Run Your First Meta Ads Campaign

Launch a real Instagram awareness campaign for your skincare brand.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every skincare brand on Instagram is running paid ads to reach new customers. The brands that stand out have a performance marketer behind them who knows how to set up campaigns, target the right audience, and measure what works.

In this project, you will launch a real Meta Ads awareness campaign for your skincare brand with a ₹500 budget, design ad creatives using AI tools, and track your campaign performance in a Google Sheets dashboard.

What You'll Build

You will have a live Instagram ad campaign reaching real people, with a professional spreadsheet tracking every rupee spent and every person reached.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A live Meta Ads awareness campaign running on Instagram, spending real money on real audiences and generating actual performance data you can show in interviews.
AI-generated ad creatives designed in Canva with copy written by ChatGPT, optimized for Instagram Feed and Stories placements.
A Google Sheets performance tracker with formulas that auto-calculate your CPM, CTR, CPC, and Frequency from daily campaign data.
A portfolio-ready case study documenting your strategy, creatives, targeting, and results in the Problem-Strategy-Action-Result format recruiters expect.
Secret Mission: Research 3 competitor skincare brands using Meta Ad Library and add a strategic competitor analysis section to your portfolio.

Are there any prerequisites?

You need a personal Facebook account, a laptop with a browser, and a payment method (debit card, credit card, or UPI) for ad billing. No prior experience with Meta Ads Manager is required.

Before We Start

Before we dive in, let's lock in what you're about to build and why it matters. Running a real paid campaign with real money sets you apart from anyone presenting spec work in an interview.

Set Up Your Instagram Professional Account and Meta Business Suite

You cannot run Meta Ads without a Professional Instagram account connected to Meta Business Suite.

In this step, you will create your skincare brand's Instagram presence, switch it to a Business account, and connect it to a new Meta Business Portfolio. This is the infrastructure that makes everything else in this project possible.

In this step, get ready to:

Create an Instagram Professional account for your skincare brand and post initial content.
Create a Meta Business Portfolio at business.facebook.com.
Connect your Instagram account to the Business Portfolio so it is ready for advertising.

Create your Instagram Professional account

Meta requires a Professional (Business) Instagram account to run ads. A personal account will not work.

Open Instagram on your phone or go to instagram.com on your laptop.
Tap Sign Up and create a new account using your skincare brand name as the username.
Add a profile picture (your brand logo or a product image) and write a short bio describing your skincare brand.

Now switch this personal account to a Professional (Business) account.

Tap your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
Tap More to open your Settings and activity.
Below For professionals, tap Account type and tools.
Select Switch to professional account.
Choose a category that describes your brand (e.g., "Beauty, Cosmetics & Personal Care").
Tap Switch to professional account again to confirm.
Select Business (not Creator) as your account type.
Tap Next and skip any optional setup steps by tapping the X in the top right.

Why Business instead of Creator?

Business accounts unlock the full Meta Ads Manager integration, including campaign creation, audience targeting, and conversion tracking. Creator accounts are designed for influencers and have limited advertising features.

Your profile now shows a Professional dashboard section below your bio. This confirms the switch worked.

Don't see the Professional dashboard?

Make sure you completed the final step selecting Business as the account type. If you accidentally chose Creator, go back to Account type and tools and tap Switch account type to change it to Business.

help me switch my Instagram account to a Business professional account

Post initial content to your brand page

An empty Instagram page looks suspicious to potential followers who see your ads. Post 3-4 pieces of content so your brand page looks active and trustworthy.

Post a product shot of your skincare product (or a mockup image).
Post a skincare tip related to your brand's niche (e.g., "Why SPF matters for Indian skin").
Post a brand story slide explaining who you are and what your brand stands for.
Optionally post a fourth piece of content such as a customer testimonial or ingredient spotlight.

Keep it simple for now

These posts do not need to be perfect. Use your phone camera or free stock images from sites like Unsplash. The goal is to make the page look alive, not to go viral. You will create polished ad creatives in Step 2.

After posting, tap your profile picture to view your grid. You should see 3-4 posts displayed in a grid layout with your brand bio and Professional dashboard visible above them.

Create your Meta Business Portfolio

Meta Business Suite is the control centre that connects your Instagram account to advertising tools like Meta Ads Manager. You need a Business Portfolio before you can run any paid campaigns.

