Academy

The Beginner's Guide to Facebook Advertising

Beginner’s Gu > Writing by Massimo Chieruzzi

Ad Types for Each Objective

There are different campaign objectives and different creative types as well. In this section, you’ll find answers to a load of hot questions, including:

What are all the different Facebook ad types

What are the specifications for each ad type

What are some great examples of different Facebook ad types

Why it’s important to use the right ad type

What’s the best Facebook ad type to use

Alright, let’s have a look at all the different ad types and find out which ones match with your desired campaign goals!

Traffic and Leads for Your Website

One of the most common purposes of Facebook Advertising is driving traffic to your website. This can be either to increase your site’s overall reach or to send users to a dedicated landing page and have them potentially buy your product, sign up for a newsletter, or participate in some other kind of lead generation. Here’s a breakdown of Facebook ads that help to drive traffic to your website.

Link Click Ads

Here’s an example of a Link Click Ad for Facebook’s Desktop Newsfeed

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed Audience Network Instagram

If you think about Facebook ads, you’re probably thinking about the Link Click Ads.

This ad type helps to promote your external website and send people to your landing pages or blog posts. You can use Link Click Ads with several placements; this allows you to deliver the same ad across multiple News Feeds and reach a large audience.

These ads perform really well and have the unintended benefit of generating Likes for your Facebook page. Just remember to check the comments and reply to them for an engagement boost!

Specs:

Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels

Ad copy text: 90 characters

Headline: 25 characters

Link Description: 30 characters

Video Ads

Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed Audience Network Instagram

Facebook Video Ads are actually another form of the Link Click Ads – just that instead of a still image, your ad’s featuring a video.

Specs:

Ad copy text: 90 characters

Aspect ratios supported: 16:9 to 9:16

File size: up to 4 GB max

Continuous looping available

Video can be as long as 120 min., but most top-performing videos are 15-30 seconds

Read more about Facebook video ads in our dedicated guide.

Boosted Page Posts

Supported placements: Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed Audience Network Instagram

Every time you post something on your Facebook Page, Facebook offers you the chance to amplify the post’s reach with a Boosted Post.

As you click on “Boost Post,” you can set up the target audience and bidding methods and promote your Page post to more people across Facebook’s advertising network.

Specs:

Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels

Ad copy text: unlimited

Headline: 25 characters

Link Description: 30 characters

The Boosted Page Post will look exactly like an ordinary Facebook post, with a “Sponsored” note on top of the ad.

Sales and Leads for Your Product or Service

Facebook has also developed ad types that allow users to submit their email or interact with your brand without leaving the Facebook platform. By not leaving the platform, load times are up to 10X faster! This makes for a great user experience and reduces the time (and often, money) required to acquire new leads.

Multi-Product (Carousel Ads)

Supported placements: Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed Audience Network Instagram

The carousel ad format lets you show up to 10 images and/or videos, headlines and links, or calls to action in a single ad unit.

It is extremely useful for eCommerce advertisers looking to promote multiple products from their store, or for marketers looking to promote different posts and offers to see what works and attracts leads with their audience.

Specs:

Recommended image size: 1080 x 1080 or 600 x 600 pixels

Ad copy text: 90 characters

Headline: 25 characters

Link Description: 30 characters

Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)

Supported placements: Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed Right Column Audience Network Instagram

Facebook’s dynamic product ads are like re-marketing display ads on steroids. They target users based on past actions (or inactions) on your website or application with a perfectly timed ad.

All you have to do is upload your product catalogue to Facebook and double-check that your Facebook Pixel is installed correctly on your site’s pages. Facebook handles the automation and re-targeting! For more on DPA, read our Beginner’s Guide.

Specs:

Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels or 600 x 600 pixels

Ad copy text: 90 characters

Headline: 25 characters

Link Description: 30 characters

Facebook Lead Ads

Supported placements: Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed Audience Network Instagram

Lead Ads are the perfect way for, you guessed it, getting new leads! This Facebook ad type allows people to download your content or sign up for your offer without leaving Facebook platform.

This makes the Lead Ads a perfect method for quickly getting a potential customers email address! For more on Lead Ads, read this post!

Specs:

Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels

Ad copy text: 90 characters

Headline: 25 characters

Link Description: 30 characters

Context card can be in paragraph format, which has no character limit, or 5-bulletpoint format, which allows for 80 characters per bullet

Context card headline: 60 characters

Context card button: 30 characters

Once a person has filled in the form, their email addresses will be stored on your Facebook ads account.

The easiest way to move the new leads from Facebook to your CRM system is to automate the entire process. That’s one more thing you can do when setting up your ad campaigns with AdEspresso.

Simply select the target software where you’d like to import the leads and let AdEspresso do the work for you!

Canvas Ads

Supported placements: Mobile Newsfeed

Canvas is an interactive ad that lets users engage with your content on Facebook and is currently only available on mobile due to how we interact with mobile devices.

With Canvas, your target audience members can swipe through a carousel of images, tilt the image in different directions, and/or zoom in or zoom out by moving their fingertips. Canvas also loads 10 times faster than standard mobile web applications!

Specs:

Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels

Ad copy text: 90 characters

Headline: 45 characters

Canvas has the following possible components:
- Header with logo
- Full-screen image
- Text block
- Button for offsite links
- Image carousel
- Auto-play v >
Collection Ads

Supported placements: Mobile Newsfeed

Facebook Collection Ads let you showcase multiple products that are being sold on your website.

