Improve Your Facebook Ads Strategy With These Tips

With billions of monthly active users and millions of active business pages, Facebook is an important place to be for ecommerce businesses. But just being on Facebook isn’t enough to grow your audience of potential customers or boost sales. You need to create ads that are interesting and informative to inspire people to take action.

Luckily, Facebook offers plenty of ad formats so marketers can create their ideal campaigns. Keep reading to learn what each ad format has to offer and how to maximize every ad’s potential to meet your business goals.

The Different Formats You’ll Find

Each Facebook ad format gives you the chance to showcase products through a variety of visual media. Let’s review some of the more important details of each option.

Photo. This is probably the most traditional and straightforward format, and its ease of use makes photos an option that every brand can successfully use. Paired with the right CTA and boosted-post strategy, photo ads can drive people to your site, display product offerings, and more.

Video. Popular and engaging, video finds its way into many of Facebook’s ad formats. Advertisers can create videos of varying lengths to offer as much or as little information as needed in one creative package. While video can certainly create awareness for your brand, it’s most often associated with engagement.

Stories. Stories offer a more immersive video experience. This option works well for users who are closer to conversion or loyal customers, especially if the Story includes AR features to provide a real sense of the product’s use or benefits for a highly interested audience.

Messenger. It’s a literal conversation starter that appears in a person’s Messenger inbox alongside their regular messages. This ad format offers a more personalized approach, making it a good option for consideration or conversion goals.

Carousel. Carousels allow for up to 10 individually linked images or videos with unique titles, descriptions, and CTAs. Show multiple products to generate interest in and awareness of your brand, or zero in on specific products and features for people further along in the customer journey.

Slideshow. Slideshows are reminiscent of video but use 5x less data because they’re made using still images. If your target audience lives in areas with slow internet access (for example, more rural areas), this option could be uniquely beneficial.

Collection. While technically different from Carousel ads, Collections also allow for multiple products and images. Users can tap on each image and get product-specific information without even leaving Facebook. There are even different types of Collection ads from which to choose. Plus, customers who click on Collection ads are immediately taken to an Instant Experience, which is an interactive and immersive way to educate your customers.
Playables. These ads are ideal for high-intent customers, as the ads “offer an interactive preview before they download an app,” according to Facebook. This speaks to the customer’s desire to try something for themselves before making a purchase.

What Are Facebook Ad Types?

While the right ad format is important, the ad type also matters. Format focuses more on the media being used whereas the type focuses on the ad’s goal. Facebook ad types include:

• boosted posts
• page likes
• website visitors
• website purchases
• automated ads
• event ads
• offer ads
• mobile app ads
• dynamic creative ads
• dynamic ads
• lead ads

Facebook’s research shows marketers are most interested in lead generation and retargeting. If that’s true for you, consider pairing dynamic ads or lead ads with your chosen format.

Matching Ads to Business Goals

Facebook offers a selection of common business objectives to help marketers create ads to help meet specific goals — before you even begin selecting a format. The objectives are categorized under three different buyer stages: awareness, consideration, and conversion.

Awareness

Objectives: brand awareness; reach

In these instances, standard photo and video ads can go a long way in getting your brand name in front of a wider audience.

Consideration

Objectives: Traffic; engagement; app installs; video views; lead generation; messages

Depending on your industry or product offering, the consideration stage can be a drawn-out process. That’s why it’s key to provide as many education and engagement opportunities as possible. Messenger ads can help customers easily connect with you to learn more about your offerings.

Conversion

Objectives: conversions; catalog sales; store traffic

In this stage, customers take a specific action, and ideally that action involves purchasing from your online store. Collection ads are especially effective at this stage.

You’ll likely use a combination of formats and types to create an effective campaign. After all, you need to capture the audience’s attention at every step of the customer journey. Testing different formats and comparing their results will help you design and refine future Facebook ad campaigns.

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