Finding your audience is crucial to creating successful and engaging social media campaigns. However, playing the odds is also important and with 2.7 billion monthly users it’s highly likely that your audience is on Facebook. In the ever-changing landscape of managing social media, Facebook has not only remained a steady presence since it launched in 2004 but in the 18 years since it has evolved to be a major marketing platform with Facebook ads having the potential to reach 30% of the world’s population.
Thinking about advertising on Facebook? Here’s our handy dandy guide to Facebook ads and marketing on Facebook.
What are Facebook ads?
Facebook ads are essentially paid-for posts that businesses use to promote their products or services to Facebook users.
Facebook ads are targeted to users based on several criteria:
- Demographic, location, interests, and other profile information
Facebook ads appear throughout the mobile app, in users’ feeds, stories, messenger and marketplace.
Facebook ads also offer several features not available on regular posts, such as CTA buttons, links and product catalogues.
Like LinkedIn, these posts are marked as “Sponsored” so users can differentiate them from regular posts.
Types of Facebook ads
The platform offers several different types of Facebook ads, designed to meet various campaign goals and each ad offers a different set of CTAs to guide users to the next steps.
Ad types include:
Image ads – The most basic ad format, image ads consist of a single image and can be used to promote a business’s brand, products or services.
Video ads – Similar to image ads, video ads allow businesses to showcase their services, products and brands and are most effective for things like product demos and tutorials and add movement to users’ feeds. While videos can be up to 240 minutes long, Facebook recommends a video length of 15 seconds.
Carousel ads – Carousel ads can consist of up to 10 videos or images for users to click through. Each with its own header, description and link. These types of ads are ideal for showcasing different but related products. Each image has its own header, description and link and essentially serves as a landing page for the product or service its advertising.
Instant Experience ads – Formerly known as Canvas ads, Instant Experience ads have been described by Facebook as a ‘beautiful, full-screen destination’ for your ads. Optimised for mobile, Instant Experience ads are designed to capture the attention of your audience and can consist of five to seven images or videos. They also offer a more interactive experience with users able to click through the carousel, zoom in and out on display images and tilt the screen in different directions.
Collection ads – A mobile shopping experience, Collection ads consist of a series of product images and enable users to purchase products directly through the ad.
Lead ads – Lead ads are designed to collect Facebook users’ contact information for product or service trials and newsletter subscriptions. This kind of ad is only available on mobile devices so users can input their data without having to do a lot of typing.
Slideshow ads – Slideshow ads feature 3 – 10 images or a single video. They use less data than video ads, which makes them ideal for markets with slower internet connections.
Story ads – Story ads are mobile-only, full-screen vertical video ads that appear in Facebook stories. There are several pros and cons to using story ads. Pros include creative freedom, with businesses able to experiment with filters, video effects, emojis and stickers, as well as positive word of mouth and increased brand awareness. The downside to Story ads is that they don’t appear in Facebook feeds, so may not get as many views as other ad formats.
Messenger ads – Designed to feel more personal, Messenger ads appear among users’ conversations in the messenger tab and make it easy for users to interact with your business.
Struggling with your social media strategy? Charlie Puffin Digital is here to help. Drop us an email at [email protected] or call 01462 558537 to book your free discovery call today.