Launch your first ad — start to finish
A complete walk-through from a fresh account to a live campaign. ~10 minutes, including the wallet top-up.
What this is
This is the article we'd hand a brand new customer who wants their first ad running today. It assumes you've signed up but haven't done anything else yet. Total time: about 10 minutes plus however long your wallet top-up takes to process.
Before you start
- Have your business website handy. A real URL with your services and contact info. If you don't have one yet, you can still launch — we'll use defaults.
- Have a payment method ready. We use LemonSqueezy for top-ups; they accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Apple/Google Pay.
- Know your monthly budget. Even rough — "I want to spend about $20 a day for a month" is enough.
Step 1: Complete onboarding
Sign up → verify your email → run through the 6-step wizard. Pay attention to Service areas (where your ads will show) and Website (do the scan).
Full details: Complete onboarding in 5 minutes.
Step 2: Pick a creative from the chooser
At the end of onboarding you'll see three ad cards generated from your brand.
Screenshot
The post-onboarding creative chooser with three ad cards — image, headline, body, and 'why this works' under each
- Read all three. Each takes a different angle — warm/family/community for client acquisition; professional/care-team/facility for recruitment.
- Click the one you like. It outlines in violet to show it's selected.
- If none of them feel right, you can scan a different URL or skip — but at least one of these is usually good enough to launch.
Step 3: Top up your wallet
If your balance is below the default daily budget ($20), the chooser shows an amber Top up $50 banner.
- Click Top up $50.
- You're sent to LemonSqueezy's checkout. Pay with your card.
- After payment, you land back on the chooser with your card pre-selected.
The wallet model is pre-pay: your top-up covers ad spend plus a small platform fee, all deducted from the same balance. See How the wallet works for the details.
Why we ask for $50 even though daily budget is $20
$50 gives you about two and a half days of runway at the default budget. That's the minimum that gives Meta's algorithm enough time to start delivering before your balance dips. Smaller top-ups are fine after the first one.
Step 4: Launch
- Click Launch this ad on the chooser.
- We send the creative to Meta. Most campaigns appear in 1–5 minutes.
- You land on the Your ad is live! celebration screen.
- Click View campaign to see the campaign detail page.
Step 5: Wait for delivery
Meta typically takes 15 minutes to 24 hours to review and start showing your ad. While it's in review your campaign status is Pending Meta approval.
What to expect over the first few days:
- Hours 0–6. Ad in review. No spend yet. Nothing for you to do.
- Day 1. Delivery starts. You'll see impressions tick up. Few or no leads — Meta is learning.
- Day 2–4. Leads start arriving. They land in your Leads inbox and you get an in-app + push notification.
- Day 5+. Performance stabilises. Now's the time to look at your dashboard and decide whether to scale up, pause, or refine.
What if something goes wrong?
- "Insufficient balance" when launching: see My campaign won't launch — insufficient balance.
- Campaign stuck "pending": see My campaign is stuck in "pending".
- No leads after 3 days: see I'm not getting any leads.
- Anything else: click the chat bubble bottom-right.
Common questions
Q: What's a sensible starting budget? A: $20/day is the default for a reason — it gives Meta enough volume to learn without breaking the bank. You can change this later.
Q: How do I create a second campaign? A: From the dashboard, click Campaigns → New campaign. You'll go through the full campaign wizard. The creative chooser only shows up after onboarding for your very first ad.
Q: Can I pause my campaign while I think about it? A: Yes. Go to Campaigns, click your campaign, then click Pause. No spend while paused. Resume any time.