The Meta Ads platform has many different ways you can reach your target audience with well-developed machine learning algorithms that feed your bidding strategy. But in my opinion, one of the more underrated parts of Facebook advertising is that you can use it to reach your audience as they engage all around the meta network.
Often times, when I have an account that isn’t performing well on Meta, at least part of that underperformance comes from offensive or poorly formatted ads. And that’s understandable, but not an excuse after a while.
So in this article, I want to run through all the different ads on the Meta Ads Network, talk about where they can show, review the technical features, and provide some takeaways for getting the best out of them in your account.
Contents
An overview of Facebook ad types
Let’s start by getting an idea of the number of ad formats on the platform, because it’s a lot. Here is a list of Facebook ad types available to all advertisers:
- The picture
- Video
- Carousel
- Collection
While this list may seem pretty short, there are actually a ton of options and combinations you can do depending on what placements you’re trying to target on the Meta ADS network. We’ll cover the differences in specs as we get to each look.
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Ad format vs. placements on Facebook
At this point, it is important to distinguish between the forms of advertising and their destinations. Often times, I hear people wanting to run lead generation ads or messenger ads. They are amazing options, and you should take advantage of them. But they are not a form of advertisement. These are the different locations, or where the user will end up after clicking on your ad.
This article is only going to focus on the forms of advertising that users will see that should entice them to click and land on those sites, not the sites themselves.
An example of a Facebook Lead ad, with its destination format.
Ad format vs. placement on Facebook
Placement is another thing I hear people mix up in advertising. A placement is where an ad will serve on the Meta ADS network. This can include Facebook or Instagram feeds, Stories, Reels, Messenger, etc.
Depending on the ad format and campaign objective you use, your ads may be eligible to appear in some places and not others. Usually, this is just because Facebook wants to keep the platform aesthetically pleasing. As you review the ad formats options below, You can always refer to the tables in this document Find out if they’ll show up in specific places you’re interested in.
Once we’ve gone through ad formats, we’ll revisit placement and how you can ensure your ads, regardless of format, look their best in every space.
Every Facebook Ad Type You Need to Know
Now with that out of the way, let’s get into the meat and potatoes. (Great, now I’m hungry.) Here’s a complete breakdown of the four available Facebook ad types.
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1. Image ads
A single image ad is a static image accompanied by ad copy, including an introductory intro text, a headline, and a short description.
It is one of the simplest forms and has been around for the longest time. Odds are, when someone says “Facebook advertising,” this likely comes to mind. They are extremely easy to create and usually have fairly low production costs.
Best use cases for this Facebook ad type:
- Brand awareness, reach, or traffic campaigns where asking audience members isn’t much.
- Can be explained and understood in a single image with minimal supporting text.
- When you have very strong visuals that can convey your message.
Single image ads fail when you’re trying to cram a lot into a small space. If you’re trying to tell multiple benefits, features, or even a semi-complex story with your ad, a single image is likely going to fall short.
Tech specs:
- File Types: JPG or PNG
- Proportion:
- Square: 1:1, 1080 × 1080 pixels
- Vertical: 9:16, 1080 × 1920
- Horizontal: 16:9, 192 × 1080 pixels
- Maximum file size: 30 MB
- Minimum width: 600 pixels
- Minimum height: 600 pixels
- Supporting text fields:
- Primary/Intro Text: 50-150 characters
- Headline: 40 characters
If you follow the above explanations, you’ll always be in the clear, but here are some caveats for a couple of them:
- Proportion: Although there are other ratios such as 4:5 that can be used in the platform, I have found that the above three options give the greatest coverage and can do the heavy lifting for the majority of placements.
- Supporting text: These boundaries are soft and only show when your text is likely to be small. Unlike Google ads, you can write a lot in these text fields and not target a certain maximum, but the more you write, the more likely it is to end your message and replace it with three dots that require the user to open the message further.
2. Video Ads
Video ads are very similar to single-image ads except, you guessed it, they use video instead of a single static image.
Best video ad use cases:
- Telling a story, product demo, or showing how something works.
- Creating awareness and engagement as they leverage movement and sound to get audiences hooked.
As you can probably guess, these take a lot more production work than a single image, but depending on what you’re trying to convey to your audience, it can be worth the effort.
