Targeted advertising on VK: how to set up and launch it step by step

What VK’s targeted advertising is and where it shows

Targeted advertising is ads that aren’t shown to everyone, but to a chosen audience: by region, age, interests and other traits. More on what targeting is and how it differs from search advertising in a separate article. Here the focus is only on how it’s built on VK.

VK advertising is now set up in VK Ads (also called VK Ads). It’s a single platform for several placements at once. Per VK Ads’ help documentation, ads can show:

• on VK and Odnoklassniki;
• on other VK properties — for example, the Mail.ru homepage and Dzen;
• in VK’s advertising network — on partner sites and mobile apps;
• in the RuStore app store and in channels of the MAX messenger.

Who sees an ad is decided by the auction — automatic ad selection at every impression. The help documentation explains that the system picks the most relevant content for the user, and ads are compared by a score that factors in the bid and the prediction of whether the person will click or complete the target action.

What VK ads look like

An ad can appear in different places: in the feed, in the sidebar, in stories, in clips, inside videos, in apps and games. By default placements are chosen automatically, but this setting can be turned off and placements chosen manually.

Formats vary too. For example, a universal ad with a title, description, image or video; a post from a community in the feed; a carousel of several cards. Every format has text, visuals and a call-to-action button.

Ads launched through VK Ads get an «Advertising» label — provided the advertiser’s details are filled in correctly in the account.

VK Ads and myTarget

VK launched VK Ads in April 2022 as a unified platform for advertisers, merging myTarget’s and VK’s technologies. In December 2024, VK announced that campaigns from the old VK ad account could be automatically transferred to VK Ads, keeping the budget, targeting, texts and visuals.

The practical takeaway is simple: many guides online were written for the previous accounts. Go by the current VK Ads account and its help documentation.

What to prepare before launch

Most mistakes get baked in before the first click in the account. Before setup, five questions are worth answering.

1. The goal and how to measure it. What counts as a result for you: an inquiry from the site, a message to the community, a join, a purchase. This determines which target action you choose in the campaign: the system will optimize impressions toward it.
2. What you’re advertising. VK Ads lets you promote a site, a community, a lead form, a mobile app, a mini-app, video and broadcasts, or a personal VK profile. In the advanced mode, the list is wider: for example, posts, a product catalog, channels and music.
3. Where the person will land. If the ad leads to a community, it needs a clear setup and posts worth staying for. More on how to plan a community’s posts ahead of time in a separate material. You can read about how a company’s social media strategy and content are built on our service page.
4. How you’ll count the result on the site. If the ad leads to a site, install the VK Ads pixel on it — code that tracks visitor actions. It’s worth tagging the links in your ads so analytics can show where a visitor came from: here’s how to tag links in ads.
5. The advertiser’s details and budget. You’ll need advertiser information for labeling — covered in step 5. Decide in advance on the budget and time you’re ready to allocate to a test, so you don’t change the rules mid-flight.

How to set up targeting on VK step by step

Step 1. The VK Ads account

At this step, you decide on whose behalf you’ll place the ads. Accounts come in two kinds: for direct advertisers — individuals, legal entities and sole proprietors — and separately for advertising agencies. You can sign in, for example, through VK ID — a VK account.

After registering, the account settings require the advertiser’s details: for an individual, full name and tax ID (INN); for a legal entity, company details, address and contacts. These same details are needed for labeling, so it’s worth filling them in right away.

The account has two ways to create an ad:

• quick launch — a simplified mode where the system picks the audience, text and image itself; the help documentation says it suits small and medium-sized business owners;
• expert mode — an advanced mode with flexible settings.

The steps below are described for expert mode: it shows the full logic of setup.

Step 2. Campaign: goal and budget

Here you decide what you’re advertising and what result you’re aiming for. First you choose the promotion object — what’s being advertised. Then the target action: it defines what result the campaign will be optimized for. This is also where the bid strategy, budget and impression dates are set.

Bid strategies depend on the campaign type. For campaigns on target actions, the help documentation describes two options:

• minimum cost — you set a budget, and the system tries to get the best result within it;
• maximum cost — you set the maximum cost of a target action, and the algorithm tries not to exceed it.

The payment model — per impression, per click, or per video view, including with conversion optimization — isn’t chosen manually. It’s assigned automatically and depends on the promotion object and the target action.

Step 3. Ad group: audience and placements

At this level, you decide who to show the ad to and where. The ad group is where you set up the audience, placements and impression schedule.

Targeting settings define the target audience. VK Ads’ help documentation lists, among others:

• impression regions — from a country or city down to a point on a map with a radius;
• demographics — gender and age;
• interests and behavior, including interest in topics and social characteristics;
• search queries — keyword phrases the system uses to find people, and negative keyword phrases for exclusions;
• followers of VK and Odnoklassniki communities;
• listeners of musicians, users of VK mini-apps and games.

Besides targeting settings, you can use audiences — your own lists of potential customers. They’re built from lists of phone numbers and emails, from actions on the site and in the app, from community followers, and from people who opened a lead form or interacted with past ads. Showing ads to people who have already been on the site is called retargeting.

Placements are chosen automatically by default; they can be restricted manually if needed.

Our recommendation: make several groups with different audiences so you can compare them against each other. And don’t narrow the audience to the limit without a reason — the system needs room to find people who’ll complete the target action.

