With all of the information out on the interwebs, finding a singular Facebook Ads guide is like finding a needle in a haystack.
What we’re going to do is just a little bit different from a comprehensive guide. Instead, we’re going to focus on the more essential points of Facebook advertising.
Facebook Advertising in a Nutshell
Using Facebook advertising successfully can boost brand awareness, and you can improve your revenue if you do it right. If you don’t approach the process correctly, you can miss out on millions of potential customers.
To get started with successful advertising, you need to have your goals well-defined. After all, without knowing what your goals are ahead of time, you won’t be as likely to succeed.
These goals need to be measurable over a predetermined time frame. For instance, do you want to increase visits to your site by 10% over six months? Or perhaps twelve months? More importantly, is it a tangible possibility?
If your goal is brand awareness, then you need to focus on how to bring your brand out to the masses. Maybe that has to do with creating more original content for your site and then creating ads that focus on those pieces.
By having a strategy in place for your advertising, you’re going to have trackable movement towards your goal. If you reach your goal within the intended time, then you’ll know you’re on track. If you don’t, then you’ll know you need to reassess what you’re doing.
Types of Facebook Campaigns
According to Facebook’s business knowledge base, your Facebook campaign structure is going to be comprised of three different parts.
First, you have the campaign, which includes at least one ad, but more often contains several different ads or ad sets. Each campaign has an objective that you’re trying to reach, so you can run multiple campaigns if you have a variety of goals.
Another part of the campaign structure is the ad set. Within your ad set, you’re going to select your target, decide on your overall budget, and make your ad schedule.
Of course, you can’t get through the campaign without the ad – it’s the core of the entire campaign. Not all ads are created equal, so your ad design is going to directly impact whether or not you have the potential to meet your objective.
Types of Campaign Objectives
There are several different campaign objectives, and some you can only use if you have Facebook Pixel installed, too.
- Brand awareness
- Traffic
- Reach
- App installs
- Engagement
- Generating leads
- Video views
- Conversions
- Messages
- Product catalog sales
- Store visits
To pick the right objective, you want to think about the one that relates the most to your advertising goal. As an example, if you’re going to work on generating interest and getting your name out there, your focus should be on brand awareness.
On the other hand, if you want to increase your conversion rate, then you’re going to select the objective that will go hand-in-hand with your goals. You want them to encourage people who are already interested in what you have to offer to take the plunge and purchase from you.
If you have a mobile app that you want people to install, you’re going to have an entirely different objective aimed at mobile users. You’ll want to focus on app installs for your end target.
Knowing your objective will also help you select the correct types of Facebook ads moving forward.
Types of Facebook Ads
There are a total of 11 different types of Facebook ads that you can choose from.
- Video Ads
- Image Ads
- Collection Ads
- Carousel Ads
- Slideshow Ads
- Instant Experience Ads
- Lead Generation Ads
- Offers
- Post engagement
- Event responses
- Page likes
Most of the ad types are relatively straightforward, but some deserve a little extra attention so you can use them to your advantage.
Facebook Carousel Ads
Facebook Carousel ads are worth noting because of their unique way of showcasing your business. Available for Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, you can select up to 10 different videos or images inside a single ad.
Each image or video then has its link to go out to where you intend to direct your audience. That means that with more images, you can highlight a variety of products or services you want people to see.
From there, each photo or video can have specific Information. Alternatively, you can use the carousel approach to tell a story about who you are and what you do.
Facebook Carousel Ads Specs
Facebook Carousel ad specs are easy to follow and not at all overwhelming if you decide to go with this approach. Each card refers to a single picture or video. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you can expect.
- Minimum of 2 cards
- Maximum of 10 cards
- Supported image file types include JPG and PNG
- Maximum image file size is 30MB
- Recommended video file types include .mp4 or .mov formats
- Maximum video size is 4GB
- Maximum video length is 240 minutes
- Recommended video resolution is 1080 px x 1080 px
- Recommended ratio is 1:1
- Maximum text allowed is 125 characters
- Maximum headline length is 40 characters
- The maximum link description length is 20 characters
- Recommended that images contain less than 20% text
It’s paramount that you realize this Facebook ad approach won’t fit every objective, despite how great it is. Instead, carousel ads are better for particular goals. Specifically, they excel at brand awareness, increasing traffic, and app installs. Additionally, they’re effective for generating leads, increasing conversions, improving reach, and making more catalog sales.
