How to run Instagram ads for your clinic

Here is how to run Instagram ads for your clinic: use a professional Instagram account, pick one treatment, show the ad to adults near the clinic, and send every tap to one clear way to book. Boosting a post works for quick reach. Meta Ads Manager gives you control over the result you pay for, the area and the budget.

Why do clinic Instagram ads get views and no bookings?

Most clinic Instagram ads lose the patient after the tap. Someone watches a reel about aligners, taps through to a profile with no clear next step, and scrolls on. Or the ad brings messages that nobody answers until the next morning.

The ad is rarely the whole problem. Each ad needs one treatment, one audience near the clinic and one way to book. Get those three right and the rest is testing.

Where do Instagram ads appear?

Meta's page on ad placements lists these places on Instagram:

• Feed. The home feed, in the app and on the web.
• Profile feed. Inside the feed view of public profiles, shown to people aged 18 and up.
• Explore home. A tile in the Explore grid, among recommended content.
• Stories. Full screen, between the Stories people are watching.
• Reels. In the Reels tab.
• Search results. When someone types a search term into the Instagram app.

Meta recommends Advantage+ placements, where it spreads your budget across placements, and says adding placements does not increase the cost of your ad. You can also pick placements yourself. Stories and Reels suit short vertical video. Feed suits a clear photo or a carousel.

Should you boost a post or use Ads Manager?

Instagram's help centre says a professional account can boost a post to turn it into an ad. You set a goal, an audience, a daily budget and a duration. Boosted posts appear in Explore, Home feed, profile feed and Stories, and every ad is reviewed against Meta's ad policies before it runs.

• Boost when a post is already doing well and you want more people near the clinic to see it for a short period.
• Use Ads Manager when you want enquiries for one treatment, want to compare branches or want to count cost per booking.

Two details worth knowing. Instagram warns that adding funds in its iOS app may carry an Apple service fee, and suggests boosting from instagram.com instead. Meta also opts boosted ads in to multi-advertiser ads by default; you can opt out in Ads Manager. Our Meta Ads Manager walkthrough for clinics covers objectives, audiences and the pixel.

What should a clinic's Instagram ad show?

An Instagram ad should look like a post a patient would stop for. Three kinds of creative suit clinics:

1. A doctor explaining one treatment. Twenty to thirty seconds, face to camera, plain words: who it is for, what happens at the consultation and how to book.
2. A walk through the clinic. Reception, the treatment room, the team. People like to see where they are going before they book.
3. Answers to front desk questions. "How long does whitening take?" makes a good Story.

Patient images need written consent

Any patient face, smile or skin in an ad needs that patient's written consent for advertising use. Keep names and treatment details out unless the patient agreed to those too.

What are Meta's rules for clinic ads on Instagram?

Instagram ads follow Meta's Advertising Standards. Its health and wellness policy says ads for cosmetic procedures "must be targeted to people at least 18 years or older." It allows before-and-after images for general cosmetic procedures in those adult-targeted ads, and bars "statements of inferiority about physical appearance."

• Risky: "Tired of your yellow teeth?" Fine: "Teeth whitening at our Ikeja clinic."
• Set the age to 18+ on every cosmetic treatment ad, boosted posts included.
• Name the service, never the viewer's condition.

Your profession's own advertising rules apply on top: no promised results and no patient details.

Where should the ad send people?

The last step in how to run Instagram ads for a clinic is the destination. Every ad needs one next step that ends in a booking:

• A landing page for that one treatment, with a booking form.
• Instagram messages, if someone replies within minutes during opening hours.
• A call button, if the front desk picks up.

Then count. Ask every new patient how they found you and record it. Spend divided by patients who booked from the ad gives your cost per booking. Views and likes do not.

How Kren runs Instagram ads for clinics

Kren is a done-for-you team for private clinics in Lagos and Abuja. We plan the content with your doctors through our social media strategy work, run the ads in Ads Manager within Meta's health rules as part of our lead generation work, and track cost per booking each week. Your own team does the final follow-up and booking.

We do this for skin and aesthetic clinics, dental, fertility and more. On a 30-minute strategy call, we look at your Instagram and your enquiries with you. Show me where my clinic is losing patients →

Questions clinic owners ask about Instagram ads

Do we need a Facebook Page to run Instagram ads?

To boost from Instagram, you need a professional account. The first time you boost, Instagram asks you to choose an ad account: an existing Facebook ad account, or keep Facebook and Instagram separate. For Ads Manager campaigns, keep the ad account in a business portfolio the clinic owns.

Why is there no Boost button under our post?

Instagram says the post may not be eligible, or the account may not be set up to boost. Check that the account is professional and that an ad account is connected, then try again.

Can we show before-and-after photos in Instagram ads?

Meta allows before-and-after images for general cosmetic procedures when the ad targets people 18 or older. Get the patient's written consent first, and follow your professional body's rules on advertising.

Which Instagram placement should a clinic choose?

Meta recommends Advantage+ placements, and adding placements does not raise the cost of the ad. Make a vertical video version for Stories and Reels, then judge each placement by enquiries and bookings.