Step 4. The ad

Here you decide what the person will see and what to promise them. The ad is where you set up how the advertising will look: text, images or video. The set of fields depends on the format — for example, a universal ad has a title, a short and a long description, images and video.

Before uploading, check the placement rules: they have requirements for text and images. For example, you can’t write the whole text in capital letters, and the ad must be in Russian. Unsupported guarantees and promises are also prohibited.

Two practical recommendations. Prepare two or three ad variants so you have something to compare. And check that the promise in the ad matches what the person will see after clicking.

Step 5. Labeling

At this step, you check that the advertising will be labeled. By the advertising law, internet advertising must carry an «advertising» label and identify the advertiser, and information about it is passed through ad data operators. ORD (ad data operator) is an organization that collects data about advertising and passes it to the Unified Register of Internet Advertising.

In VK Ads, ads are labeled automatically: the system adds the «Advertising» label and an advertising identifier (token), and reporting is passed through VK’s ORD. The condition is correctly filled-in advertiser details in the account. Agencies have their own scheme: they fill in client and contract data themselves.

Step 6. Moderation and launch

Before showing, the campaign, groups and ads go through a check — moderation; the account shows the status «Under review» during this time. Moderation checks the ad against the law, VK’s rules and the technical requirements for ad design.

The main requirement groups that get ads rejected are text (slang, clickbait, unsupported promises), images, and prohibited topics. If an ad fails the check, fix it per the feedback and resubmit it for moderation. Some topics require documents under the rules.

Step 7. Payment

Advertising spend runs off the account balance. Individuals top it up by bank card, through payment systems, mobile payment, or the Fast Payment System (SBP). Legal entities and sole proprietors top up the balance against an issued invoice, and payment is only accepted from the account of the organization that owns the account.

How to advertise a VK community

Community advertising is one of the promotion objects in VK Ads. In expert mode, when creating a campaign, you choose the object for communities, groups and profiles, and specify the community or a link to it.

Different target actions are available for a community:

• joining the community — to get joins;
• sending a message — so people message your community;
• boosting a post — to get reactions and reposts;
• a link click.

The target action sets which people the algorithm will target, and determines the text on the ad’s button. A community can also be promoted through quick launch — it supports communities and profiles.

From there, it’s all up to the community itself. The ad brings the person in, and whether they stay depends on what they see in the feed.

How to tell if the ad is working

The account’s statistics show basic metrics:

• impressions — how many times the ad was shown;
• clicks — how many times it was clicked;
• CTR — the ratio of clicks to impressions, as a percentage;
• results — the number of target actions;
• cost per result — spend divided by the number of target actions.

Clicks and CTR show how engaging the ad is. But it’s better to decide whether an ad is working based on target actions and their cost. If the ad leads to a site, the pixel records target actions there. It’s also useful to look at the share of visitors who completed a target action — here’s how to calculate the share of target actions.

Compare groups and ads against each other: which audience brings in a cheaper inquiry, which text variant performs better. The figures of a single campaign on their own don’t say much without comparison.

It’s too early to draw conclusions right after launch. The help documentation explains that the system first estimates click and conversion probability from historical data for your category, and only shifts to your own ads’ data as conversions accumulate.

Common setup mistakes

• No goal and no way to measure it. The ad is launched «for reach,» but what counts as a result hasn’t been decided.
• The pixel isn’t installed before launch. Then visitor actions from the first days don’t make it into the statistics.
• The ad leads to an empty community or an irrelevant page. The person clicked but didn’t find what the ad promised.
• One group and one ad. Nothing to compare against, no clarity on what to improve.
• Evaluating by clicks instead of target actions. Cheap clicks don’t always produce inquiries.
• Labeling data isn’t filled in. Without it, automatic labeling won’t work.
• Conclusions from the first days. Until conversion data has accumulated, the system relies on category-level estimates rather than your own ads.

FAQ

How much does advertising on VK cost?

There’s no fixed price. The impression cost is set by the auction, and the payment model is assigned automatically depending on the object and the target action. You set the budget and the bid strategy — more in step 2.

Can you launch VK advertising from a phone?

Yes. VK Ads has a mobile account. In the VK app, you can open it from your own community — through the promote button in the header or under a post — or through the «Advertising» service in the services section. To create a new account, the help documentation recommends switching to the full version.

Do you need a site to run targeted ads on VK?

No. Besides a site, you can promote a community, a lead form, a personal profile, video, a mini-app and other objects.

Why didn’t the ad pass moderation?

Usually because of a placement-rule violation: in the text, images, or topic. Check the feedback, fix the ad, and resubmit it for review.

Are there bonuses or promo codes for new advertisers?

VK Ads has bonuses — extra funds credited, for example, for a first top-up or for participating in promotions — and promo codes. Bonuses are only available to direct advertisers, and some promotions are only for new users who haven’t yet made a payment in the account. A promo code is entered when topping up the balance or in the promotions section; check the terms of a specific promotion in the account.

Can you set up targeting on VK yourself, without a specialist?

Yes. The account is built for self-service launch, and the help documentation addresses quick launch mode directly to small and medium-sized business owners. What takes time is something else: testing audiences and ads, analytics, and regularly reviewing results.