Open your browser and go to business.facebook.com.
Log in with your personal Facebook account credentials.
Click the dropdown below Home in the top left corner.
Select Create a business portfolio.
Enter your skincare brand name in the business name field. Do not use special characters.
Enter your first name and last name.
Enter a business email address you have access to.
Click Create.

Check your email inbox for a confirmation email from Meta. Click the confirmation link to verify your business email address.

What is a Meta Business Portfolio?

A Business Portfolio is your brand's home inside Meta's advertising ecosystem. It holds your Instagram accounts, Facebook Pages, ad accounts, and payment methods in one place. Think of it as the backstage control room for everything your brand does on Meta platforms.

After confirming your email, you should see your Business Portfolio dashboard with your brand name displayed at the top.

Not seeing the Create a business portfolio option?

Make sure you are logged in with a personal Facebook account, not a Page. If you already have a Business Portfolio from a previous project, you will see its dashboard instead. You can use your existing portfolio or create a new one from the same dropdown menu.

help me create a Meta Business Portfolio at business.facebook.com

Connect your Instagram account to the Business Portfolio

Your Instagram Professional account and your Business Portfolio currently exist separately. Connecting them gives Meta Ads Manager permission to run ads through your Instagram page.

In your Business Portfolio, click Settings in the left sidebar.
Click Instagram accounts under the Accounts section.
Click Add.
Enter your Instagram username and password.
Complete two-factor authentication if prompted.
Click Confirm.

Why does Meta need my Instagram password?

Meta needs to verify that you own the Instagram account before allowing ads to run on it. This is a one-time authentication step. Your credentials are handled by Meta's own login system since both Instagram and this Business Portfolio are Meta products.

Before you check, what do you expect to see in the Instagram accounts section now that you have clicked Confirm?

Navigate to Settings then Instagram accounts in your Business Portfolio.
Confirm your skincare brand's Instagram account appears in the list with a connected status.

You should see your brand's Instagram username listed under Instagram accounts. This confirms your account is linked and ready for advertising.

Instagram account not showing after adding?

Only Professional Instagram accounts can be added to a Business Portfolio. If you see an error, double-check that you completed the switch to a Business account in the earlier substep. Personal accounts cannot be added directly.

help me connect my Instagram Professional account to my Meta Business Portfolio

Your advertising infrastructure is ready. You have a Professional Instagram account with active content, a Meta Business Portfolio, and the two are connected. Next up, you will use AI tools to write ad copy and design creatives that stop people mid-scroll.

Write Ad Copy and Design Creatives Using AI Tools

Your brand's Instagram page is live and connected to Meta Business Suite. Now comes the creative work that determines whether anyone actually notices your ads.

In this step, you'll use ChatGPT to write targeted ad copy and Canva to design scroll-stopping visuals. This is the exact AI-powered creative workflow that performance marketing roles describe in their job descriptions.

In this step, get ready to:

Write 3 variations of ad copy using different persuasion hooks in ChatGPT.
Design 2-3 ad creative images at Instagram's required dimensions in Canva.
Document your campaign strategy in a Google Doc for your portfolio.

Generate ad copy variations with ChatGPT

Great ad copy grabs attention in the first few words. You need multiple variations so you can test which hook resonates most with your target audience.

Open your browser and go to chatgpt.com.
Sign up for a free account if you don't have one already (click Sign up and follow the prompts).
Once you're in, start a new chat and paste the following prompt, replacing your brand name:

I'm running an Instagram awareness campaign for my skincare brand [[BRAND_NAME="your skincare brand name"]].

Write 3 ad copy variations. For each variation, provide:
- Primary text (125 characters max)
- Headline (27 characters max)
- Description (1 sentence)

Use these hooks:
1. Problem/solution (address a skin concern the product solves)
2. Social proof (reference popularity or customer love)
3. Curiosity (create intrigue about the product)

Target audience: women aged 18-35 interested in skincare and self-care in India.

Why three different hooks?

Each hook targets a different psychological trigger. Problem/solution speaks to people actively looking for a fix. Social proof leverages FOMO and trust. Curiosity stops the scroll by creating an information gap.

Testing all three lets you discover which message your audience responds to best.

Review ChatGPT's output and check that each variation's primary text is under 125 characters and headline is under 27 characters.
If any variation is too long, ask ChatGPT to shorten it by replying with something like "Make variation 2 shorter. Primary text must be under 125 characters."

