It's Friday, and that means we share with you one simple thing you can do today to enhance your overall digital marketing efforts. Today, we'll show you how to create an Instagram Stories Ad! If you utilize Instagram, and even if you don't, this is great tool to keep in your digital marketing toolbox!

Instagram Stories is extremely popular right now. Its 200 million daily active users have surpassed Snapchat's 160 million daily active users, making it the most populated story medium out there. 

So, it's time to start utilizing the opportunity that advertising in Instagram Stories provides. Below, we'll show you how to get started!

1. Go to your Facebook Business Manager and then to Ads Manager.

* Note: If you use Power Editor, you can use that as well.

2. Select the ad account that you want to create the ad for.

3. Click Create Ad.

4. As of now, the only ad objective that supports Instagram Stories is the Reach objective, so choose the Reach objective. Name your campaign and click Continue.

5. Choose who you want to target in the ad set.

6. In the Placements section of your ad set, select Edit Placements.

7. Expand the Instagram menu and select Stories.

8. Complete the Budget section of your ad set and then click Continue.

9. Upload your image or video file.

* Note: Use a 1080px x 1920px graphic to optimize for Instagram Stories

10. Ensure that the correct Instagram account is connected.

* Note: If you don't have an Instagram account, it will pull in your Facebook page to display the ad.

11. Setup any of the advanced options you want to include.

12. Once everything looks how you want it, click Place Order.

13. Ensure that your ad was approved and is active.

That's it! Try this out and see what kind of results you get. Once your ad has run for a few days, you can retarget people who viewed your Instagram Story ad with a Facebook ad!

For more tips on how to use your social media accounts in your digital marketing efforts, you can download our FREE ebook that will teach you how to optimize your social media monitoring!

Looking for one more thing you can do today, start here!