How to Create a Shop Now Ad on Instagram

Turning your engaged Instagram followers into paying customers happens when you make the path from discovery to checkout as short as possible. That’s exactly what a Shop Now ad does, connecting your product directly to users ready to buy. This guide will walk you through setting everything up, from the initial checklist to building a high-performance ad campaign in Ads Manager.

Why 'Shop Now' Ads are a Game-Changer for E-commerce

Instagram is a visual discovery engine. Users are constantly scrolling through inspiring images and videos, making it the perfect place for impulse purchases. A "Shop Now" ad capitalizes on this behavior by removing friction from the buying process. Instead of seeing a product, leaving the app, searching for your brand online, and navigating your website, a user can simply tap a button and land directly on the product page. This streamlined journey does more than just offer convenience, it directly translates to higher conversion rates, better return on ad spend (ROAS), and tangible sales growth for your business.

Before You Start: Your Essential Setup Checklist

Before you can launch your first ad, there are a few foundational pieces that need to be in place. Getting these sorted out first will make the actual ad creation process smooth and straightforward.

1. Switch to a Professional Instagram Account

If you haven't already, you’ll need to convert your Instagram profile to a Business or Creator account. This is a quick, free change that unlocks access to advertising tools, in-depth audience insights, and the ability to set up Instagram Shopping.

To do this, go to your Instagram profile, tap the menu in the top-right corner, and go to Settings and privacy > Account type and tools > Switch to professional account. Follow the on-screen prompts to connect your account to your business.

2. Link Your Facebook Business Page

Instagram is owned by Meta, so all advertising is run through the powerful Facebook Ads Manager platform. To access it, your Instagram Business account must be linked to a Facebook Business Page. You’ll usually be prompted to do this when you switch to a professional account. If you need to check or link it manually, you can do so under Settings and privacy > Business tools and controls on Instagram.

3. Set Up Your Product Catalog with Instagram Shopping

This is the most important step for running "Shop Now" ads. Instagram Shopping lets you ‘tag’ products from your online store directly in your posts and Stories. To power this, you need a product catalog - a file that contains all the product information for the items you want to sell.

• What It Is: A catalog is a list of your products, including names, images, prices, descriptions, and links to their product pages on your website.
• How to Create It: You can set this up through Meta's Commerce Manager. If you use an e-commerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce, you're in luck. They have seamless integrations that automatically create and sync your product catalog for you, saving you a huge amount of time.

Once your catalog is connected and approved, you'll be able to tag products in your organic posts, creating a foundation of 'shoppable' content you can later advertise.

Creating Your Ad: From Simple Boost to Pro Campaign

There are two primary ways to create a "Shop Now" ad on Instagram: by boosting an existing post directly within the app, or by using the full-featured Facebook Ads Manager. While boosting is faster, Ads Manager offers far more control over targeting, placements, and optimization.

Method 1: Boosting a Shoppable Post (The Fast and Easy Route)

Boosting an existing post that already features product tags is the quickest way to get started. It’s perfect for simple promotions or when you're just dipping your toes into advertising.

1. Create and Publish a Shoppable Post: First, create a high-quality post (a single image, carousel, or Reel) and tag the relevant products from your catalog.
2. Tap "Boost Post": Once the post is live on your grid, you will see a blue "Boost Post" button beneath it. Tap it.
3. Select Your Goal: Instagram will ask you what your goal is for the promotion. For driving sales, "More Website Visits" is often the best choice. You can then edit the call-to-action button to say "Shop Now."
4. Define Your Audience, Budget, and Duration: Here you can create a new audience by targeting specific interests, ages, and locations, or let Instagram target people similar to your followers. Set a total budget and decide how many days you want the ad to run.
5. Review and Launch: Give everything a final look, add your payment details if you haven't already, and tap "Boost Post Now." Your ad will go into a short review process before going live.

Method 2: Using Facebook Ads Manager (The Professional Approach for Maximum Results)

For serious e-commerce growth, Ads Manager is non-negotiable. It opens up advanced targeting, creative formats, and optimization tools that simply aren't available through the "Boost Post" button.

Step 1: Get Started in Facebook Ads Manager

Navigate to adsmanager.facebook.com and click the green "+ Create" button on the Campaigns tab to start a new campaign.