Tech specs:
- File Types: MP4, MOV, and GIFs are sometimes accepted
- Proportion:
- Square: 1:1, 1080 × 1080 pixels
- Vertical: 9:16, 1080 × 1920
- Horizontal: 16:9, 192 × 1080 pixels
- Maximum file size: 4 GB
- Minimum width: 120 pixels
- Minimum height: 120 pixels
- Video Duration: 1 second to 241 minutes
- Video Caption: Recommended, but optional
- Video Sound: Recommended, but optional
- Supporting text fields:
- Primary/Intro Text: 50-150 characters
- Title: 27 characters
The same caveats for ratio and AD text from single-image ads apply here, but in a video-specific aside:
While this duration could technically be as short as 1 second or 241 minutes (4 hours and 1 minute), the odds are that neither of these will get you much traction. I recommend creating videos of various lengths to see what works, but here are ideal lengths that I usually recommend when starting out with a new creative: 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 60 seconds, 2 minutes.
You can then review the performance of each video to see how many days users are getting based on their video volume.
3. Carousel ads
Carousel ads include 2-10 “cards,” each with their own image or video, that users can swipe to see different creatives within the same ad.
Since there are multiple cards, each plays like its own single image or single video ad. They get creative, supporting text, and can even have a dedicated landing page URL, making it a more expansive and customizable format on Meta.
Best carousel ad use cases:
- Demonstrating various aspects of your offering to potential customers, such as the features of a product or service.
- Storytelling, where each card represents the next stage of the journey.
- E-Commerce Product Catalogs When you want a very large variety of products in a single creative.
Tech specs:
- File Types: Can use either image or video:
- The picture: JPG or PNG
- Video: MP4, MOV, or GIF
- Proportion: 1:1, 1080 × 1080 pixels
- Maximum file size:
- Video Duration: 1 second to 240 minutes
- Number of Cards: 2 to 10
- Supporting text fields:
- Primary/Intro Text: 80 characters
- Headline: 45 characters
- Description: 18 characters
- Landing Page URL: Required
4. Collection Ads
A collection of ads designed for e-commerce companies with product feeds. The ad itself consists of a cover image or video followed by three product-specific images, possibly from your product feeds. It appears when you set up the ad yourself.
The destination of a collection ad can simply be an “instant experience,” which is a pseudo-landing page directly in meta ads. User can watch videos, view images, click action to action etc. Instant Experiments on meta ads are highly customizable, but rely on a product feed to configure. Sorry, Lead General folks, it’s not for us.
Best combination ad use cases:
- E-commerce and/or multi-product companies.
- Discover or re-engage previous customers to buy more of your products.
- If your website isn’t as slick as you’d like, and you’d prefer someone to shop directly within the Facebook experience.
Tech specs:
- File Types:
- The picture: JPG or PNG
- Video: MP4, MOV, or GIF
- Proportion:
- Square: 1: 1, 1080 × 1080 pixels
- vertical: 9:16, 1080 × 1920 pixels
- Maximum file size:
- Video Duration: 1 second to 240 minutes
- Quick experience: It is necessary
- Supporting text fields:
- Primary/Intro Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 40 characters
- Landing Page URL: Required
How to Customize Different Facebook Ad Types by Placement
Adverse to the single-image or single-video ad format, advertisers have the ability to leverage multiple different aspect ratios within a single ad. Why would we do this? Because the breadth of placements in the Facebook Ad Network is… HUGE.
In the image below, you can see previews of the square image as I upload the creative. This single image ad may appear as a square in a news feed, but then, if shown in a Rails placement, it leaves a lot of unobstructed space behind.
Instead, once you upload your image or video (I personally always start with the square version for no real reason), you can then click the buttons below the vertical and horizontal shapes, then upload a properly designed image to replace it.
I realize the images above are not the same as the square version, but they illustrate the point that you can fill your space with properly proportioned images/videos to fit the space you’ve allotted.
Use the right type of Facebook ad for your business
Although there may only be a small ad format available on meta ads, they can appear in different places around the network, and they can also be customized to fit just about any business you want to advertise.
Whether it’s single image ads or bundled ads, I encourage you to take advantage of all the bells and whistles Facebook has to offer to ensure your ads look as high-quality as possible. For more ways to optimize your Facebook advertising strategy, see how our solutions can help!