build your own audiences and track results in Ads Manager over months, or need something Vera doesn't do, such as website sales, app installs or a long-running campaign that builds history in your own ad account, run the ads yourself or hire an agency or freelancer who works inside your own ad account.

The same goes for categories with extra rules, such as health, finance, alcohol or housing, where someone needs to own compliance. A good agency should tell you which ad account the money goes through and who owns it.

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