Boost an Instagram post or story

Oct 14, 2026
Knowledge

Procedure Steps

Article updated: July 20, 2026

Boost an Instagram post or story

Boosted posts are paid ads that you create from existing Instagram posts. When you put money behind your high-performing posts, Meta shows them to more people. Promoting your posts and stories on Instagram can get you more engagement and more followers. You can also set up an automated boost and let Meta choose the best content to promote for you.

You can boost posts and reels from an Instagram Business account. Meta doesn’t support boosting carousel posts.

This article describes the new Social OS experience. If you haven't switched yet, select the Classic tab for instructions. Learn more about the Social OS experience.

Looking to boost an Instagram reel? Read our blog article to learn how. Visit the Hootsuite Blog for news, tips, tools, and tactics to help you succeed on social media.

Before you begin

Boosted posts are a form of paid advertising, so you need to add an ad account to Hootsuite that’s associated with your Instagram Business account before you can promote any posts or stories.

To create an ad account in your Instagram Business account, see the Meta help article Adding an Instagram account to your Business Manager.
To connect your Instagram account to Hootsuite, see Connect an Instagram Business account.
To manage your ad accounts, see Manage ad accounts and advertising permissions.

Members in a Hootsuite organization must have one of the following roles to boost content:

Be an organization Super Admin or Admin.
Have Unlimited, Advanced, or the custom Boost posts permission for the Instagram account and Facebook Page.

Boost an Instagram post

Follow these steps to boost an Instagram post or story.

Important: The new EU Digital Services Act requires social media companies, like Meta, to provide greater transparency on ads served through their platforms. If you want to publish ad sets that target audiences worldwide, or in EU countries or associated territories on Meta's platforms, you must ensure each such ad set includes beneficiary and payer information.

Ad sets that do not comply will be rejected by Meta and not published on its platforms. Learn more about the EU Digital Services Act.

Go to Perch, and then select Boost (under Ads).
Tip: You can also boost a post when you create it, or after you've scheduled it.
- Select Create a post, select yourInstagram account, create your post, and select Boost this post to enter your Boost settings.
- Select Calendar, choose a scheduled post, select More, and then select Boost to enter your Boost settings.
Select the Instagram tab, and then select Find a post to Boost to see a list of organic Instagram posts you published in the last 30 days. Note that it can take up to two hours for new posts to show up in Hootsuite.
Choose the post you want to promote, and select Boost.
In the Boost settings window, select the ad account you want Meta to charge for the boosted post, and select Save.
Enter the rest of your Boost settings.
- Choose an objective (engagement, video views, or reach). Meta uses this information to show your post to people who are likely to take the action you want.
- Choose who you want to see your post. If you want to customize the audience, select Edit and specify which attributes to target, like location, gender, age, and interests.
- Choose whether you want Meta to promote your Instagram post on Facebook or just on Instagram.
- Set your budget and the length of your promotion.
Select Boost on Instagram.

Go to Ads, and then select Instagram Boost.
Tip: You can also boost a post from other areas in Hootsuite.
- Go to an Instagram stream feed , select Boost post on the post and then enter your Boost settings.
- Go to Create, select your Instagram Business account, create your post, and select Boost this post to enter your Boost settings. However, if you publish your Instagram post via mobile notification, your Boost settings won't be saved and your post won't be boosted.
- Go to Plan, select a scheduled post, select Edit to open it and enter your Boost settings.
Select Find a post to Boost to see a list of organic Instagram posts you published in the last 30 days. Keep in mind that it can take up to two hours for new posts to show up in Hootsuite.
Choose the post you want to promote, and select Boost.
In the Boost settings window, select the ad account you want Meta to charge for the boosted post, and select Save.
Enter the rest of your Boost settings.
- Choose an objective (engagement, video views, or reach). Meta uses this information to show your post to people who are likely to take the action you want.
- Choose who you want to see your post. If you want to customize the audience, select Edit and specify which attributes to target, like location, gender, age, and interests.
- Choose whether you want Meta to promote your Instagram post on Facebook or just on Instagram.
- Set your budget and the length of your promotion.
Select Boost on Instagram.

Set up an automated boost campaign on Instagram

Follow these steps to set criteria that determine which posts to automatically boost for you.

Step 1: Set up your Instagram campaign

Go to Perch, and then select Boost (under Ads).
Select the Instagram tab, and then select Set up an automated boost.
Select your Instagram Page and ad account, and then enter a name for your campaign.
Choose an objective (the business goal you want to achieve) for your campaign. You can choose from the following options:
- Awareness - Get more people to remember your brand.
- Engagement - Get people to interact with your post. Select from the following conversion locations:
  - On your ad - Select the type of engagement you want to optimize for: Post engagement (comments, likes, or shares) or Video views if your ad includes video.
  - On your website - For this selection, you'll need to set up and install a tracking pixel on your site. See the Meta help: How to set up and install a Meta pixel.
- Traffic - Drive traffic to a website or landing page.
Choose the result that you want to optimize for. Available options depend on your campaign objective and the type of engagement you selected.
If your post is in a Meta-designated special category, you must identify it to comply with Meta’s anti-discrimination policies. If this is the case, select the Yes, my ad relates to credit, employment, or housing box, and then select the ad category that best fits your ads. Meta restricts targeting options for special ad categories.
Select Next: Audience and budget.