This new format makes it easier for people to discover, browse and purchase products in a visual and immersive way!

Specs:
- Image Size: 1,200 x 628 pixels recommended
- Image Ratio: 1.9:1
- Your image may not include more than 20% text. Check how much text is on your image.
- Headline: 25 characters recommended
Likes & Engagement for Your Page

Due to recent Facebook updates, the usual post on your page will only organically reach an average of 2-3% of your fan base. Promoting your posts is a great way to be sure that all your fans see your message.

Page Like Ads

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

Page Like Ads are the go-to ads for increasing your page Likes. They can be displayed on all placements and include a visible call to action for users to immediately Like your page.

When advertising for Likes, remember that it’s not about getting the cheapest Likes, it’s about picking the right audience that’s interested in your page!

Bonus Tip: It’s very important to pick the right image to achieve great performances.

Page Post Photo Ads

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

Want to engage your page fans? This Facebook Ad Type has the most space to show your beautiful pictures!

Pick the right image and you’ll be flooded with comments and Likes.

You could also insert a link in the text description of the post, but don’t expect too much traffic from it.

Page Post Video Ads

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

Video Advertising drives high audience engagement. It builds a strong connection, and even smaller companies can make simple videos to entertain and connect with their audience.

With the ability to re-target subsets of visitors based on how much of your video they watched, this ad type is perfect for creating stellar custom audiences to re-target with other ad types!

Specs:
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Aspect Ratios Supported: 16:9 (full landscape) to 9:16 (full portrait)
- File size: up to 4 GB max
- Video can be as long as 120 min, but most top-performing videos are 15-30 seconds
- Audio: Stereo AAC audio compression, 128kbps + preferred
Page Post Text

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

This ad format is focused on page engagement. However, there is very little reason to use it instead of the Page Post Photo ad – pictures simply perform better.

If you can, avoid this type of format as it’ll likely deliver lower engagement.

Mobile and Desktop Apps Install

Mobile App

Supported placements: Mobile Newsfeed

Mobile App Ads are the perfect choice to drive more installs to your mobile app. This ad is displayed only on the Mobile Newsfeed. When users click the “Install” call to action, the App Store will immediately pop up. This delivers a great conversion rate.

When using this Facebook ad format, you’ll have many additional targeting options to fine-tune your audience. For example, you’ll be able to choose which iOS/Android version you want the user to have, or if you only want to target mobile devices or also tablets, and if you want to target only users connected to a WiFi network.

Specs:
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Ad copy text: Up to 90 characters
- Your image may not include more than 20% text. See how much text is on your image
Desktop App

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed

This ad unit allows you to drive users to your Facebook app and make people engage with it.

Since Facebook apps are not supported on mobile, you can only target either the Desktop Newsfeed or the right column.

Specs:
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Ad copy text: Up to 90 characters
Instagram Mobile App Ads

Supported placements: Instagram

Last but not least (not at all!), you can also advertise your mobile app on Instagram. This makes perfect sense as Instagram users are using the app on mobile, meaning that they might be more interested in downloading additional mobile apps.

You can select both photo and video ads for your Instagram Mobile App Ads.

Specs:
- Image ratio: 1:1
- Image size: 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Minimum resolution: 600 x 315 pixels (1.91:1 landscape) / 600 x 600 pixels (1:1 square) / 600 x 750 pixels (4:5 vertical)
- Maximum resolution: 1936 x 1936 pixels
- Caption: Text only, 125 characters recommended
Visitors for Your Store or Event

Event Ads

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

Facebook Events are a great way for event organizers to attract more visitors. If you want to boost the reach of your event, use this ad unit with the right targeting options.

According to the size and relevance of the event you’re promoting, you may want to limit the geographical reach of the ad to people living in the same city or region as the event.

Specs:
- Recommended image size: 1920×1080 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Ad copy text: Up to 90 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Link Description: 30 characters
Offer Claims

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

This ad type is perfect for brick-&-mortar store owners who want to attract more people to their stores.

Once your offer ad is live, any user who clicks on your ad and redeems the offer will receive an email containing the details and terms of use.

Specs:
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Offer title: Up to 25 characters
- Ad copy text: Up to 90 characters
In order for you to be able to create an offer, your Facebook Page needs to have at least 50 Likes.

Local Awareness Ads

Supported placements: Right Column Desktop Newsfeed Mobile Newsfeed

Another way to draw people’s attention to your store is by using the Local Awareness Ads. This ad type works best with Facebook’s location-based targeting, helping you to reach people who are currently near your store.

You can include different call to actions like “Call Now” and “Send Message” to allow people to contact you more easily.

Specs:
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Text: 90 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- News Feed description: 30 characters
Messenger Ads

Supported placements: Messenger Inbox Messenger Stories

Messenger ads appear in the main tab of Facebook messenger, where people spend time chatting with friends.

A user will see your ad in the inbox amongst their conversations, and can click to initiate a Facebook conversation with your page.

Specs:
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Minimum width 254 x 133
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Description: 30 characters
And Now Let's Get To Work

As you’ve seen, Facebook has a very broad offering of ad types that meet every need of your business. Whenever possible, we suggest you test different ad formats and see which ones perform better for you. This will deliver the best results at the lowest cost.

For a complete overview of all Facebook ad types and specs, see this guide by Facebook.

Now that you have a clear idea of what you can advertise on Facebook, let’s move on to Chapter 5 and learn how to bring each and every Facebook ad type to life with stunning ad designs and compelling ad copy!