You should now see 3 distinct ad copy variations in the chat, each with a primary text, headline, and description.

Open Google Docs and create a new document.
Title it something like "[BrandName] Ad Copy Variations."
Copy all 3 variations from ChatGPT into the Google Doc.
Label each variation clearly: Variation 1 (Problem/Solution), Variation 2 (Social Proof), Variation 3 (Curiosity).

Your Google Doc now has 3 labelled ad copy variations ready to pair with visuals.

ChatGPT giving generic output?

If the copy feels too vague, add more detail to your prompt. Tell ChatGPT your specific product (e.g., "a vitamin C serum for dull skin") and your brand's tone (e.g., "fun and relatable, not clinical").

help me write better ChatGPT prompts for skincare ad copy

Design ad creatives in Canva

Your ad copy is ready, but people scroll past text they never read. The visual creative is what makes someone pause long enough to read your message.

Open a new browser tab and go to canva.com.
Sign up for a free account (or log in if you already have one).
In the homepage search bar, type Instagram Ad and press Enter.
Browse the templates and select one that fits your brand's aesthetic (clean, minimal designs work well for skincare).
Click Customize this template to open it in the editor.

You should now see the Canva editor with your chosen template loaded at 1080x1080px (Instagram's square feed size).

Replace the template's placeholder text with the headline from one of your ad copy variations.
Upload your product image by clicking Uploads in the left panel, then Upload files.
Adjust the brand colours to match your skincare brand (click any coloured element to change its colour).
Keep text minimal on the image. Meta recommends less than 20% text overlay for best delivery.

Why keep text under 20%?

Meta's ad delivery system historically penalises image ads with too much text on them. Images with less than 20% text overlay tend to get better reach and lower costs. Let your visual do the heavy lifting and save the detailed copy for the primary text field.

Once your first Feed creative looks good, click Share in the top right, then Download.
Set the file type to PNG and click Download. This exports at 1080x1080px for Instagram Feed.

Check your Downloads folder. You should see a PNG file ready for Instagram Feed.

Now create a Stories version. Go back to Canva's homepage and search for Instagram Story in the search bar.
Pick a template and customize it with the same brand colours, product image, and a headline from your ad copy.
Download this as PNG. It exports at 1080x1920px (the vertical Stories dimension).
Repeat to create 1-2 more variations using different headlines from your ad copy doc.

You should now have 2-3 exported PNG files total. Some at 1080x1080px for Feed, and at least one at 1080x1920px for Stories.

Can't find a template that fits your brand?

Try searching for more specific terms like skincare ad or beauty product promotion in Canva's search bar. You can also start with a blank 1080x1080px canvas and build your own layout using your product photo and brand colours.

help me choose the right Canva template for my skincare brand ads

Create your campaign strategy document

Before you launch any campaign, you need to document your strategy. This one-page document becomes a portfolio artifact that shows hiring managers you think before you spend.

Open Google Docs and create a new document.
Title it "[BrandName] Campaign Strategy."
Add the heading Objective and write: Brand Awareness (optimized for Reach).
Add the heading Target Audience and write: Age 18-35, interests in skincare, beauty, and self-care, located in your city or India.
Add the heading Budget and write: ₹500 total, spread over 3-5 days (₹100-170 per day).
Add the heading Creatives to Test and list which ad copy variations and image creatives you plan to use (reference the file names from your Canva downloads).

Your strategy doc should now fit on one page with four clear sections.

Why document strategy before launching?

Writing down your objective, audience, and budget forces you to make deliberate choices instead of guessing in the Ads Manager interface. It also gives you a reference to compare against your actual results later.

In interviews, recruiters want to see that you planned your approach. This document proves it.

Take a quick look at everything you've produced: your Ad Copy Google Doc (3 variations), your downloaded Canva creatives (2-3 PNGs), and your Campaign Strategy Google Doc (1 page with 4 sections).

Your creative toolkit is complete. Next up, you'll take these ad copy variations and creatives into Meta Ads Manager to build a live, real-money campaign.

Build and Launch Your Awareness Campaign in Meta Ads Manager

Your ad creatives are designed and your copy is written. Now it's time to assemble everything into a live campaign that spends real money on real audiences.