Step 2: Choose Your Campaign Objective

Meta will ask you what you want to achieve. For an e-commerce brand, you'll almost always choose the Sales objective. This tells the algorithm to find people who are most likely to make a purchase, not just click a link or 'like' your post. If you have a larger product catalog, the Catalog Sales objective is also an excellent choice, as it allows you to create dynamic ads that show personalized products to each user.

Step 3: Configure Your Ad Set (Audience, Placement & Budget)

The 'Ad Set' level is where you define who will see your ad, where they'll see it, and how much you’ll spend.

• Audience: This is where the magic happens. You can target extremely specific groups:
  • Core Audiences: Target based on demographics, broad interests (e.g., "yoga" or "home decor"), or behaviors (e.g., "engaged shoppers"). Get specific! Instead of "skincare," try targeting people interested in "Korean beauty" or "clean beauty."
  • Custom Audiences: This is incredibly powerful. You can retarget people who have already interacted with your brand, such as website visitors, people who have added an item to their cart, or users from your email list.
  • Lookalike Audiences: A goldmine for finding new customers. Meta can create an audience of people who share the same characteristics as your best existing customers or website visitors.
• Placements: The default is "Advantage+ placements," which lets Meta automatically show your ad across all its platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger) where it's likely to perform best. If you prefer more control, you can manually select only Instagram placements like the Feed, Stories, Reels, and Explore page. Remember to use assets sized for different placements, especially a 9:16 vertical video or image for Stories and Reels.
• Budget & Schedule: You can set a daily budget (spend approximately this amount each day) or a lifetime budget (spend this total amount over the ad's run). You can also schedule your ad to start and end on specific dates.

Step 4: Design Your Ad Creative (The Fun Part!)

This is where you build the visual part of your ad.

• Format: You have several options that work well for e-commerce. A Carousel ad lets you show off multiple products or different features of a single product. A Collection ad creates an instant in-app storefront experience when tapped. And of course, a single image or video can be highly effective, especially for top-of-funnel brand storytelling. Video is almost always the best performer, particularly short, engaging Reels.
• Creative: Upload your images or video. Add your ad text (primary text) and a headline. Keep the text concise and benefits-driven. What problem does your product solve? How will it make the customer’s life better?
• The Call-to-Action (CTA): From the dropdown menu, be sure to select Shop Now.
• Destination: Add the URL for the product page on your website. Make sure the link goes directly to the item shown in the ad! Don’t make potential customers hunt for it on your homepage.

Step 5: Review and Publish

Hit the final "Publish" button. Just like with boosting, your ad will go through a review before it is approved and starts running. Monitor its performance in Ads Manager over the next few days and make tweaks as needed.

Best Practices for Ads That Actually Convert

Creating the ad is one thing, creating an ad that drives sales is another. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

• Focus on High-Quality, Authentic Visuals: Forget boring, sterile product shots on a white background. Use lifestyle photos and videos showing your product in action. User-generated content (UGC) is especially powerful because it acts as social proof.
• Write Copy That Connects: Speak your customers' language. Address their pain points, highlight the main benefit, and create a sense of urgency or exclusivity where appropriate. A clear offer always helps.
• Embrace Video (Especially Reels): As an ad placement, Reels are incredibly effective right now. They feel native to the platform and can capture attention in a way static images can't. Show, don't just tell, what your product does.
• Track Everything with the Meta Pixel: Install the Meta Pixel on your website. This small snippet of code tracks what users do after they click your ad - like adding an item to their cart or making a purchase. It’s absolutely fundamental for measuring your ROAS and for building powerful Custom Audiences for retargeting.

Final Thoughts

While there are a few setup steps involved, creating a "Shop Now" ad on Instagram is a straightforward process that puts your products directly in front of an engaged audience. By using the extensive tools available inside Ads Manager, you can move beyond simple boosting and build targeted, scalable campaigns that are optimized not for likes, but for actual sales.

Once your ads are bringing in new customers, managing the flood of comments and questions can quickly become a challenge. As you scale, planning your organic content to support your paid efforts is just as important. Knowing this frustration firsthand, we built Postbase to make it easier. Our all-in-one inbox pulls your comments and DMs into one manageable feed, and our visual calendar lets you plan, schedule, and see your entire organic social strategy at a glance. It ensures your ads and your everyday content work perfectly together to grow your brand.