Facebook Ad Formats: Choosing the Right Format for Your Campaign

 

Photo Ads are simply images of your product/service or a graphic that really helps to sell your business and product/service to your target audience. In fact, a study by Facebook found that Photo Ads drive more unique traffic than other ad types. 

 

These ads shouldn’t take you too long to create, especially if you already have some great images ready to go. This therefore saves you a lot of time, and means you can potentially get your ads displayed quicker than if you were to spend time creating a video ad, for example. 

 

Make sure your images are clear and high quality, and even experiment with showing others using the product. If the audience can recognise themselves in the ad by seeing someone similar to them using the product, then they’ll understand that what you’re selling could also work for them too. Photo ads are great for businesses selling tangible products, as the audience will be able to see exactly what you’re selling and what they’ll receive if they’re to buy it. 

 

 

Video’s make up half the time people spend on Facebook – making videos a great choice for your advertising. Whether they’re general videos, reels or stories, these ads have the opportunity to be displayed across Facebook, instead of just on the timeline. 

 

These ads are great for businesses who offer services, giving you the chance to explain your backstory and service to them in more detail rather than writing it in the copy. Your videos shouldn’t be too long, but should be engaging and keep people watching instead of scrolling or clicking past. 

 

Story ads will show up between stories on Meta platforms, giving you a great chance of getting out in front of the audience as they're clicking through the stories of people that they currently follow. Story and video ads are great for businesses looking to get creative and have skills in video editing. Making impressive videos and stories will help to drive people to your website, checking out and buying what you're offering. 

 

 

Looking to build relationships with your customers? Then Messenger is a great ad format to try. It’ll allow you to start conversations with customers, give them valuable insight and build a connection that could help to turn them into a loyal customer of your business. 

 

Messenger Ads allow you to have a more personal connection to your audience. Your ads will be shown in the Chats tab of the Messenger app. When they click this ad, they’ll see all the ads details, and will have the option to be taken to your landing page – whether its your Facebook or social profiles, your website or to start a conversation with the business within Messenger so that they can enquire further about the ad. 

 

 

If your business offers some kind of game, then playable ads are perfect. You can give the audience an opportunity to try out the game for free before downloading, allowing them to understand how your game works and become engaged with it. Your ads can start with a video, followed by the opportunity to try the game, and then a call to action that points them to downloading your game - this is known as an in-lead ad. 

 

Make sure you accurately represent the game in your ad – whilst a lot of companies do use non-gameplay footage to hook the audience, if your game looks entirely different to the video beforehand, you could cause the audience to move past and lose interest before trying it. Your tutorial should be simple, and it also means you don’t need too much copy, as they’ll be able to experience the game itself and see how it works without it needing to be explained in your ad copy. 

 

 

Carousel ads lets you put a number of different images in one singular ad, letting you show more products to the audience than just one. If you sell different type of things or your audience has a number of interests, then this is a great way to directly reach out to them by showing them multiple products they’re likely to want to buy. 

 

Carousel ads allow you to include ten images or videos within a single ad, each with different links to direct the audience to each product when they click it. Facebook will either display the cards in the ads based on their performance, or you can choose to create your own order. These ads let you explain features and tell a story, so are great for businesses looking to give their audience more insight into what they’re selling. 

 

 

A Collection ad is where audiences can look through your products on Facebook and purchase them directly – it’s like a carousel ad, but more customizable and lets you display more than just 10 images and videos. 

 

These ads are best for larger businesses, as it’s likely you’ll have a lot of products you may want to advertise, whereas smaller businesses may prefer carousel ads as they don’t need to display as many products to their audiences. 

 

 

Slideshow ads are where a number of different images or displayed in a simple slideshow format, which automatically plays when it appears on a Facebook users feed. These ads still let you get creative, without requiring as much time as video ads would. 

 

These ads are ideal for businesses who don’t have video editing experience, as Facebook will automatically create a slideshow that appears video-like with the images you upload onto the platform. 

 

Facebook ad formats can take time when you’re trying to find the right one for you, but they can bring you a lot of engagement and sales when you find the format the fits your business the most. Start creating Facebook Ads today and see how they can work for your business! 

 

Get in touch to discuss your specific requirements and see how we can help you grow your social media presence 

 

Tel: 07963216248 

Email: chris@chrislondononline.co.uk 

 

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