How to Resume Instagram Ad

An Instagram ad that suddenly stops running can be frustrating, especially when it was performing well. Whether you paused it yourself or Meta’s algorithms intervened, getting it back online is usually straightforward once you know where to look. This guide walks you through the common reasons your ad might be offline and provides the step-by-step instructions to get it delivering again.

First, Diagnose Why Your Instagram Ad Is Paused

Before you can resume an ad, you need to understand why it stopped. Most issues fall into one of a few common categories. Log in to your Meta Ads Manager to investigate which one applies to you.

Reason 1: You Paused It Manually

This is the simplest reason. You or a team member may have manually toggled the campaign, ad set, or the ad itself to an "off" status. Ads are organized in a hierarchy: Campaigns > Ad Sets > Ads. If the Campaign or Ad Set is paused, any ad within it will not run, even if the individual ad is switched on.

Reason 2: It Reached Its Budget or End Date

Every ad set has either a daily or lifetime budget and a schedule. If your campaign was set up with a specific end date, it will automatically stop running once that date is reached. Similarly, if you set a lifetime budget, the campaign will stop once all the money is spent.

Reason 3: Your Ad Was Rejected for a Policy Violation

Meta has an extensive set of advertising policies to protect users. If your ad’s creative (image or video), text, or landing page violates one of these rules, it will be rejected and paused. Common reasons for rejection include:

• Too much text on an image.
• Making specific claims about results (e.g., "lose 10 pounds in 10 days").
• Referencing personal attributes like race, religion, or sexual orientation.
• Promoting prohibited items or services.
• Using landing pages that don't function properly or aren't relevant to the ad.

Reason 4: There's a Billing Issue

An active ad campaign spends money every day. If your primary payment method fails, Meta will immediately pause all your ads to prevent you from accumulating a debt you can't pay. This can happen if:

• Your credit or debit card has expired.
• There are insufficient funds in the account.
• Your bank has flagged the transaction for security reasons.

This will pause all campaigns connected to your ad account, not just one.

Reason 5: Your Ad Account Has Been Restricted

This is the most serious issue. An ad account can be restricted or disabled for repeated policy violations, suspicious activity, or if Meta suspects your account has been compromised. If this happens, you will not be able to run, create, or edit any ads until you resolve the issue with Meta Support.

How to Resume Your Instagram Ad: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you’ve identified the cause, you can take the right steps to get your ad running again. The best place to manage all these issues is directly within the Meta Ads Manager.

Scenario 1: Resuming an Ad You Manually Paused

If you or a team member turned the ad off, restarting it is as simple as flipping a switch.

1. Navigate to Meta Ads Manager.
2. Locate the specific ad you want to resume. You can use the search and filter functions to find it by campaign name or ID.
3. Check the toggle switch in the "On/Off" column. You need to verify this at all three levels:

Once the toggle is blue at all three levels, your ad will re-enter the review process and should start delivering shortly.

Scenario 2: Extending a Campaign’s Schedule or Budget

If your campaign hit its preset limits, you just need to edit them.

1. In Ads Manager, find the campaign that has ended.
2. Hover over the ad set name you want to edit and click the "Edit" button.
3. In the editing pane that appears, scroll down to the "Budget & Schedule" section.
4. Here you can either:
5. Once you've made your changes, click the green "Publish" button.

Scenario 3: Fixing a Rejected Ad

When an ad is rejected, Meta typically tells you which policy it violated. Don't just request another review without making changes - you'll likely get rejected again.

1. Review the Reason for Rejection: In the "Delivery" column of Ads Manager, it will say "Rejected." Hover over this status to see a brief explanation.
2. Edit the Ad: Click the "Edit" button under your ad's name.
3. Publish Your Changes: After editing, click "Publish." This automatically resubmits your ad for review.

What if you think the rejection was a mistake? Inside Ads Manager, you should see an option to "Request Review." Clicking this allows you to appeal the decision. Be prepared to explain why you believe your ad complies with the policies. A human will typically look at it, but this can take 24-48 hours or longer.

Scenario 4: Resolving a Payment Issue

An invoice error is an account-level problem. You’ll need to settle any outstanding balance to resume advertising.

1. In Ads Manager, click the hamburger menu (All Tools) on the left sidebar and select "Billing."
2. On the Billing page, you will see your current balance and transaction history. An outstanding balance will be clearly marked.
3. Click "Payment Settings" to check your stored payment methods.
4. You can either add a new payment method or update your existing one (e.g., enter a new expiration date).
5. Once your payment information is updated, click the "Pay Now" button to settle the outstanding balance.

As soon as the payment is successfully processed, Meta will automatically resume delivery for any campaigns that were active before the billing failure.

Troubleshooting: What if My Ad is "Active" But Not Delivering?

Sometimes you’ll fix the issue, the status column reads "Active," but your ad still isn't getting impressions. Here are a few things to check:

• The Learning Phase: Newly resumed ads or ads with significant edits can re-enter the "learning phase." During this time, Meta's algorithm is testing delivery and performance can be unstable. Give it some time.
• Budget is Too Low: If your daily budget is too small for a very large audience, your ad may struggle to enter the auction. Try increasing it slightly.
• Audience is Too Narrow: An overly specific audience might be too small for your ad to serve consistently. Try broadening your targeting criteria.
• Low Bid or High Competition: The ad auction is competitive. If your bid is too low or your audience is being targeted by many other advertisers, you might struggle to win a spot.
• Creative Fatigue: If an ad has been running for a long time, the audience may have seen it too many times, causing performance to drop off. Try refreshing the creative with a new image or video.

Final Thoughts

Resuming a stopped Instagram ad usually comes down to diagnosing the issue and then taking specific action in Ads Manager. Whether it's flipping a switch, updating a credit card, or editing ad copy, knowing where to look makes the process quick and painless. Taking a few moments to understand why the ad was paused can save you from future headaches and keep your campaigns running smoothly.

Fixing individual ads is one part of the job, understanding their real business impact is another. Many teams waste hours downloading reports from Ads Manager to piece them together with sales data from Shopify or traffic data from Google Analytics. At Graphed, we automate that entire process. You can connect your marketing and sales data sources in seconds, then use plain English to ask things like, "Show me my Facebook Ads ROI by campaign this month." We instantly build live, real-time dashboards that show you what’s actually working - no more manual reporting or struggling with spreadsheets.