Meta Ads Manager organizes campaigns in three levels: Campaign, Ad Set, and Ad. You'll build each level from scratch and hit publish by the end of this step.

In this step, get ready to:

Create an awareness campaign with the correct objective and manual controls enabled.
Configure your ad set with audience targeting, daily budget, and Instagram-only placements.
Build your ad with creatives and copy, then publish it live.

Create a new campaign and select the Awareness objective

Every Meta Ads campaign starts at the Campaign level, where you choose your objective. The objective tells Meta what result you want. For a brand-new skincare brand with no website, Awareness optimized for reach gives you the cleanest learning metrics.

What is the Campaign > Ad Set > Ad structure?

Meta organizes advertising into three nested levels. The Campaign holds your objective (what you want to achieve). The Ad Set holds your budget, audience, and placements (who you want to reach and where). The Ad holds your creative and copy (what people actually see).

This three-level structure is how every performance marketer thinks about paid media. Memorize it.

Open your browser and go to adsmanager.facebook.com.
Click + Create to start a new campaign.
Select Awareness as your campaign objective from the list of six options.
Click Continue.
Name your campaign using this format: [BrandName] - Awareness - Aug 2026. Replace [BrandName] with your skincare brand name.
Look for the Advantage+ campaign budget toggle. If it is on, switch it off. You want manual controls so you learn how each setting works.
Click Next to move to the Ad Set level.

Why toggle Advantage+ off?

Advantage+ automates audience, budget, and placement decisions using AI. That is useful for experienced advertisers optimizing at scale. For your first campaign, you want to understand each lever manually so you can explain your decisions in a portfolio or interview.

You should now see the Ad Set configuration screen. This is where you define who sees your ad, how much you spend, and where the ad appears.

Configure your ad set with targeting, budget, and placements

The Ad Set level is where your strategic decisions live. Your Campaign Strategy document already outlines who you want to reach. Now you'll enter those choices into Meta's system.

Under the Performance goal section, select Maximize reach of ads. This tells Meta to show your ad to as many unique people as possible.
In the Budget & schedule section, set your daily budget to ₹100-170. This spreads your total ₹500 over 3-5 days.
Under Audience, set your location to your city or India.
Set the age range to 18-35.
Under Detailed Targeting, type Skincare and select it when it appears. Repeat for Beauty and Self-care.

Why these audience settings?

Age 18-35 is the core demographic for skincare D2C brands in India. Interest-based targeting ensures your ad reaches people already browsing skincare content, not random users. With only ₹500 to spend, a focused audience gives you cleaner data to analyze later.

Scroll down to Placements. Select Manual placements instead of Advantage+ placements.
Deselect all placements except Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories. These are where your creatives are sized to appear.
Click Next to move to the Ad level.

You should now see the Ad configuration screen. The targeting and budget settings are locked in.

Create your ad and publish the campaign

The Ad level is where your creative work comes together. You'll connect your Instagram account, upload the Canva visuals, and paste the copy you wrote with ChatGPT.

Under Identity, select your skincare brand's Instagram account from the dropdown.
Under Ad setup, choose Single image or video as the format.
Click Add Media, then Upload. Select your 1080x1080px Canva creative PNG for the Feed placement.
In the Primary text field, paste your strongest ad copy variation from your Google Doc.
In the Headline field, paste the corresponding headline (27 characters or fewer).

Match your copy to your creative

The primary text appears above your image in the Feed. The headline appears below it. Make sure the hook in your text matches the visual story your creative tells. If your image is about a skin problem, your text should open with that same problem.

Under Call to action, select Learn More. This will direct viewers to your Instagram profile.
Click Preview (in the right panel) to see how your ad looks in Feed and Stories formats.
Confirm the image is not cropped awkwardly and the text reads clearly.
Click Publish.
When prompted, add your payment method (debit card, credit card, or UPI). Complete the payment setup.

What happens after you click Publish?

Your ad enters Meta's automated review process. Meta checks your ad against their Advertising Standards. This review is typically completed within 24 hours, though most ads are reviewed much faster.

You can check the status of your ad in the Delivery column of Meta Ads Manager. It will show In review while being checked, then Active once approved and running.

Before you check your campaign status, what do you expect to see in the Delivery column right after publishing?

Return to the main Ads Manager view by clicking Campaigns in the left sidebar.
Find your campaign in the list. Check the Delivery column.

