Facebook Ad Types

Facebook Ad Types

Facebook continues to increase the number of ad types available, providing advertisers with more options for building and engaging audiences, driving leads and sales, and maximizing ROI.

Ad type selection strategy should be driven based on the particular goals of the campaign, whether that’s to generate new likes, engage current fans, promote new content, drive traffic to ecommerce

Facebook Ad Types | 1

Facebook Ad Types

Written By: Danny Kemp, SEM Director

Edited By: Tim Lavelle, Director SEO/Social Media

stores or lead generation pages, offer coupons for offline use, get online event registrations, or promote app-installations.

Initial Setup

Facebook advertising campaigns recently introduced Ad Sets, which are comprised of user-defined groups of individual Ads. Ad Sets were first made available in the spring of 2014, and are an excellent feature that should definitely be taken advantage of.

Previously, budgets, starting and ending dates were only able to be controlled at the campaign level, but with the new functionality offered by Ad Sets, these important campaign elements can be configured on a much more incremental and far more valuable basis.

At the new Ad Set level, options include budget and start and end dates, while at the individual Ad level, targeting options remain far more robust, including specific bids, ad content, placement and other details.

The only setting currently available at the campaign level is called a campaign “Objective”.

Potential Campaign Objectives include:

Clicks to Website Website Conversions Page Post Engagement Page Likes Desktop App Installs Mobile App Install Desktop App Engagement Mobile App Engagement Offer Claims Event Responses

Campaign Objectives may seem simplistic, but they are extremely valuable because they help organize similar ads together, set effective bids and create automated bidding parameters.

Unfortunately, leveraging Campaign Objectives for maximum impact sometimes requires using multiple campaigns and splitting budgets at the Ad Set level, which increases the logistical complexity of campaign management.

In addition, depending on the chosen Objective, only certain ad types are available, so marketers must be careful about which Objectives they choose to target.

Common Sizes and Character Limits


Most Facebook ads utilize a 1200x627 pixel image, with 90 characters of supporting text. Some ads have minimum image size requirements, and most ads will feature images that have been reduced in size to fit the placement, so image quality and dimensions must be considered to ensure proper clarity.

Some types of ads use different image dimensions, and some allow more text, including ad titles, which can be especially effective. Depending on placement (desktop newsfeed, desktop right column, or mobile newsfeed) ad copy longer than 90 characters may end up being truncated, which is certainly something to watch out for. Page Post Link, Event, App, and Domain ads all feature titles, each of which caps out at 25 characters in length.

For promoted Photo Posts, images cannot contain more than 20% text. Fortunately, Facebook offers a helpful Grid Tool that checks for text quantity, and which should be used before creating specific posts. We recommend using this tool to check images before writing marketing posts, ensuring that time doesn’t get wasted having to re-write content due to rejected creative.

Page Post Engagement

Page Post Engagement ads include text, photo and video. Page Posts are great for advertisers looking to increase interaction and engagement with their page, or with their posts, from either existing or potential fans.

Posts can be created using the general interface, or within the Power Editor, then promoted or boosted to ensure maximum visibility. Page Posts can also be shown in all 3 placement positions.

Video

Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 16:9 Image size: 1200x675 px

Photo


https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay

Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 1:1 Image size: 1200x1200 px

Text

Text: 90 characters

Page Likes

Page Like ads could be considered the workhorse of the mix, as they provide significant value to virtually every Facebook campaign.

It’s universally understand that there is value in generating a larger audience who can be freely engaged via posts, which makes generating likes an essential part of each and every campaign run on the platform.

These ads can be utilized in all placements, but must be linked to some specific tab of the Facebook account in order for Likes to be properly tracked.


Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 8:3 Image size: 1200x450 px Minimum image size: 560x210 px

Offer Claims

Offer Claim ads allow advertisers to connect digital marketing spends with offline sales and revenue, effectively tracking real-world performance. Offers are created as posts which can then be promoted or boosted to increase their reach.

Offers live on the Facebook timeline, and users can claim them for use at the advertising business via a simple email confirmation. The Offer Claim ad shows the offer, its expiration date, and the number of people who have claimed it along with options to like, comment, or share.

Offer ads can be shown in all 3 placements.

Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 1.91:1 Image size: 1200x627 px Minimum image size: 400x209 px


Event Responses

Event Response ads require advertisers to create a Facebook Event on their page which the ad then links to. The event page should include information about the event, like its date, time, location, and a simple description, but it should also include links to ticket registration on your main website or a third party cart.

An optional attendee list can be used to show users who have already confirmed they’ll attend. The event ad has separate copy from the event itself, so ad copy could be used for promotional purposes, with calls to action and unique value propositions replacing specific event details.

Event ads can be shown in all 3 placements.

Text: 90 characters Event title: 25 characters Image ratio: 8:3 Image size: 1200x450 px Minimum image size: 560x210 px

Clicks to Website

Clicks to website and website conversions generate traffic outside of Facebook, without having to sacrifice Facebook’s excellent targeting options. Domain ads are desktop-right column only, which is the oldest format available and the most-easily missed (or ignored) by users, so they should be relied upon sparingly, unless early campaign results prove otherwise.

An alternative option for increasing website clicks is leveraging Page Post Link ads, which are page posts with outbound links that can be promoted or boosted, and can be shown in all 3 placements.

To track and optimize for conversions, advertisers can download a tracking pixel from Facebook which is then installed on their website in the desired thank-you page or confirmation page. For advanced tracking purposes, Ads URLs can also be amended with Google Analytics parameters.


Domain Ad

Title: 25 characters Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 1.39:1 Image size: 1200x864 px

Page Post Link Ad

Title: 25 characters Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 1.91:1 Image size: 1200x627 px Minimum image size: 560x292 px

Mobile App Installs and Engagements

Mobile App Install ads can generate app engagement and installation for smartphone and tablet Apps for Apple iOS and Google Android devices. Ads include text about the app, app ratings from iTunes or Google Play, options to like or comment, and of course a button linking to iTunes or Google Play to download and install.

Advertisers enter the App name as it appears in iTunes or Google Play, and Facebook tracks the number of installs. Some targeting options include device manufacturer, type and software version – which is an


important considering, since it is capable of ensuring that your app ads are only shown to users with compatible devices. Mobile App ads only show in the mobile news feed placement.

Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 1.91:1 Image size: 1200x627 px Minimum image size: 1200x627 px

Desktop App Installs and Engagement

Desktop App Install ads can generate app engagement and drive installation for Desktop Apps on either Apple or Chrome desktop devices.

Ads include text about the app, app ratings from iTunes or Google Play, options to like or comment, and of course a button linking to iTunes or Google Play to download and install.

Advertisers enter the App name as it appears in iTunes or Google Play, and Facebook tracks the number of installs. Desktop App ads only show in the desktop news feed and desktop right column.

Title: 25 characters Text: 90 characters Image ratio: 1.39:1 Image size: 1200x864 px


With so many different ad types, objectives, landing page options and creative specifications to choose from, Facebook marketing can seem overwhelming, but by tying strategy to brand goals and business objectives, U.S. Interactive Media produces efficient plans that produce effective results.

Contact us today to find out how we can help.


Facebook Ad Types

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