There are so many types of Facebook ads that the variety is quite astonishing, and they’re always adding new ways for us to advertise on the platform. Picking the right type of Facebook ad for your campaign is crucial, so it’s important you understand the differences between each of them
This article is part of a number of Facebook Marketing articles that we have on Adfactree. To learn more Facebook marketing, visit our Facebook marketing training page.
1. IMAGE ADS
Pretty self explanatory. These are ads that use an image as the primary source of creative material. You can (and should) also add a description, headline and CTA. These appear in the news feed.
Of all the types of Facebook ads, Image ads are tried, tested and fairly easy to get going with. We’d recommend this to any beginners of digital marketing. You can even simply ‘boost’ a post of yours and use a previously uploaded image as your ad image.
Character Limits:
- Headline: 25
- Link Description: 30
- Body Text: 125
2. VIDEO ADS
Image an image ad, but instead of image, it’s a video! That is a video ad, where the main creative asset is a video. Video ads can appear in the news feed and also in Facebook stories.
These ad types can be real winners if you have access to quality video ad material, with databox finding that 60% of marketers see more engagement from video ads than image ads.
Extra 1 – Video Polls – One way you could look to increase your engagement on your video ad is to add a poll for users. This is only possible for ads on mobile devices, but our experience shows that any way you can increase the interactivity of your marketing usually leads to improved performance.
Extra 2 – Slideshow ads – If you don’t have video content, you could look to use slideshow ads. These work by uploading various images (you can use royalty free stock images), and then Facebook plays them in a video-like slideshow in your ad.
Character Limits:
- Headline: 25
- Link Description: 30
- Body Text: 125
3. CAROUSEL ADS
These work like a slideshow of different images that viewers can swipe through. Other than that it is similar to an image ad in that it appears in the feed and features a headline, image(s) and CTA (call to action). This is to use if you want to get across different points etc., in your ad.
Character Limits:
- Headline: 25
- Link Description: 20
- Body Text: 125
4. COLLECTION ADS
Great if you’re selling a product with your ads. You can add products here (up to 5) that viewers can purchase directly from Facebook. This is a great way to make it as easy and quick as possible for potential customers to buy your product, and so definitely an ad type to consider for product sellers.
Character Limits:
- Headline: 25
- Link Description: na
- Body Text: 90
5. DYNAMIC ADS
This is where Facebook only shows your ad to people that have shown a previous interest in your product, for example they may have recently visited your website.
These can be extremely effective at driving sales, because all of your ads are going to people that have seen your brand before and are likely interested in what you offer.
Dynamic ads can even go as far as showing some a particular product that they have previously shown an interest in.
6. MESSENGER ADS
These are ads that appear in the facebook messenger app. If you want potential leads to contact you, then this can be a great way to do it because you can make it so that a click on the ad creates a messenger conversation with you the lead.
- Headline: na
- Link Description: na
- Body Text: 125
7. STORY ADS
Can be image or video, these appear in Facebook stories. They are vertical and take up the whole screen.
Different Types of Facebook Ads Summary
That’s pretty much it for Facebook ad types and the relevant specs that are required for each one. Make sure you think about which Facebook ad type is right for your business and your specific digital marketing goals.
Once you’ve determined which ad type you are going to use, you need to set up your Facebook marketing campaign.
How do you know Facebook is the channel that you should be using?
One of the most common mistakes people make with their digital marketing is using the wrong marketing channel. Every channel is completely different, with different user demographics, targeting options, ad types and so on.
“Should I run my ads on Facebook? Google? Pinterest?… I’m not sure”
In the same way that a builder needs the right tool for the job, your choice of marketing channel will dramatically influence the success of your campaign.
We’ve built a quick and easy way to test which marketing channel suits your specific business and marketing needs, click here to find out more.