You should see either In review (if Meta is still checking the ad) or Active with delivery showing Learning or Active. Your daily budget of ₹100-170 appears in the Budget column. Your campaign is now live and spending real money.

Campaign stuck in review or rejected?

If your ad has been in review for more than 24 hours, check that your payment method was successfully added under Billing in Ads Manager settings. An incomplete payment setup blocks delivery.

If your ad is rejected, you will receive a notification explaining which policy was violated. Common reasons include too much text on the image or health claims in ad copy. Edit the flagged element and resubmit.

Why is my Meta Ads campaign not going live?

Your awareness campaign is live. Real people in your target audience are about to see your skincare brand on their Instagram Feed and Stories. Next up, you'll build a Google Sheets tracker to capture and analyze the performance data this campaign generates.

Build Your Campaign Performance Tracker in Google Sheets

Your awareness campaign is live and generating real impressions, reach, and frequency data. Now you need a way to pull that data out of Meta Ads Manager and into a format that proves you can analyze it.

Google Sheets is the industry-standard tool for campaign reporting. Without a dedicated tracker, your campaign data stays locked inside Meta's interface where no interviewer can evaluate how you think about numbers.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a campaign tracker spreadsheet with formatted headers.
Add performance metric formulas for CTR, CPM, CPC, and Frequency.
Build a summary section with totals, averages, and conditional formatting.

Create your campaign tracker spreadsheet

Every performance marketer has a tracking spreadsheet for each campaign. Yours will hold one row per day of campaign data, with formulas that automatically calculate the metrics hiring managers care about.

Open your browser and go to sheets.google.com.
Click the + Blank option to create a new spreadsheet.
Click Untitled spreadsheet in the top left corner and rename it to your brand name followed by Campaign Tracker (for example, GlowLab Campaign Tracker).

Now add your column headers so the sheet is ready to receive data.

Click on cell A1 and type the following headers across Row 1, one per cell from A1 to J1:

Date | Impressions | Reach | Clicks | Spend (₹) | CTR | CPM | CPC | Frequency | Notes

What do these columns track?

Each column captures a specific dimension of campaign performance. Impressions counts the total number of times your ad was displayed. Reach counts unique people who saw it.

CTR (Click-Through Rate), CPM (Cost Per Mille/1,000 impressions), and CPC (Cost Per Click) are the calculated metrics you will automate with formulas.

Next, format the columns so numbers display correctly.

Click the column letter E to select the entire Spend column.
Click Format in the top menu bar, then select Number, then Currency.
Click the column letter F to select the entire CTR column.
Click Format, then Number, then Percent.

You should now see your 10 headers across Row 1, with column E showing a currency symbol and column F displaying percentages.

Headers not fitting in the cells?

Double-click the border between any two column letters (for example, between A and B) in the column header row to auto-resize. You can also select all columns and click Format, then Column width, and set a consistent width.

help me resize my columns in Google Sheets

Add performance metric formulas

These four formulas are what performance marketers use every day to turn raw campaign numbers into actionable metrics. Each formula includes an IF check that prevents division-by-zero errors when a row has no data yet.

Click on cell F2 (the CTR column, row 2) and enter this formula:

=IF(B2>0, D2/B2, "")

Click on cell G2 (the CPM column) and enter this formula:

=IF(B2>0, (E2/B2)*1000, "")

Click on cell H2 (the CPC column) and enter this formula:

=IF(D2>0, E2/D2, "")

Click on cell I2 (the Frequency column) and enter this formula:

=IF(C2>0, B2/C2, "")

What do these formulas calculate?

CTR = Clicks divided by Impressions. Tells you what percentage of people who saw your ad actually clicked.
CPM = (Spend divided by Impressions) times 1,000. Tells you how much you pay per 1,000 impressions.
CPC = Spend divided by Clicks. Tells you how much each click costs.
Frequency = Impressions divided by Reach. Tells you how many times each person saw your ad on average.

Now copy these formulas down so they cover a full week of data.

Select cells F2 through I2 (all four formula cells).
Hover over the small blue square at the bottom-right corner of the selection until your cursor turns into a crosshair.
Drag it down to row 8 (7 total rows, one for each day of your campaign).

Click on any cell in the range (for example, F5) and check the formula bar at the top. You should see the formula referencing row 5 instead of row 2, confirming the drag worked.

Seeing an error or the same row reference in every cell?

