How to Share Instagram Ad

Need to get another set of eyes on your Instagram ad before it goes live, or show a client how their campaign is performing? Sharing an ad isn’t always as straightforward as sharing a regular post, but it's a critical step for collaboration and reporting. This guide walks you through the different ways to share Instagram ads - covering everything from pre-launch previews and mockups to live campaigns and performance reports.

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Why Share an Instagram Ad in the First Place?

Before jumping into the “how,” it’s worth quickly covering the “why.” Sharing ads is a fundamental part of the modern workflow for marketers and agencies. You might need to:

• Get Client Approvals: Agencies and freelancers need to get a final sign-off from clients before an ad's creative, copy, and targeting go live. A shareable link is cleaner and more professional than a screenshot.
• Enable Team Collaboration: Your designer might want feedback from the copywriter, or the marketing manager may need to approve the final asset. Sharing a preview gives everyone visibility into the end product.
• Gather Creative Feedback: Sharing an ad with stakeholders or colleagues in other departments can provide valuable feedback on messaging, visuals, and overall impact before you spend any budget.
• Show Performance: Once an ad is running, you'll need to share its results with clients or your leadership team to prove ROI and make decisions about future campaigns.

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Sharing a Preview Link from Meta Ads Manager (Before Launch)

The most common reason to share an ad is to get approval before it goes live. Meta Ads Manager has a built-in feature for exactly this purpose. The link it generates shows the ad exactly as it will appear in different Instagram placements (Feed, Stories, Reels) without it being live.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Navigate to Your Ad: Open Meta Ads Manager. Click into the specific campaign and ad set you’re working on. Navigate to the Ad level to find the individual ad creative you want to share.
2. Select Your Ad: Check the box next to the ad you wish to share. Don't click the "Edit" button.
3. Open the Preview Panel: With the ad selected, look at the navigation bar above your ad list. You should see a button labeled Preview (it has an eye icon). Click it.
4. Generate the Share Link: A preview panel will slide out from the right side of your screen. At the top of this panel, click the button that looks like a share icon (a box with an arrow pointing out). A dropdown menu will appear. Select Share a Link.
5. Configure Your Link: A pop-up will appear allowing you to generate a link. You can set it to expire in 30, 60, or 90 days. For most approval workflows, 30 days is plenty. Toggle the "Turn on shareable link" switch if it's off, and click Copy to grab your link. You can now send this link to anyone.

Pro Tips for Ad Previews:

• Check All Placements: When you open the preview panel, use the dropdown menu to see how your ad will look in different placements like Instagram Stories, the Explore page, and Reels. Ensure your creative is optimized for each.
• Send to Your Phone: In the same share menu, you can also select "Send notification to Instagram" to get a push notification on your own device. This lets you see the ad in its native environment - the best way to catch any formatting issues.

Sharing a Live or Completed Instagram Ad

What if you want to share an ad that is already running or has recently finished? You can still use the same preview feature. The process is nearly identical to sharing a draft.

1. Locate the Ad in Ads Manager: Find the active or completed campaign in Ads Manager.
2. Navigate to the Ad Level: Filter and find the specific ad you want to share.
3. Select and Preview: Check the box next to it and click the Preview button in the top menu.
4. Share the Link: In the preview pane, click the share icon and select Share a Link to generate and copy your link.

Alternatively, you might be able to find the ad in Meta’s Ad Library. Simply search for the advertiser's Page, and you can see all ads they are currently running. From there, you can click "See ad details" to get a permanent link to that specific ad.

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Creating and Sharing Ad Mockups in Creative Hub

Sometimes you need to develop and share creative ideas before you've even built a campaign. This is perfect for brainstorming sessions or getting initial buy-in from a client. Meta’s Creative Hub is a sandboxed environment where you can design mockups without having to create a draft campaign.

1. Access the Creative Hub: From Ads Manager, click the "All tools" menu (the hamburger icon) and find Creative Hub under the "Engage customers" section.
2. Create a Mockup: In the Creative Hub, click the "Create mockup" button. You can choose the format (e.g., Image, Video, Carousel) and the placement (e.g., Instagram Feed, Stories).
3. Build Your Ad Creative: Upload your images or video, write your ad copy, headlines, and call-to-action text. The live preview on the right will update as you build.
4. Save and Share: Once your mockup is ready, hit Save. You'll then be given an option to share a link to your mockup, much like the preview link in Ads Manager. Anyone with the link can view it.

Beyond the Preview: How to Share Instagram Ad Performance

Sharing the creative is only half the battle. Just as important is sharing how your ad is actually performing. This is where things can get a bit messy, as the native tools in Ads Manager aren't always designed for simple, elegant sharing.

Your main options for sharing performance data directly from Meta are:

• Taking Screenshots: This is the quick-and-dirty method. While fast, screenshots lack context, look unprofessional in client reports, and can quickly become a disorganized mess of files on your desktop.
• Exporting Data to Spreadsheets: This is the most common manual approach. You can customize the columns in Ads Manager to show the metrics you care about (ROAS, CPC, Conversions, etc.) and export the data as a CSV or Excel file. The downside is that this takes time, the data is static (outdated the moment you export it), and you’ll have to repeat the process for every report.
• Granting User Access: You can add clients or team members as users to your Ads Manager account with different permission levels. This gives them direct access to live data but can be a security risk and may overwhelm them with data they don’t need.

Manually pulling this data, combining it with metrics from Google Analytics or your CRM, and formatting it into a clean report often takes a few hours every week - time that could be better spent optimizing your campaigns.

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Final Thoughts

Sharing your Instagram ads - from previews and mockups to live campaign creative - is a straightforward process once you know where to look in Ads Manager and Creative Hub. These tools help streamline feedback loops and ensure your whole team is aligned before a dollar is spent.

We know the real headache often comes from sharing performance reports by stitching together CSV exports or grabbing messy screenshots. That's why we built Graphed. It connects your Instagram Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify, and other marketing platforms in one place. You can create shareable, real-time dashboards for your team or clients just by describing what you want to see, making it easy to report on what truly matters in seconds, not hours.