Learn About The The Different Types Of Facebook ads
As of Feb 2019, more than 2.32 billion people are using Facebook. In Europe, over 307 million people are on Facebook & in Ireland there are estimated to be 2.67 million users.
That huge, global audience means Facebook is a key marketing platform for just about every business. But the ever-changing Facebook algorithm can make it a challenge to connect organically with fans.
That’s where Facebook ads come in. With micro-targeting features that allow you to reach your exact target audience based on demographics, location, interests, and even behaviors. You can always get your message in front of the people who are most likely to want your products or services.
That’s great for your budget, conversion rates, and return on investment. You only pay to reach the most valuable potential customers. But it’s important to understand the different ad types and targeting options before you dive in if you want to get the best results.
Types of Facebook ads
Photo ads
These simple ads are great way to get started with Facebook advertising. You can create one with just a few clicks by boosting an existing post with a photo from your Facebook Page.
Photo ads may be simple, but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. For example, you might think socks are a pretty ho-hum product, but Happy Socks puts them in surprising contexts to create fun Facebook photo ads.
Video ads
Video ads can show your team or your product in action, or they can simply be aspirational. The video in this ad from Noom says nothing specific about the service itself, but provides clear motivation to learn more.
Carousel ads
A carousel ad uses up to 10 photos or videos to showcase your product or service. You can use this format to highlight different benefits of one product, a number of different products, or even use all the photos together to create one large panorama image, like this:
Slideshow ads
Slideshow Facebook ads offer an easy way to create short video ads from a collection of still photos or existing video clips. They have eye-catching motion, just like videos, but use much less bandwidth, so they load well even for people on slow internet connections.
You can also add text and music. If you don’t have photos of your own, you can choose stock photos from Facebook’s collection.
Collection ads
These ads, which are offered only for mobile devices, allow you to showcase one or more products that customers can click to buy.
Collection ads pair with Instant Experiences (more on those below) to allow people to buy your products without ever leaving Facebook. This makes online shopping easy when people are on-the-go and may not have a great internet connection.
Instant Experience ads
Instant Experience ads used to be called Canvas. They’re a full-screen ad format that loads 15 times faster than a mobile website outside of Facebook, like this example from Cirque du Soleil.
If you’re using the Facebook Pixel on your website (and you should be), it’s automatically added to your Instant Experience ads to allow full tracking.
Lead ads
Lead ads are only available for mobile devices because they’re specifically designed to make it easy for people to give you their contact information without a lot of typing. They’re great for collecting newsletter subscriptions, signing someone up for a trial of your product, or otherwise allowing people to ask for more information from you.
Philosophy used lead ads to promote product samples in the UK, generating more than 9,000 leads.
Because these ads are such a great way to feed your sales funnel, we’ve got a whole guide to using Facebook lead ads that breaks down all the details you need to know to make the most of this important type of Facebook ad campaign.
Dynamic ads
Dynamic ads allow you to promote targeted products to the customers who are most likely to be interested in them. For instance, if someone has visited a product page or placed a product in their shopping cart on your website, but then abandoned the purchase, dynamic ads for that precise product will appear in their Facebook feed. This reminds the potential customer to complete the purchase, and can be a very effective Facebook marketing strategy.
For example, after I hit my maximum number of free New York Times articles this month, I started seeing ads with a subscription offer in my Facebook news feed.
Messenger ads
Photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and dynamic ads can all be set to appear in Facebook Messenger. This extra placement gives you access to the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger every month. When creating your ad, simply choose Messenger as the desired placement (you also need to select Facebook feed).
Here’s what an ad looks like in the Messenger app:
You can also run “click-to-Messenger” ads in the Facebook feed. These ads feature a call-to-action button that opens a Messenger conversation with your Facebook Page, so people can have a one-on-one conversation with one of your salespeople or customer service reps.
Find out more about our Facebook Advertising & how we can get you more clients fast!
