Hiring an Instagram ads expert: 10 questions to ask first

Reviewed by Ajay Garg, founder of MAWD Agency, 17 years in digital marketing. LinkedIn

In short: a real Instagram ads expert talks about your tracking, your objective and your cost per result before they talk about creative. Use these questions in the first call.

Ten questions to ask

1. Will the ad account, Pixel and Business portfolio be in my name, with me as an admin?
2. How will you check that my Pixel and Conversions API are sending the right events, without double counting?
3. Which campaign objective would you use for my goal, and why not the cheaper-looking one?
4. How many ad sets will you run, and can each reach about 50 results a week at my budget?
5. What placements and ad sizes will you produce: 4:5 for Feed and 9:16 for Stories and Reels?
6. What is your plan for the first 30 days, and what will you change after the first week?
7. Which numbers will the monthly report show: cost per result and results, not just reach and likes?
8. How will you tell which results came from Instagram and which from Facebook?
9. What happens to the campaigns and creative if we stop working together?
10. How are you paid: flat fee, percentage of spend, or both?

Red flags

• Running ads from their own account so you cannot see them.
• Promising a cost per follower or cost per lead before seeing your account.
• Reporting reach and likes when you asked for leads or sales.
• Offering followers instead of ads. Instagram removes fake follows.