Quick answer: Go to Meta Ads Manager, click + Create, choose Engagement as your campaign objective, pick your engagement type, build your ad set, and publish. The full walkthrough is below.
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What is the Instagram Engagement Objective?
The Engagement objective tells Meta to show your ad to people most likely to interact with it. Likes, comments, shares, saves, and replies all count. Meta's algorithm identifies the right users so your budget drives real interactions, not just impressions.
Per Meta's Ads Guide, the Engagement objective is built specifically to maximize interactions across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. It's one of the most popular objectives for brand awareness and community building.
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Why Choose the Engagement Objective
Engagement works when you want your content to spark conversation, not just reach. It builds social proof, warms up cold audiences, and tests creative performance before committing bigger budgets.
When to use engagement over other objectives
Choose Engagement when your goal is interaction, not direct sales. It suits product launches, new creative tests, and community-building campaigns. When you want purchases, switch to Conversions. When you want site traffic, use Traffic instead.
Types of engagement that count
Meta counts likes, comments, shares, saves, link clicks, and video views. For Reels, a view of 3 seconds or more counts as an engagement event. Inbound messages also count when you select the Messages sub-objective.
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Step-by-Step: Setting the Engagement Objective in Meta Ads Manager
Instagram ads are created in Meta Ads Manager, not inside the Instagram app. You'll need an Instagram Business account connected to a Facebook Page before you start. Per the Meta Business Help Center, that connection is required to access full ad management features.
Step 1: Open Meta Ads Manager and create a campaign
Go to ads.facebook.com and click + Create in the top-left corner. The campaign creation flow opens immediately.
Step 2: Select Engagement as your campaign objective
You'll see a list of campaign objectives. Select Engagement. This signals Meta's algorithm to optimize delivery for interactions, not link clicks or purchases. The objective you choose here shapes everything downstream.
Step 3: Choose your engagement type (Post Engagement, Messages, or Video Views)
Meta gives you three sub-options. Match the one to your goal:
- Post Engagement for likes, comments, and shares on feed posts or Reels
- Video Views for video content, optimized for ThruPlay or 2-second continuous views
- Messages to open conversations on Instagram DMs, Messenger, or WhatsApp
Step 4: Configure your ad set and targeting
Name your ad set and enter your budget. Daily or lifetime budget both work. Define your audience by location, age, interests, or upload a custom audience. Select your placements. Instagram Feed, Stories, Reels, and Explore are all available options. Set your start date and, optionally, an end date.
Step 5: Create your ad and review before publishing
Upload your creative and write your ad copy. Add a call-to-action button that matches your engagement type. Use the preview panel to check how your ad looks on each Instagram placement. When everything looks right, click Publish.
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Understanding Engagement Types
Post Engagement (likes, comments, shares)
Post Engagement is the most common choice for Instagram advertisers. Meta targets users who regularly interact with posts. Your budget goes toward maximizing the total number of interaction events on your ad.
Video Views
Pick Video Views when your creative is a video or Reel. Meta optimizes for ThruPlay (watched to completion or at least 15 seconds) or 2-second continuous video views, depending on your settings. Video engagement can also signal warm intent for retargeting campaigns later.
Messages
The Messages objective adds a button to your ad that opens a direct conversation. Meta finds users most likely to respond. This works well for service businesses, high-consideration purchases, or any brand that closes sales through chat.
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How Coinis Campaign Launcher Simplifies This
Meta Ads Manager spreads this setup across multiple screens and tabs. Coinis Campaign Launcher runs the same workflow in one guided flow.
Pick your objective. Brand Profile fills in your audience defaults based on your brand context. AI Copywriting generates captions and CTAs matched to your voice. Your creative comes from Image Ads, UGC Style, or any other workflow you've already run. Then Campaign Launcher publishes directly to Instagram and Facebook.
No tab-switching. No copy-pasting between tools. One flow from objective selection to a live engagement campaign.
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Or let Coinis do it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I set the Engagement objective directly in the Instagram app?
No. You can boost a post from Instagram, but that gives you limited control. Full Engagement objective setup, including sub-types and audience targeting, requires Meta Ads Manager at ads.facebook.com.
What counts as engagement for Instagram ads?
Meta counts likes, comments, shares, saves, link clicks, and video views. For video and Reels, a view of 3 seconds or more counts as an engagement event. Messages sent through your ad also count when you choose the Messages sub-objective.