How to Change Your Ad Payment Settings on Instagram

Hi there,

Managing your Instagram advertising expenses can feel overwhelming at times, can‘t it? One month your daily ad budget seems reasonable, but the next you get shocked by a massive spending spike and credit card bill!

Not fun.

Luckily, you have more control than you realize over your Instagram ad payment settings.

In this detailed guide, you‘ll discover exactly how to update your payment info, keep spending on track each month, and analyze your advertising costs like a pro.

I‘ll explain things simply with lots of specific examples you can instantly apply to your business Instagram account.

Let‘s dive in!

Overview: What We‘ll Cover

Here‘s an outline of everything you‘ll learn about taking control of your Instagram advertising payment methods and expenses:

First, I‘ll explain…

• Why you absolutely need to monitor your payments
• Common issues that arise when you don‘t

Next, we‘ll get into the step-by-step process for how to actually change your settings, including:

• Accessing your payment menus
• Connecting your account to Meta Business Manager
• Updating payment information details

Then comes the fun part – decoding those confusing jargon-y payment terms Instagram uses like:

• Payment thresholds
• Spending limits
• Payment activity

I‘ll break things down into simple, easy to understand definitions with relevant examples.

Later on, we‘ll get tactical with specific recommendations for:

• Managing multiple ad accounts successfully
• Enabling business profile permissions

And throughout the guide, I‘ll share expert perspective from my experience as an analyst to help you:

• Choose the right thresholds and limits for your budget
• Use payment history to control spending
• Optimize your settings over time

By the end, you‘ll have confidence in your knowledge of Instagram advertising payment tools.

Let‘s get started!

Why Mastering Instagram Ad Payments Matters

Before we dive into the how-to details, let‘s level-set on why getting a solid handle on your Instagram advertising payment settings is so crucial for running campaigns smoothly.

Avoid Nasty Surprises

Instagram ad costs can vary widely day-by-day based on things like:

• Auction price fluctuations
• Seasonality spikes
• Campaign performance

So without proper payment controls in place, you might experience very unexpected overages.

For example, let‘s say you launch a popular holiday promotion campaign. Engagement skyrockets and your daily ad budget is exceeded by 4X!

Not having spending limits or payment thresholds make nasty credit card surprises like this possible.

Stick to Your Marketing Budget

As a digital marketer, you likely plan campaigns around quarterly or annual budgets.

Carefully managing your Instagram ad payments ensures you have the visibility and control needed to invest strategically within your budget guardrails.

Spot Payment Issues Quickly

It‘s amazing how often small overcharges or duplicate charges occur even with tech platforms like Instagram.

Frequently auditing your payment history and activity allows you to spot discrepancies right away and get them corrected ASAP.

Align with Cash Flow Reality

If managing working capital is important for your business, then aligning Instagram ad payment timelines and schedules with your cash flow cadence is crucial.

Tools like payment thresholds that trigger charges after hitting certain spend levels can help.

Let‘s now walk step-by-step through exactly how to access your key payment settings…

How to Update Instagram Ad Payment Settings

The first thing to know is that the Instagram ad payment settings we‘ll discuss live within Instagram‘s mobile app itself.

You can‘t access these payment controls from a desktop browser – it must be via Instagram‘s iOS or Android app.

Now that we got that out of the way, let‘s dive in:

Step 1: Access Instagram Profile Settings

First, open up the Instagram app on your phone and tap on your Instagram profile picture in the bottom right corner. This brings up your profile page.

Action tip:

Tap on your profile icon now before moving onto Step 2!

Step 2: Go to Menu and Select "Settings"

From your profile screen, tap on the three line "hamburger" menu icon in the top right corner. This opens up the main navigation menu.

Select "Settings" to enter the Settings section.

Pro move:

Use Instagram‘s built-in search bar to quickly find the Settings menu.

Step 3: Go to "Business" > "Ad Payments"

In Settings, scroll down and select the "Business" option (it has a small storefront shopping bag icon).

Then from there choose "Ad Payments". This is the section where all your advertising payment management magic happens!

Troubleshooting tip:

If you don‘t see the Business option, your Instagram account likely isn‘t an officially registered business profile. More on requirements later!

Step 4: Connect to Meta Accounts Manager

If you‘ve never linked your Instagram profile to your Meta Business Manager before, you‘ll likely see a popup here prompting you to connect them.

What‘s Meta Business Manager you ask? It‘s Facebook‘s overall business platform that now manages cross-channel advertising accounts in one centralized dashboard.

Connecting your Instagram profile allows you to unify campaigns reporting, invoicing, and payments. Definitely worth doing!

Once you have the accounts linked, just select "Continue" to access the Ad Payments section.

Step 5: Update Payment Methods/Thresholds/Limits

You made it! Look at you go 🙂

Now within the Ad Payments menu itself, you‘ll see options to:

Update any of these based on your budgeting priorities and payment management style.

