February 22, 2018
Looking for a simple guide on what Facebook ad types are available to use and how to use them? Look no further! Here is a easy to digest guide of the many ad types at your disposal on Facebook.
Image Ads
These are probably the easiest type of Facebook ad to create. It’s simply using an eye-catching image and giving the rest of the ad some ad copy. Be sure not to use too much text in your actual image or else Facebook’s algorithms may serve your ad less! These ads can be used for many things like brand awareness, selling products, or even highlighting services.
Video Ads
Very similar to image ads, just with video! Facebook recommends using a 15 second or less video for your ads as user engagement and watch percentage dips past this length. Try to tell your story or get your message across in those 15 seconds to leave a lasting impression.
Slideshow Ads
The video alternative. Facebook allows you to use multiple images to create a slideshow for your ads. Use any images available to highlight products or services. Facebook has some tools at the ad creation level to even ad effects to your slideshow and music too!
Carousel Ads
These ad types allow you to show up to 10 images or videos in your ad. A great ad type if you are looking to highlight multiple aspects of your company or products you sell. Users can swipe through the carousel at their leisure to view your message. Some advertisers have cleverly used them to tell a story!
Collection Ads
Another great ad type to highlight your product or service. People on Facebook who tap on your ad can look through and browse your products or can learn about the aspects of a certain product. These are a very engaging ad type that encourages users to explore your brand instead of just glance at an ad they see on their feed.
Canvas Ads
The ad type on Facebook that is optimized and created for mobile. This is a full screen experience separate from the feed for users who click on your ad. People can view your videos, photos, carousels, can rotate their phones to pan images, and explore images with tagged products/services. Collection ads fall under canvas ads but are a bit more specific.
Lead Generation Ads
Are you a business that operates and thrives off generating leads? This ad type may just be the one you are looking for. This ad type helps capture user’s information right on Facebook that you can then use in your CRM software. You can ask for the information you need but remember to limit it to only what you REALLY need. People don’t like giving out too much of their information as it is.
Offer Ads
Offer ads are a great way to help increase your sales online or in store. You are able to use offer ads as either an image, video, or carousel format. These ads help highlight your discounts or offers you want people to be aware off. Users who claim the offer will get automatic reminders when the deal is about to expire encouraging them to use it.
Post Engagement Ads
These types of ads are what you might know of as boosted posts. When you publish content to your Facebook page your followers will see it but new audiences unfamiliar with you won’t. So, you may want to turn your page post into an ad that you can serve to a new audience! These types of ads generally do well from a social proof perspective. People who follow you already may be interacting with your post before it’s an ad. So, if you boost that post to a new audience those new people can see all the people interacting with your brand already through likes, comments, etc.
Event Response Ads
A solid ad type if you are interested in promoting your event. You can choose who to target with these ads based off things like gender, age, location, and what they are interested in to make sure you are hitting the right audience. These ad types boost awareness and provide people a simple way to join your events. Once joined, the event is added automatically to a user’s calendar. These ads even keep track of how many people responded to your invite.
Page Likes
If you are interested in increasing how many people like your Facebook page to expand your organic reach, then this is a good ad type to utilize. You can use both video and images in your page likes ad. Just make sure you are providing engaging content and a reason to like your page.