Go to Create, select Automated boost, then select On Instagram.
Select your Instagram Page and ad account, and then enter a name for your campaign.
Choose an objective (the business goal you want to achieve) for your campaign. You can choose from the following options:
- Awareness - Get more people to remember your brand.
- Engagement - Get people to interact with your post. Select from the following conversion locations:
  - On your ad - Select the type of engagement you want to optimize for: Post engagement (comments, likes, or shares) or Video views if your ad includes video.
  - On your website - For this selection, you'll need to set up and install a tracking pixel on your site. See the Meta help: How to set up and install a Meta pixel.
- Traffic - Drive traffic to a website or landing page.
Choose the result that you want to optimize for. Available options depend on your campaign objective and the type of engagement you selected.
If your post is in a Meta-designated special category, you must identify it to comply with Meta’s anti-discrimination policies. If this is the case, select the Yes, my ad relates to credit, employment, or housing box, and then select the ad category that best fits your ads. Meta restricts targeting options for special ad categories.
Select Next: Audience and budget.

Step 2: Choose your audience and budget

When you set up the target audience for your automated boost campaign, you have a few options to choose from. You can build your own audience, based on specific characteristics like location, age, and interests, or you can use a saved audience or custom audience, imported from Facebook. For more information on Facebook saved and custom audiences see the following:

Choose your audience from one of the following options:
- Build your own audience - If you want to build your own audience, select Edit and specify which attributes to target, like location, gender, age, and interests.
  Tip: Refine your audience by demographics, interests, or behaviors. Enter a keyword in the detailed targeting box, and select one or more options from the list of suggested categories.
- Use saved audience - Select a saved audience you already created on Facebook.
- Use custom or lookalike audiences - Select custom or lookalike audiences you already created on Facebook to reach people who have already engaged with your brand or to reach new people who are similar to the audiences you've already targeted.
  Note: You create custom and saved audiences in Meta Business Manager. Hootsuite retrieves the audiences associated with the ad account you’re using to boost your posts.
Select Yes, my ads target audiences in the EU, if your ad targets audiences worldwide or in EU countries or associated territories (this is a requirement of the EU Digital Services Act).
Meta will automatically choose ad placements for you based on your objectives. If you'd like to choose your own placements, check I want to manually choose the placements. Learn more about Meta's placements.
Set your budget and the length of your promotion. You can set a daily or total budget for your boost campaign. Meta allocates your ad spend until the campaign ends or the budget runs out. If you select the Total option, Meta requires a minimum spend of roughly 1 USD or EUR per day, but the amount varies depending on the ad account currency.
Select Next: Set your auto-boosting criteria.

Step 3: Set your auto boost criteria

Set the criteria to automatically promote posts that match it.

Choose which posts to boost automatically. You can choose to boost all posts or select Posts with a minimum amount of engagement. Here, you can set minimum engagement criteria that must be met for the post to auto-boost.
(Optional) Set the types of posts you want to include in your auto boost campaign. You can choose to boost all feed posts, reels, and stories, or only one of those post types.
Set the duration of time you want to boost each post.
Enter keywords that must appear (or not) in posts you want to boost. You can enter multiple keywords (select Enter to separate keywords).
Enter any of your Hootsuite organization's tags that must be included in posts you want to boost. Your organization's tags are different from hashtags. These tags allow you to visually classify posts and conversations by category, which is useful for keeping track of things like engagement for specific campaigns and for providing other team members context about specific messages or posts. You can include multiple tags (select Enter to separate tags). Learn more about tags.
Select Publish campaign. Hootsuite sends the campaign to Meta for approval. Meta typically approves the campaign within 24 hours.

Manage boosted posts in your content calendar

If you added Boost settings to a scheduled post, you can change them before the post is published.

Go to Perch , and then select Calendar to view your calendar. Boosted posts have a $ sign so you can quickly identify them.
Select the scheduled post, and then select Edit.
In the Edit post window, go to the Boost your post section, and select Edit.
Make your changes, and then select Save settings and continue.
Select Save edits.

You can also delete the boosted post from your content calendar. If you want to duplicate the post (select More and then select Duplicate), you'll need to re-enter your Boost settings.

Go to Plan to view your calendar. You can quickly identify your promoted posts here - just look for the $ sign on the post.
Select the scheduled post, and then select Edit.
In the Edit post window, go to the Boost your post section, and select Edit.
Make your changes, and then select Save settings and continue.
Select Save edits.

You can also delete the boosted post from your content calendar. If you want to duplicate the post (select More and then select Duplicate), you'll need to re-enter your Boost settings.

Once a scheduled promotion is published and live, you can monitor the promotion results in Ads.

Review Instagram boost performance in Advertise

You can review performance metrics for your boosted Instagram posts at any time.

Go to Perch, and then select Boost (under Ads).
Select the Instagram tab, and then select an ad account from the list to see all Instagram Boost campaigns associated with it.
Optionally, filter the campaign list by campaign status (active, inactive, or all campaigns).
For each boosted post or story, you can review specific metrics like reach, amount spent, and engagement.
Select See Post on Instagram to view the post on Instagram.

Go to Ads, and then select Instagram Boost.
Select an ad account from the list to see all Instagram Boost campaigns associated with it.
Optionally, filter the campaign list by campaign status.
For each boosted post or story, you can review specific metrics like reach, amount spent, and engagement.
Select See Post on Instagram to view the post on Instagram.

Title

Boost an Instagram post or story

URL Name

boost-ig

Boost an Instagram post or story

Information

Boost an Instagram post or story

Before you begin

Boost an Instagram post

Set up an automated boost campaign on Instagram

Step 1: Set up your Instagram campaign

Step 2: Choose your audience and budget

Step 3: Set your auto boost criteria

Manage boosted posts in your content calendar

Review Instagram boost performance in Advertise