On this page
Signing the work order starts the ad immediately, and Meta bills the daily budget to your own ad account. We never take ad spend and never mark it up. The signature line is the only gate — there is no draft state.
1. What you need first
- A Facebook account that manages your ad account and your Page.
- A payment method on that ad account. Without one, Meta accepts the campaign and then does not deliver it.
- A destination — your booking page (see Bookings) or a website on file.
- A finished ad. See Approving and assembling.
Missing any of the first three? No ad account, no payment method, no access walks through creating an ad account, adding a card, and getting into your own Page.
2. Connecting Facebook
- Open Settings.
- Tap Connect Meta account. You are sent to Facebook to log in and approve.
- Back in Settings, pick your Ad account from the list. Each is shown with its currency; ones that cannot run ads are greyed out.
- Pick your Facebook Page. The ad runs as this Page — it is the identity people see.
- Instagram fills in from the Page automatically. If nothing is linked, ads run on Facebook only.
Selections save the moment you make them; there is no save button. If the ad account has no payment method you will see a note saying to add one in Meta Ads Manager.
Refresh accounts re-reads the list from Facebook — use it after you get access to a new ad account or Page. Disconnect revokes our access; it takes effect immediately with no confirmation prompt.
3. Blockers, and how to clear each one
If something is missing, the publish screen stops and tells you what. Every one of these is fixable in a minute:
| What it says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Facebook is not connected | Settings → Connect Meta account. |
| Facebook needs one more permission | Tap Reconnect Facebook. One tap, nothing else changes. |
| No ad account chosen | Settings → pick an Ad account. |
| This Facebook account has no ad account | Tap Create an ad account — it opens your own business portfolio. See the walkthrough. |
| Your ad account cannot run ads right now | Meta has it disabled, unsettled or in review. Open Ads Manager and clear it there. |
| No payment method on that ad account | Tap Add a payment method — it opens the billing page for that exact account. Then Settings → Refresh accounts. |
| No Facebook Page chosen | Settings → pick a Facebook Page. |
| No Facebook Page on this account | You need a Page to run ads as. See getting into your own Page. |
| You cannot run ads as that Page yet | The Page's admin has to give you the ads task. See advertise access. |
| Nowhere to send them | Bookings → Build my page. |
| The video file is gone | Ads → Re-cut, then publish the new cut. |
| Meta app not set up | Nothing you can fix — email us. |
4. Decision one: where
- Type your town or city in the box. It suggests places as you type; pick one.
- Pick a radius: 5 mi, 10 mi, 15 mi, 25 mi or 50 mi. It defaults to 15.
Everyone inside that circle can see the ad, nobody outside it. If a place does not come up, try the nearest bigger town — the radius will still cover you.
Your service area from the conversation is filled in for you, so usually there is nothing to change here.
5. Decision two: how much
A slider from $5 to $100 a day, in $5 steps, defaulting to $20. Underneath it tells you roughly what that is per month.
This is what Meta is allowed to spend per day out of your own ad account. Start where you are comfortable — you can stop it at any time, and low budgets simply deliver more slowly.
Meta bills a new ad account in chunks as it spends, not once a day, so a $20 day can land as several separate charges — enough for a bank to freeze the card. Before your first ad the publish screen says this once, with a link to your payment settings. Pre-load the account, raise the billing threshold, or warn your bank.
6. The work order
The last card restates the whole thing in one sentence, for example: $20/day, within 15 miles of Denver, Colorado, starts immediately. Under it are the fixed terms: the ad account, the Page it runs as, where it sends people, and the button on the ad (Book now or Sign up).
- Check the terms.
- Type your name in Sign here to run it.
- Tap Sign and run it. It is disabled until a place is picked and a name is typed.
Then a screen reading Sending it up works through uploading the video, creating the campaign, setting the area and budget, and putting it live. It takes about a minute — do not close it.
The words on the ad were written out of what you said to camera. The preview at the top of the publish screen is what people will actually see.
7. After it goes live
You get It is live. with the campaign and ad ids. Meta reviews new ads before delivering them — usually minutes. During that window the status may read In review.
Statuses you may see on the Ads or publish screens:
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Live | Running and spending. |
| In review | Meta is checking it. Normal, usually minutes. |
| Waiting on billing | Meta wants payment details on the ad account. |
| Rejected | Meta declined the ad. The reason is in Ads Manager. |
| Needs attention | Meta has flagged something. Open Ads Manager. |
| Paused | Stopped by you. Not spending. |
Spend, clicks and results fill in on their own once Meta reports them — usually a few hours. Until then: No spend data yet.
Bookings land on your calendar. You do not have to check Ads Manager to run this.
8. Pausing, resuming, changing it
- Pause asks Pause this campaign? It stops spending within minutes. Confirm and it stops.
- Resume asks the matching question and starts it again.
- Changing the budget or the area after launch is not done in this app — use Open in Ads Manager. Pause and republish is the other way.
- Publishing the same finished ad twice creates a second campaign spending on top of the first. The screen warns you with This ad is already live but does not stop you.
9. If it does not go out
You get It did not go out. and, importantly, Nothing is running, and nothing was charged. Trying again is safe.
Common messages and what they mean:
- Meta could not process the video. or Timed out waiting for Meta to process the video. — Meta's side. Try again in a few minutes.
- Meta stopped accepting the video upload partway through. — usually the connection. Try again on better Wi-Fi.
- The assembled video is no longer on disk. Re-assemble the ad and try again. — go to Ads and Re-cut.
- Meta rejected it. — open Ads Manager for the reason, fix it there, then publish again.