You’ve already learned how to set up your Facebook ads account, how to set up your Facebook pixel, how to understand your Facebook account structure, and how to set up Facebook audiences.
Did you know that consumers in the U.S. spend 20% of their mobile time on Facebook or Instagram? With so many active users, Facebook ads are a no-brainer for any marketer looking to reach new audiences in a place where people are already spending a significant amount of time.
Why is it important to choose the right type of ad?
Choosing the right type of Facebook ad is essential because some ads are aimed at selling products, whereas others are intended for customers to discover and interact with the brand. Facebook’s advertising platform has grown to be ever more sophisticated. Advertisers now have more options than ever to reach new audiences and remarket to previous website visitors. However, with so many different options, it can be difficult for advertisers to figure out which Facebook Ad type is best for any given campaign objective.
What are the different types of ads you can use on FB, and when should you use them?
So what kinds of ads work best for which audiences?
Carousel
The carousel ad format lets you show two or more images and videos, headlines, and links or calls to action in a single ad. Users can scroll through the carousel by swiping on their mobile device or clicking the arrows on their computer screen.
Carousel ads allow advertisers to:
- Feature multiple products that link to different landing pages to give customers more information about multiple services or products.
- This ad type allows you to highlight various features of a single product or even tell a story or explain a process across multiple slides.
- Create a larger canvas – present one large image using all your frames for an immersive ad experience.
- Sell the benefits or show customer reviews.
Display
Single image or the display image format shows one singular image, this type of ad is most similar to organic posts. In Facebook, most of the ad engagement comes from the ads in the newsfeed. The format of single image ads looks like something someone may share in their newsfeed. See the example below:
When people post multiple images in the Facebook feed organically, they look like photo collages, with images arranged in tiles. On the other hand, single-image posts stand out as an ad because people don’t natively post images using this format in the newsfeed.
Video
Similarly to display ads, the video format shows one singular video accompanied by ad text. Video ads have a higher share rate than image ads, which explains why over 80% of online marketers use video content within their ads.
Dynamic
Dynamic ads work the same way as image or video ads, except they automatically optimize the creative and ad copy to come up with unique combinations for different consumers based on their interests, intent, and actions.
Rather than setting up 1,000 ad combinations to see which one works best for your audience, you can create 1 dynamic ad with multiple options for copy and creative.
How to set up a single image or video ads
1. Create your campaign
First, you need to create your campaign or choose an existing campaign to use. Log in to your account and click the green Create button.
2. Choose a campaign objective
That will bring up this dialog box so that you can choose a campaign objective. In this example, I’m going to optimize my campaign for traffic.
3. Name your campaign
After you choose the objective, you can name your campaign. Name your campaign in a way that describes what its advertising and who it’s advertising to, for example, Objective – Audience Type
Sales – Business Owners
4. Set up your audiences
Once you’ve named your campaign, go to your ad set and select your audience. You can find out more about setting up your Facebook Audiences and tailoring them to your business.
5. Choose a single image or video ad
Once you have set up the ad type you want to use, it’s time to choose your creative assets.
6. Upload your images or video
Try and select unique images or videos that will draw your audience’s attention and encourage engagement. See here for image and video sizes – Facebook ad specs.
Optimize your ad creative to ensure that your image appears correctly across placements, or to use a different image with the appropriate dimensions – see the images below for reference.
7. Write your ad copy
Once your images or video is uploaded, you need to add the primary text, description, headline, and final URL. See below for best practices when writing compelling ad copy.
8. Preview your ad
Then you need to check that your ad displays as you wish on Facebook and other placements by going down to the Ad preview section and toggling the placements. Mobile News Feed is shown by default.
You can also preview on a mobile device, which is the best way to experience your ad as customers will more often use social media on mobile.
See below for an example of how your ad will look.
How to set up Facebook carousel ads
1. Create your campaign
First, you need to create your campaign or choose an existing campaign to use. Log in to your account and click the green Create button.
2. Choose a campaign objective
That will bring up this dialog box so that you can choose a campaign objective. In this example, I’m going to optimize my campaign for traffic.