Make sure you dragged from the blue square (called the fill handle), not by copying and pasting. If you see #REF! errors, delete the cells and re-enter the formula in F2 first, then drag again.

help me fix my Google Sheets formula errors

Build the summary section and add conditional formatting

A daily log is useful, but hiring managers want to see totals and averages at a glance. You will add a summary section below your daily rows and apply colour coding so campaign health is instantly visible.

Click on cell A10 and type SUMMARY. Bold it by pressing Cmd+B (macOS) or Ctrl+B (Windows).
In cell A11, type Total.
In cell A12, type Average.

Now add the summary formulas.

In cell B11, enter =SUM(B2:B8) for total impressions.
In cell C11, enter =SUM(C2:C8) for total reach.
In cell D11, enter =SUM(D2:D8) for total clicks.
In cell E11, enter =SUM(E2:E8) for total spend.
In cell F12, enter =AVERAGE(F2:F8) for average CTR.
In cell G12, enter =AVERAGE(G2:G8) for average CPM.

Now add conditional formatting so strong and weak CTR values are colour-coded automatically.

Select cells F2 through F8 (your daily CTR values).
Click Format in the top menu bar, then click Conditional formatting. A panel opens on the right side.
Under Format cells if, select Greater than.
In the Value or formula field, enter 0.01 (this represents 1% because the column is formatted as percentage).
Under Formatting style, click the fill colour icon and choose a green colour.
Click Done.

Now add the red rule for low CTR values.

With cells F2:F8 still selected, click Add another rule in the conditional formatting panel.
Under Format cells if, select Less than.
In the Value or formula field, enter 0.005 (this represents 0.5%).
Under Formatting style, click the fill colour icon and choose a red colour.
Click Done.

Why 0.01 and 0.005 instead of 1 and 0.5?

Because your CTR column is formatted as a percentage, Google Sheets stores the underlying value as a decimal. A displayed value of 1.00% is stored as 0.01. So your conditional formatting thresholds must also use decimals.

Time to test that everything works. Before you enter sample data, predict what you expect to see. If you enter 5000 impressions, 50 clicks, and ₹100 spend, what should CTR, CPM, and CPC show?

In cell A2, type today's date.
In cell B2, type 5000 (Impressions).
In cell C2, type 4000 (Reach).
In cell D2, type 50 (Clicks).
In cell E2, type 100 (Spend).

Your formulas should instantly calculate. Check the values that appear in row 2:

F2 (CTR) should show 1.00% and the cell should turn green.
G2 (CPM) should show 20 (meaning ₹20 per 1,000 impressions).
H2 (CPC) should show 2 (meaning ₹2 per click).
I2 (Frequency) should show 1.25 (each person saw the ad 1.25 times on average).

CTR cell not turning green?

If the cell shows 1.00% but has no green background, check your conditional formatting rule. Click Format, then Conditional formatting. Confirm the rule says Greater than with value 0.01 and has a green fill selected. If you accidentally entered 1 instead of 0.01, the rule expects a CTR above 100%, which is impossible.

help me fix my conditional formatting in Google Sheets

Your campaign tracker is ready to receive real data. Once your campaign has run for a day or two, come back to Ads Manager, copy the daily numbers into this sheet, and watch the formulas do the work for you.

Next up, you will turn all of this work into a polished portfolio case study that proves you can think strategically about paid campaigns.

Document Your Campaign as a Portfolio Case Study

Your campaign is live and spending real money. That is the hard part done. Now you need to present it in a way that makes a hiring manager say "this person thinks strategically."

In this step, you'll turn your raw campaign work into a polished case study using the PSAR framework (Problem, Strategy, Action, Result). This is the format recruiters expect when evaluating marketing candidates.

In this step, get ready to:

Structure your case study document with the PSAR framework.
Add annotated screenshots showing your campaign decisions.
Write a forward-looking section on learnings and next steps.

Create your case study document with PSAR headings

The PSAR format gives hiring managers exactly what they scan for: evidence that you identified a problem, planned a strategy, executed it, and measured results.

Open Google Docs and create a new blank document.
Title it [BrandName] Meta Ads Case Study, replacing [BrandName] with your skincare brand name.

Add a Heading 2 that says Problem.
Write 2-3 sentences explaining why your skincare brand needs awareness. Think about what problem exists in the market. Is the brand new with zero recognition? Is it competing against established names?

