Should ads send people to a playlist or my Instagram?

Send them to Instagram if you want people you can reach again for free, and to Spotify if you want plays now. A mixed playlist is the weakest Spotify option.

Meta’s page on ad destinations lists “Instagram profile” next to website and app. Ads Manager then reports Instagram profile visits, which Meta defines as the number of times your profile was visited. A visit isn’t a follow, though. Your grid has to give people a reason to stay.

A playlist is a link out of Meta’s apps. If it’s a playlist you made with your song next to other artists, some of the plays you paid for go to them. Spotify’s Source of Streams page doesn’t name a category for playlists you built yourself, so you can’t cleanly separate the ad plays.

How we’d pick:

• New single, release week: link the song itself, not a playlist. All the plays are yours.
• Between releases: Instagram profile. A follower can see your next posts without you paying again.
• Playlist only if every song on it is yours, so every play counts for you.

For what a Spotify campaign costs and how to judge the listeners it brings, see our FAQ on Meta ads for Spotify. Our guide to promoting music on Instagram covers what your profile needs before you pay to send people there.