3. Name your campaign
After you choose the objective, you can name your campaign.
4. Set up your audiences
Once you’ve named your campaign, go to your ad set and select your audience. You can find out more about setting up your Facebook Audiences in our previous blog.
5. Create a carousel ad
6. Create your ad
When you create a carousel ad, you will have a different layout to creating image or video ads. Carousel ads are made up of different cards, and here you can input your ad copy for description, headline, and URL. See an example below.
You can upload up to ten images or videos on a carousel ad and you can alter these images and videos to suit the placements you want to advertise on. See how this will look once you have filled it out.
7. Preview your ad
Once you have created your carousel ad, you can check that your ad displays as you wish on Facebook and other placements by going down to the Ad preview section and toggling the placements. Mobile News Feed is shown by default.
How to set up Facebook Dynamic ads
Dynamic ads have to be set at the ad set level rather than the ad level, so the first step is to create a new ad set.
1. Create your campaign
First, you need to create your campaign or choose an existing campaign to use. Log in to your account and click the green Create button.
2. Choose a campaign objective
That will bring up this dialog box so that you can choose a campaign objective. In this example, I’m going to optimize my campaign for traffic.
3. Name your campaign
After you choose the objective, you can name your campaign.
Once you’ve done this step, you’ll need to create a new ad set. Name this as Dynamic and name your ad.
Once you click Continue, your new ad set is ready to edit.
4. Switch on dynamic creative
This is where you can choose to create a dynamic ad or not. See the list of edit options, and below the Traffic section, you’ll have an option for Dynamic Creative, switch this to On.
5. Create your dynamic ad
You can use dynamic ads as either a carousel or singular image format. The example below shows multiple options for both images and ad copy.
You need to upload and edit your images or videos the same as you would for any other ad type except with dynamic ads you can add multiple images, videos or even a slideshow. See in the screenshot below the + Add Another Option.
6. Preview your ad
Once you have created your dynamic ad, you can preview some of the combinations that the system could generate. This is especially important on dynamic ads as the combinations will vary a lot more than a standard carousel or image ad.
How to make sure you’re using the right creative:
In order to make sure your creative assets are going to engage your audience it’s important to understand what they will respond to. You can do this by going through your or your competitor’s organic posts and seeing which type of posts get the most likes and comments.
Don’t underestimate the power of design. 50% of companies say that design plays a massive role in how they achieve success. After all, design influences first impressions and the way consumers perceive your brand.
Banner blindness is a term for selective attention, it can be conscious or unconscious and is usually done to avoid interacting with ads that may disrupt the user experience. Follow our steps when choosing the colors of creative assets for your ads.
5 best practices for choosing the highest converting creative
Ensure you follow fundamental design principles to create the best ads you possibly can:
1. Keep it simple!
Use simple language and vocabulary that is easy to understand for all types of audiences. When someone sees your ad, they should immediately know:
- What you’re offering
- How it benefits them
- What to do next
2. Pick the best CTA (call to action)
Similar to the last point, keep it simple! A customer needs to know what you’re selling and how much it costs before they click to avoid wasting budget on unqualified leads. Use a CTA like: buy now, book a call, shop now… etc.
3. Test your ads!
Embrace A/B split testing. By testing different assets and ad copy you can determine how an ad has performed by monitoring the CTR (Click Through Rate) you can tell which version resonates with most readers.
4. Ask yes questions
One of the most powerful Facebook ad copy techniques is to polarize people. You want your ideal customers to see your ad content and be drawn in. This is a great way to engage your target audience.
5. Focus on Your Audience’s Goals
Frame your work so that you’re answering their questions in your ad copy. By mirroring the customer’s end goal you’ll attract people who’ll recognize that you’re able to solve their problem and will be more likely to click on your ad.
Finally, the best way to structure a display ad is to make your value proposition and CTA most prominent. Choose a simple color palette and typography – make sure that your design is conducive to your brand. And finally, make sure to use unique images to grab the audience’s attention.
