Instagram Story ads
for Malta businesses: specs, safe zones and setup.

Stories are the short, full-screen posts at the top of Instagram. They play one after another, and people tap to skip. A Story ad is a paid post that appears between them. It fills the whole phone screen, carries a “Sponsored” label and has a button or sticker that takes people to your page, form or shop.

You do not need followers for a Story ad to work. Meta shows it to the people you choose, such as adults in Malta and Gozo, people who visited your website, or tourists who are in Malta right now. You run it from Ads Manager, the same place as your Facebook ads.

This guide covers the specs, the safe zones, a simple 3-frame plan, the setup steps and a free checker. For the wider picture, see our Instagram ads service in Malta, and for Reels read Instagram Reels ads.

Instagram puts things on top of your Story ad. Your profile name and the “Sponsored” label sit at the top. The call-to-action button or sticker sits at the bottom. If your price or offer sits there, people never see it.

Meta advises leaving about 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text, logos and key details (Meta Ads Guide). Meta’s help page on Stories ads also says the call-to-action sticker sits at the bottom of the ad by default (Meta Business Help: Create Instagram Stories ads).

The safe area is smaller than most people expect. It is roughly the middle half of the screen. Put your headline, offer and logo there. Use the top and bottom for background only, such as the sea, a plate of food or a clean colour.

Story ads come in three types. Each one plays for a different time, and that changes how you plan it. The diagram shows the rules from Meta’s Ads Guide, opened today.

Source: Meta Ads Guide: Carousel ads on Instagram Stories. The safe zones are the same as for single ads: 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% each side.

Here is what that means in practice. Put your best card first, because many people will only ever see cards 1 to 3. If you need an exact number of cards to show, run the ad on Stories only.

Story ads are fast. People decide in a second or two whether to keep watching. So plan each frame to do one job. Here is the plan we use, shown for a made-up restaurant in Marsaxlokk. It is an example, not a client.

Keep the whole video under 16 seconds. Meta plays Story videos under 16 seconds in full. Longer ones may be cut into separate cards, and people can swipe away between them. Add captions, because many people watch with the sound off. Use one call to action across all three frames, such as “Book now” or “Get quote”.

For a service business, the same plan works. A cleaning company in Birkirkara might show a messy kitchen, then the clean result, then “Free quote in 1 minute” with a lead form. A tour boat in Gozo might show the Blue Lagoon, the boat, then “Book for tomorrow”.

This is a made-up example. A boutique hotel in Valletta has a 1080 × 1350 feed photo with “Winter offer, 2 nights” at the bottom. It wants to use it as a Story ad.

Step one: the checker flags the shape. 1080 × 1350 is 4:5, not 9:16. Meta may add bars or crop it. So the hotel extends the photo to 1080 × 1920, adding 570 px of sky and street.

Step two: the checker shades the safe zones. On 1080 × 1920 the bottom 672 px are covered by the reply bar and the button. The offer line sat at about 1,500 px from the top, inside that zone. So it moves up to about 900 px, in the safe middle.

Step three: the text. The primary text read “Escape to the heart of Valletta this winter with our special two night offer, breakfast included and late check out.” That is 116 characters, under the 125 guide. The hotel keeps it, and adds a 3-card carousel with the room, the breakfast and the terrace view, each 1080 × 1920.

Without the fix, the one thing that sells, the offer, would have sat behind the button.

Want your Story ads checked and rebuilt like this? Apply now for Instagram ads ↗

1. Open Ads Manager and click Create. Use a business ad account, not the boost button, so you control the audience.
2. Pick the goal. Leads for enquiries, Sales for a shop, Traffic only if you just want visits.
3. Set the audience. For example, Malta and Gozo, ages 25–55. Keep it broad enough to learn.
4. Choose placements. Keep Advantage+ placements on, or pick Instagram Stories by hand if you only made a 9:16 file.
5. Upload the 9:16 file. Add the primary text, the button and the link or form.
6. Preview on a phone. Check nothing is hidden under the name or the button.

You can also boost a Story straight from the Instagram app. That is quicker, but you get fewer choices. Instagram says you can only boost Stories that are active, in your highlights or reposted from your archive, and only with some stickers, such as location, mention or countdown (Instagram Help: Boost an Instagram story). Polls and music, for example, block a boost.

Using a feed image. A 1:1 square in a 9:16 space looks cheap and leaves empty bars. Make a real vertical version.

Text in the danger zones. A price at the very bottom sits under the button. Use the checker above before you upload.

Too many words. People get a few seconds. One short line per frame is enough.

A slow start. If the first second is a logo on a white screen, people tap past. Lead with the product or the result.

No captions. Many watch with the sound off. Put the key words on screen.

Running one ad for months. In Malta the same people see it quickly. Plan a fresh version every 3 to 4 weeks. Our guide to ad creative that works has ideas.