Quick answer: To create an engagement campaign, open Meta Ads Manager, click Create and choose the Engagement objective. At the ad set level, pick where engagement should happen. On your ad gets likes, comments and shares. Then set your audience, budget and placements, and either use an existing post or create a new ad. Publish when it’s ready.
Engagement campaigns build social proof: posts with real likes and comments look more trustworthy, and engaged people can be retargeted later with sales ads. This is the campaign to use when you want visibility and interaction, not direct sales.
Prefer to watch? The 6-minute video above shows every step on screen.
What do you need before creating an engagement campaign?
- A Meta ad account with billing set up. See how to create a Meta ad account.
- A Facebook Page, and ideally a connected Instagram account.
- A good post or creative, ideally one that is already performing well organically.
How to set up a Meta engagement campaign (step by step)
Step 1: Select the Engagement objective
In Ads Manager, click + Create, choose Engagement, and click Continue. Pick Manual setup for full control, or Advantage+ to let Meta automate more.
Step 2: Choose where engagement happens
At the ad set level, set the Conversion location:
- On your ad: likes, comments, shares or video views. This is the most common choice.
- Messaging apps: starts chats on Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.
- Facebook Page: gets Page likes or follows.
Step 3: Pick the performance goal
For On your ad, choose Maximise engagement with a post, or a video goal if you’re promoting a video.
Step 4: Set budget and schedule
Set a daily budget and a start date. Run it for at least 5–7 days, so Meta can optimise delivery.
Step 5: Define your audience
Choose locations, age and gender, and add interests related to your business. Broad audiences often work well for engagement.
Step 6: Choose placements
Keep Advantage+ placements on, or choose Facebook and Instagram feeds and Reels manually.
Step 7: Create the ad
Choose Use existing post to promote a post that already has engagement, or create a new ad with an image or video, primary text and a headline. Then click Publish.
Tips for better engagement results
- Promote posts that already perform well organically. Social proof builds on itself.
- Ask a simple question in the text, to invite comments.
- Use short vertical videos for Reels placements.
- Retarget people who engaged, later, with a traffic or sales campaign.
Engagement ads not working? Common problems and fixes
Lots of likes, but no sales
That’s expected, because engagement campaigns optimise for interaction, not purchases. Use the engaged audience for retargeting with a sales or leads campaign.
The existing post isn’t available to select
The post may be on a different Page, or be a shared post. Make sure it’s an original post on the Page selected in the ad set.
Spammy or low-quality comments
Narrow the locations to where your customers are, and hide or delete spam comments regularly.
What should you do next?
- Turn engaged people into leads: run a lead generation campaign.
- Get enquiries directly with a WhatsApp message campaign.
- Grow your followers with a Facebook Page like campaign.
Frequently asked questions
It is a campaign objective in Meta Ads Manager that optimises for interactions, such as likes, comments, shares, video views, messages or Page likes, on Facebook and Instagram.
Using an existing post keeps all the likes and comments in one place, which builds social proof. Create a new ad when you want to test different creatives.
You can start small, with a daily budget you can sustain for at least a week, so Meta has enough data to optimise delivery.
Yes. Create a custom audience of people who engaged with your Page or Instagram account, and use it in a traffic, leads or sales campaign.
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