Add a Heading 2 that says Strategy.
Write 3-4 sentences covering your targeting rationale (why age 18-35, why skincare/beauty interests), your creative approach (what hooks you chose and why), and your budget allocation (₹500 over 3-5 days at ₹100-170/day).

Add a Heading 2 that says Action.
Write 3-5 sentences detailing your campaign setup: the Awareness objective, the AI tools you used (ChatGPT for copy, Canva for creatives), your A/B variations (which hooks and visuals you are testing), and the placements you selected (Instagram Feed and Stories).

Add a Heading 2 that says Result.
Write a placeholder paragraph noting that your campaign is currently running and you will update this section with real metrics (Reach, CPM, Frequency, CTR) after 3-5 days.
Add 1-2 sentences on what you would optimize next based on initial observations.

Review your document. You should now see four clearly labelled sections, each filled with specifics from YOUR campaign, not generic placeholder text.

Why specifics matter more than polish

Hiring managers skim case studies in under 30 seconds. They look for concrete numbers (₹500 budget, 18-35 age range, 3 creative variations) rather than vague summaries like "targeted young women interested in skincare."

The more specific you are, the more credible you look.

Add screenshots with decision captions

Screenshots turn your case study from a written summary into visual proof. Each screenshot needs a caption that explains the decision behind what is shown, not just a label.

Open Meta Ads Manager at adsmanager.facebook.com.
Take a screenshot of your campaign structure showing the Campaign > Ad Set > Ad hierarchy. You can see all three levels by clicking into your campaign name.
Take a screenshot of your audience targeting settings by clicking into your Ad Set and scrolling to the Audience section.
Take a screenshot of your ad preview showing how your creative looks in Feed or Stories format.

Switch back to your Google Sheets Campaign Tracker.
Take a screenshot showing your headers, formulas, and conditional formatting. Even with empty data rows, this shows you built the tracking infrastructure.

Return to your case study Google Doc.
Click Insert in the menu bar.
Select Image, then Upload from computer.
Insert each screenshot below the relevant PSAR section.
Below each screenshot, add a caption in italics explaining the decision. For example, under your targeting screenshot: "Chose 18-35 age range because Indian D2C skincare brands primarily convert in this demographic. Added beauty and self-care interests to reach skincare-adjacent audiences."

Your case study should now have at least 4 screenshots, each with a caption that explains why you made that choice.

Captions that show strategic thinking

A weak caption says "My audience targeting settings." A strong caption says "Targeted 18-35 in metro cities with skincare interests because this aligns with [BrandName]'s pricing tier and Instagram-heavy demographic." The caption IS the interview answer.

Write your Learnings and Next Steps section

This final section is what separates execution from strategic thinking. You are showing a hiring manager that you already know what you would do differently with a bigger budget.

In your case study Google Doc, add a Heading 2 that says Learnings and Next Steps.
Write a paragraph answering: what would you change if you had ₹5,000 next time? Consider different audiences (broader geo, narrower age), different creatives (video vs static, carousel vs single image), and a different objective (Traffic or Engagement instead of Awareness).
Write 1-2 sentences on what you learned about the campaign setup process itself. What surprised you? What took longer than expected?

At the bottom of your document, add a line that says "Live Campaign Tracker:" followed by the link to your Google Sheets Campaign Tracker.
Switch to your Google Sheets tracker tab.
Click Share in the top right corner.
Under General access, change it to "Anyone with the link" and set the role to Viewer.
Click Copy link.
Return to your case study Google Doc and paste the link after "Live Campaign Tracker:".

Why link to the live tracker?

A static case study shows what you did in the past. A linked, live tracker shows you are still actively monitoring the campaign.

Interviewers can click through and see real, updating data. It makes the case study feel current rather than archived.

Before you call this step done, scroll through your full case study document from top to bottom.

You should find all four PSAR sections filled in with specifics from your campaign, at least one captioned screenshot per section, a Learnings and Next Steps section, and a working link to your Google Sheets tracker at the bottom.

Case study feels too short?

Check that each PSAR section has at least 2-3 sentences with real numbers from your campaign. If your Strategy section just says "targeted young people," go back and add the specifics: age 18-35, which interests you selected, and WHY those interests match your brand.

Help me make my case study more specific.