Now let‘s explore what each of the main settings means and does…

Key Instagram Advertising Payment Settings Explained

If you felt confused seeing options like "payment threshold" or "spending limit", no worries! That‘s some serious marketing jargon.

Let me break down what each of the key Instagram advertising payment related terms mean in simple English with easy to understand definitions:

Payment Threshold

A payment threshold allows Instagram to automatically charge your connected credit card or Paypal once your advertising spending reaches a specific level that you pre-set.

For example, you could set a $100 payment threshold.

Once your current monthly ad spend totals $100, a charge for that $100 is immediately processed. This resets your "balance" back to $0.

Then Instagram waits again until your ad account reaches another $100 in spending before capturing payment again.

And the process continues repeating all month…

Payment thresholds help control and stage advertising costs in consistent intervals aligned to your budget comfort level.

Useful for managing cash flow or limiting large single charges from accumulating.

When to use payment thresholds:

• When you want to smooth ad spending over the month
• To limit large single credit charges

Tips for ideal thresholds

Analyze monthly statement trends and set at level that allows sufficient budget while preventing unwanted spikes:

• Average monthly spend is $5000 = threshold of $1500
• Average monthly spend is $500 = threshold of $200

Account Spending Limit

The account spending limit enables you to define the absolute maximum your Instagram advertising account is allowed to accrue in charges over the course of a calendar month.

Once the defined limit is reached, your active advertisements are paused automatically.

This gives you complete control to cap monthly expenditures at a level aligned with budget, campaign performance, seasonality needs or overall business finances.

When to use spending limits:

• When you want to prevent accidental overspend
• To retain visibility into maximum marketing costs

Tips for ideal limits

Look at historical peak spends and set ceiling threshold slightly above to allow some wiggle room:

• Peak spend normally $8000/month = set limit at $8500
• Peak spend normally $3000/month = set limit at $3500

Payment Activity

Payment activity simply shows you a historical transaction report of all previous advertising fees incurred and any refunds/credits on your Instagram billing account.

Very useful for double checking accuracy and reconciling monthly invoices from Meta. Discrepancies happen surprisingly often!

You can filter the transaction report by date ranges if you want to analyze spend over particular time periods.

When to check payment activity:

• When reconciling annual marketing expenses
• To audit accuracy of Instagram invoices
• Identifying trends in spending cycle

Business Information

Last one! The business information section allows you to update details like:

• Contact info
• Physical addresses
• Email addresses

That display publicly on your Instagram business profile.

Handy for keeping customers updated on the best ways to reach your brand from the app.

So in summary:

• Payment thresholds stage ad spend charges at consistent intervals
• Spending limits cap maximum monthly costs
• Payment history allows transaction analysis
• Business info controls public-facing profile details

Now let‘s get into some pro tips…

Pro Tip: Mastering Multiple Instagram Ad Accounts

If you manage advertising for multiple brands or departments, you‘re in luck!

Meta‘s Business Manager platform lets you access up to three separate Instagram advertising accounts from one centralized dashboard.

Even better – you can customize distinct payment methods, thresholds, and limits individually across each connected ad account based on their budget needs.

Pretty cool right?

This enables larger organizations to govern budgets centrally while allowing brand or department flexibility to configure their own payment cadences aligned to workflow.

To set this up, just connect your additional Instagram profiles to the same Business Manager in the payment settings we walked through earlier.

Then you can toggle between the different "Sub Accounts" and tailor their payments experience individually.

Enabling An Instagram Business Profile

We briefly mentioned this before, but it‘s an uber critical reminder:

You MUST convert your personal Instagram profile into an officially recognized "Instagram Business Profile" first before accessing any of the advertising payment settings we‘ve discussed.

Yep, Instagram does not allow standard consumer profiles to run ads or access payments features.

Converting fully to a business profile requires things like:

You can initiate the process from your Instagram profile under settings. Definitely take care of this ASAP if you haven‘t yet.

Once your business profile is fully approved, the magical world of Instagram advertising and payments control unlocks!

Key Takeaways

We covered quite a bit of ground! Let‘s quickly recap:

#1 Reason to master payments = Avoiding surprises

Carefully manage when and how much Instagram charges your card to prevent budget overages or cash flow issues.

#2 Learn the advertising payments lingo

Payment thresholds, spending limits, payment history etc. – know these key terms on intuition!

#3 Align settings to your goals

Choose payment frequencies, caps etc. that allow flexibility while optimizing control.

#4 Check activity regularly

Audit the transaction reports frequently! This allows you to catch issues fast.

#5 Business profile required

Don‘t run ads without officially converting to and getting approved as an Instagram business profile first.

Phew! That was definitely an information dense journey into the inner workings of Instagram advertising payment capabilities!

I hope mapping out the specific settings, definitions, and recommendations in this guide gives you the confidence and control needed to manage your ad spend like a true pro.

Let me know if any other questions come up!