The humble Facebook Ad has been around almost as long as the social media itself, but the ads have significantly evolved over this time. Since their pop-up days, Facebook Ads have become part of newsfeeds, and blend into the backdrop of regular posts. To get the most from Facebook Advertising, it helps to know what types of ads there are.
Table of Contents
Facebook Ad types:
Image Ads
Image ads are one of the easiest ways to advertise on Facebook. All you need is a good photo, some text, and voilà. Creating great Facebook ads takes practise, but it is essentially that simple. You can create a brand new photo ad with Facebook Ads Manager, or you can boost an organic post you’ve already created.
Carousel Ads:
Carousel ads let you upload up to 10 images or videos for customers to flick through. Each photo can have a different link, so you can send customers where you want them. You can use carousel ads to showcase products and services, or if you feel creative, you can use each slide to make a panorama.
Collection Ads:
Collection ads are essentially the same as carousel ads but have three key differences. Firstly, collection ads are a mobile-only ad format. Secondly, you can only use five images for collection ads. Finally, collection ads let customers buy the products shown, within Facebook. Collection Ads are essentially a miniature online shop.
Video Ads:
There are a couple of different versions of video ads. You can use video ads in stories or newsfeeds, or you can place them in longer Facebook videos. For example, someone might be watching a cat video, and your ad can appear over that video. Also, if you don’t feel like filming, you can use animations.
Video Slideshows:
Video slideshow ads can make text, images and videos more interesting by adding a sense of story or motion. You create a slideshow in Ads Manager from your images or Facebook’s stock photos. Then, you can use the Ads Manager to add music, text, branding, and more.
Instant Experience Ads:
Instant Experience Ads, formally known as Canvas Ads, are interactive full-screen ads. They open like a web page, but load 15-times faster and stay inside the Facebook App. Instant Experience Ads engage your customers with your brand through photos, videos, GIFs, call-to-actions, and more.
Lead Ads:
Lead Ads are clickable ads that turn into a lead form for customers to fill in. However, they reduce abandonment by pre-filling the form with information from the user’s Facebook profile, so customers are less put off. If you’re looking to build a mailing list, offer product trials, or something similar, Lead Ads are a great way to go.
Dynamic Ads:
Dynamic Ads take your ads to the next level by incorporating remarketing. If a customer has been to your website, but not bought anything, Dynamic Ads show customers the products they interacted with. To get your Dynamic Ads working, you upload your product catalogue to Facebook. Then, the customer can purchase within Facebook.
Messenger Ads:
Did you know you can use Facebook Messenger for ads? Messenger Ads appear as a message in your inbox which customers can click on or reply to for more information. You can also direct people to messenger ads by placing “click-to-Messenger” ads in a Facebook feed.
Story Ads:
Story Ads are fullscreen vertical ads that appear between other Facebook stories. It may seem more natural to watch videos in a landscape format, but research has found most Millennials don’t want to rotate their phones for landscape videos. Facebook is also experimenting with using Augmented Reality in stories, so brands can interact with customers in new ways.
Boosted Page Ads:
Whether it’s photo, video or text, if you’re generating organic content, you’re generating potential ad content. Facebook allows you to advertise with posts you’ve already created. So, if you see a post and think, “That looks like ad quality material,” boost the post with paid promotion.
Ad Objectives:
There are three primary objectives in the Ads Manager that determine what you want your customer to do with your ad: awareness, consideration and conversion. For example, if you’re after sales, make ads that encourage people to buy – that’s a “conversion”. The three objectives are broken down further into more specific objectives.
Awareness:
Awareness objectives are about creating interest in your business by showing people what makes your brand valuable. Facebooks awareness objectives are brand awareness and reach.
Consideration:
Consideration objectives encourage people to learn more about your brand. For example, getting people to look at your website. Consideration objectives are Traffic, Engagement, App Installs, Video Views, Lead Generation, and Messages.
Conversions:
Conversion objectives aim to get people to purchase your product or engage your services. For example, the catalogue sales objective aims to generate sales on your eCommerce store’s catalogue. The conversion objectives are conversions (take a specific action), catalogue sales and store traffic.
Tips for Running Your Facebook Ads:
1 – Experiment with Your Audience Targeting:
You can’t sell a product if you have no one to sell it to. Facebook Ads Manager offers tools, such as audience insights and lookalike audiences, to help your business better reach and engage your audience. You can check Facebook Audience Insights to find inspiration for campaign adjustments. Or you can create specific targeted audiences for different ads. For example, you can run ads specifically for people who have already interacted with your brand. At the same time, you can run ads for people who have never seen your brand. Using Facebook targeting options, you can place different ads in front of different audiences at the same time. The trick to reaching the right people is to keep testing. Test new audiences, adjust existing audiences and test lookalike audiences.
2 – Utilise the Facebook Pixel
Installing the Facebook Pixel on your website will allow you to improve your advertising efforts. The pixel tracks conversions, collects remarketing data and creates lookalike audiences. Even if you’re not sure how you’ll use the pixel, you should install it anyway. It will start collecting data so you can use it later.
3 – Produce High-Quality Visuals That Fit The Platform:
Just because you can use a photo from your phone, doesn’t mean you should. Low-quality visuals are an easy way to scare off your potential customers. The visuals are what grabs a person’s attention and stop them from scrolling past your ad. So make sure you’re using high-quality content in your ads. Also, make sure your content fits. Different ad formats have different resolution requirements and specifications. If your customers see your image is cut-off, it will get a laugh, not a sale.
4 – Keep Testing
You can use all the marketing data you want to guide your ads, but it doesn’t always guarantee great ad performance. Sometimes visuals or copy you love may flop with customers. Whether it’s your text, your visuals, your audience, or whatever else, keep testing.
5 – Observe and Adjust Your Ads In Real-Time
The Facebooks Ads Manager dashboard allows you to keep an eye on your campaign’s performance. If you can see a campaign is performing poorly, you can move your budget to another campaign. Running multiple campaign’s at a time is a great way to figure out what works for your business. After a little while, you can see what campaign is best and put more money into it. Also, depending on the size of your audience, third-party tools may better improve your ads managing.
6 – See what the competition is doing:
When it comes to developing ads, any inspiration can help. You don’t want to copy your competitors, because that could get you in trouble. However, if they’re doing something you think would work for your brand, or you think you can improve what they’re doing, test it out. Don’t be shy of monitoring your competition on Facebook.
Facebook Ads Manager Looks Daunting:
If you’ve never used Facebook Ads, or you’re not very tech-savvy, to begin with, Facebooks Ads Manager can look intimidating. However, Facebooks Ads Manager is fairly user friendly. It explains what you’re doing as you go, so you’re not going to be lost. However, if you do find yourself confused, you wouldn’t be the first. There is a plethora of online videos and articles explaining Ads Manager. Alternatively, to run effective Facebook Ads Campaigns, chat to SBIM. Our experts have years of experience running successful Facebook Ads campaigns. You can contact us on 07 3325 0505 or at webmaster@sbim.com.au.