Your campaign is now fully documented as a portfolio piece. Next, you can take on an optional challenge to research how competitor brands run their ads.

Secret mission

Competitor Research with Meta Ad Library

The Times Internet JD explicitly lists competitor research as a responsibility. In this mission, you'll use Meta's Ad Library to reverse-engineer what 3 competing skincare brands are doing with their paid campaigns, then add a strategic competitor analysis to your portfolio.

Clean Up Your Resources

Decide whether to keep your resources running, pause them to come back later, or delete them entirely. Your Meta Ads campaign is actively spending real money (₹100-170/day), so pausing or deleting it stops further charges immediately.

Cost warning

Your campaign is live and spending ₹100-170 per day. If you do not pause or delete it, Meta will continue charging your payment method until your budget runs out or the campaign end date passes.

If you are done collecting data, pause or delete the campaign now to avoid unexpected charges.

Resources you used:

Meta Ads campaign (live, spending real money daily).
Payment method attached to Meta Ads Manager.
Meta Business Portfolio (at business.facebook.com).
Instagram Professional Account for your skincare brand.
Google Docs (Ad Copy, Campaign Strategy, Meta Ads Case Study).
Google Sheets Campaign Tracker.
Canva ad creative files.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you are still actively running your campaign and want to collect more performance data over the next few days.

Your campaign continues spending until it reaches your total budget or the end date.
Check your Google Sheets tracker daily and fill in the metrics from Ads Manager.
Your Google Docs, Canva files, and Instagram account remain as portfolio artifacts.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Stop your campaign from spending money while keeping everything intact so you can resume later.

Go to adsmanager.facebook.com and click Campaigns on the left.
Find your campaign and toggle its on/off switch to off (the toggle turns gray). This pauses all ad sets and ads underneath it.
Your Google Docs, Google Sheets tracker, Canva designs, and Instagram account all stay as they are.
To resume later, return to Ads Manager and toggle the campaign back on.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project resources permanently. Follow each step in order.

Delete your Meta Ads campaign:

Go to adsmanager.facebook.com and click Campaigns on the left.
Tick the checkbox to the left of your campaign name.
Hover over the campaign name and select the Edit option that appears below it.
In the edit window, click the ... button in the top-right corner and select Delete. This is permanent and cannot be undone.

Remove your payment method:

In Ads Manager, click Billing and payments in the left menu.
Click Payment settings in the left menu.
Click Options next to your payment method and select Remove. If you have an outstanding balance, clear it first using the Pay now button.

Delete your Meta Business Portfolio:

Go to business.facebook.com and open Settings.
Click Business info.
Click Permanently delete business and follow the on-screen instructions. This action cannot be reversed after 24 hours.
Note: you must first remove your Instagram Professional account from the portfolio (convert it back to a personal account or remove it from the portfolio) before deletion will succeed.

Delete your Instagram Professional Account (optional):

If you no longer need the skincare brand Instagram page, open Instagram, go to your profile, tap Settings and privacy, scroll to Account, and choose Delete account.
If you want to keep the page for your portfolio but stop ads, simply leave the Instagram account as-is after removing it from the business portfolio.

Delete your Google Docs and Sheets:

Open Google Drive (drive.google.com).
Right-click each file (Ad Copy doc, Campaign Strategy doc, Meta Ads Case Study doc, Campaign Tracker sheet) and select Move to bin.
Empty your bin to permanently delete them.

Delete your Canva designs:

Open Canva (canva.com) and go to Projects.
Find your ad creative designs, click the ... menu on each, and select Move to trash.

That's a Wrap!

Nice work. You just launched a real Meta Ads awareness campaign for your skincare brand, spending actual money on actual audiences and tracking every metric in a professional dashboard.

You've learned how to:

Built and launched a live Meta Ads Manager awareness campaign with proper structure (Campaign > Ad Set > Ad), spending real money on real audiences and generating actual performance data.
Designed AI-generated ad creatives using ChatGPT for copy and Canva for visuals, optimized for Instagram Feed and Stories placements.
Created a Google Sheets performance tracker with formulas for CTR, CPM, CPC, and Frequency that auto-calculates campaign health and proves the data fluency employers require.
Secret Mission: Researched competitor skincare brands using Meta Ad Library and produced a strategic competitor analysis documenting creative formats, messaging themes, and gaps your brand could exploit.

Ready to quiz yourself?