Every Facebook ads guide should also let you know when a call to action is going to be useful given a particular ad format. For this ad format, it’s useful for increasing bookings, contacts, downloads, calls, and sending messages.
Facebook Canvas Ads
Canvas ads are now known as Instant Experience ads, and they create a full-screen experience ad when a viewer interacts on a mobile device. These ads are attention-grabbing and have a quick loading time.
You can also link multiple Instant Experience ads to aid your audience in discovering more about you and your business, your products, and your services.
Facebook Canvas Ad Specs
Facebook canvas ad specs, or rather Instant Experience ad specs, work best with carousel ads, slideshow ads, collection ads, single image ads, and video ads. Follow this list of Facebook requirements and recommendations to be certain your images are going to fulfill your needs.
For images:
- Maximum of 20 images
- Supported file types include JPG, PNG, and GIFs
- Sizing options are fit-to-width and fit-to-height
- Maximum width is 1080px
- Maximum height is 1920px
videos:
- Minimum video resolution is 720p
- Supported file types include .mp4 or .mov
- Maximum duration is two minutes
- Ratio is automatically built for portrait, can be resized for landscape
- Thumbnails are the first frame of the video
- Recommended to play a single video at a time
- Recommended to avoid captions
- For tilt-to-pan images:
- Maximum width is 5x the screen width at 5400px
- Recommended maximum width is 3240px
- Positioning is always centered
- Call-to-actions are not added
- Images are compressed, so text can look blurry
text:
- Blocks of text with as many as 500 words per block
- Font is Serif or Sans Serif
- Font size ranges from 6-72pt
- Font style applied to the entire block and includes bold, italic, and underlining
For buttons:
- Required on Instant Experience ads – back buttons and swipe/scroll arrows
- Recommended filled buttons for CTA
- Recommended outlined buttons for secondary CTA
- Maximum button height is 48px
- Text limited to 30 characters, single line
- Font face is Serif or Sans Serif
- Font, button fill, and button outline colors are all optional
While Instant Experience ads are quite flexible, they may still not be what you’re looking for if you’ve got a specific objective in mind. For example, these are great for brand awareness and collections. However, if you’re interested in generating leads, you may want to go a different route instead.
Facebook Lead Gen Ads
Lead-generating ads are going to be the ones where people give you information so you can contact them directly. They’re pre-populated with contact information from your viewer’s Facebook account.
With a quick tap, your potential customer fills out the form and sends it to you, giving you a solid, qualified lead for what you’re offering. Facebook lead gen ads make mobile leads easier to come by, and the more you tailor the ads, the better the leads will be.
As an example, you can add customized follow-up questions that will reveal individual preferences. That was, why you’re getting the right feedback.
This all results in higher-quality leads that allow you to have your potential customer initiate your business relationship. They can tell you when they want to meet or receive a call, which means sending out fewer follow-up messages or emails after the fact.
Creating Facebook Lead Gen Ads
You want these types of ads to be simple and not overwhelming. Too many questions are a turn-off for most people, so you want to keep it to as few as possible. Image and short carousel ads can work well in this instance, but long video ads won’t give you much of a return.
You also want to verify that your ad reflects your brand in such a way that announces how your business is something other people want to partake in. Selecting the proper format can go a long way to seeing that happen.
Video Facebook Ads
Video Facebook ads are incredibly engaging and can function as lead-generating ads as well as many other types of ads. As more people use their cameras on their phones for contacting each other via apps like FaceTime or even on Facebook Messenger, it makes sense that videos have become the primary way that people communicate.
That makes video marketing a way that you can tap into a potential customer pool that you didn’t have before. Plus, you can go with a short video or a long video, again, depending on what your objective is for your ad campaign.
Short videos tend to be finished and are better for lead generating, while longer ones may not always be completed. Alternatively, longer videos can handle giving complex messages to your audience. If that’s part of your goal, then it’s a great way to go.
As a bonus, videos work well in vertical displays, Instagram stories, carousel ads, and collection ads, in addition to long videos. It’s up to you to decide which one to use for your campaign and your goals, but whatever you do, it must align with your end objective.
Use a Facebook Ads Guide to Guide You
There is a learning curve that goes along with understanding which direction to go in with your Facebook ads. Just remember, before you set up your first campaign, ask yourself a few things.
What is your end objective?
Would a video, a still, or a photo be better for your ad?
Who are you trying to reach?
Once you can answer those questions, you’ll be ready to dive in and determine which Facebook ad format to use for maximum return.
Which Facebook ad do you think would be most successful in your campaigns?
Share with us in the comments below!