A step by step guide to facebook ads

A Step-by-Step guide to Ads

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A Step-by-Step guide to Facebook Ads With 1.4 billion active users in a month, Facebook easily has the biggest user base of all the social media platforms. Still, it’s widely believed to be the worst of them all and is one of the most neglected advertising channels.

The statistics, however, show a completely different story. Facebook generated massive revenue of around 12 billion in 2014, which was almost 5 times of what the company could manage in 2010.

As it so happens, Facebook is not the one to be blamed. It’s the people who fail at ​Facebook advertising and end up blaming the platform, showing it in wrong light.

With 10% of the total money spent on advertising going on Facebook ads, it is definitely an incredible way to reach the target audience.

Before jumping to the meat and bones of this post, we’ll lay some solid groundwork.

Advertisement Objectives Split into 3 categories, Facebook offers the marketers with 15 different objectives: 1.​ ​Awareness​: -​ ​Boost posts -​ ​Promote page -​ ​Reach nearby people -​ ​Increase brand awareness -​ ​Increase reach 2.​ ​Consideration​: -​ ​Send users to a destination on/off page -​ ​App installs -​ ​Video views -​ ​Collect leads -​ ​Raise attendance at your event

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3.​ ​Conversion​: -​ ​Increase engagement on your app -​ ​Increase conversions on your website -​ ​Promote a product -​ ​Attract people to your store -​ ​Get people to claim your offer Once through the objective, you need to choose one of the five available ad types.

Ad Types 1​.​ ​Single Image Ads​: with up to 6 variations 2.​ ​Single video Ads 3.​ ​Carousel Ads: ​2 to 10​ ​scrollable images 4.​ ​Slideshow Ads: ​A looping video with up to 10 pictures 5.​ ​Canvas: ​A full-screen combination of images and videos

An important thing to note here is that these ​different advertisement types​ can vary slightly depending on your chosen objective.

Once through the step, you now need to decide the ad positioning.

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Ad Positioning Currently, there are 5 available slots where your ad can show up: -​ ​Desktop news feed -​ ​Mobile news feed -​ ​Right column on the desktop -​ ​Audience network on mobile -​ ​Instagram Up until September 2015, Instagram advertising was only open to prominent brands. They are very much in sync with Facebook’s principle of advertising, i.e. they do not hamper the user experience.

Ad placement can also vary depending upon your advertisement objective and type​.

Now, we’ll jump into the finer details of Facebook ads and discuss the specifications for each type of advertisement.

While providing you with ​deep insights into Facebook ads​ ​this post will further serve as an all-in-one guide for 3 of the 5 Facebook ads. .

From image resolution to the size of the thumbnails and video aspect ratios to the content, these ever-evolving specifications always keep us on or toes. This post seeks to guide you right through everything you’ll need to master the art of Facebook advertisements.

All the ad specifications and dimensions mentioned herewith are updated and include the latest changes

by Facebook for 2017.

Use these guidelines to create effective and aesthetically pleasing advertisements, no matter where they appear on Facebook.

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Single Image Ad Single image ad​ is one of the most versatile ad types and can be used for each objective except for video views.

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Recommended Design Specs Image Size​: 1,200 x 638 pixels Ratio​: 1.91:1 Text​: 90 characters Headline​: 25 characters Link Description​: 30 characters For optimum exposure and distribution, Facebook recommends using minimal text in ad images.

Tip: To encourage people to take action on your website, don’t forget to include a ​Call-to-Action button​.

For e.g. ‘Shop Now’

An important thing to note here is that there are, however, 2 objectives that require different specifications for single image ads.

Page Promotion​: -​ ​Image Size​: 1,200 x 444 pixels -​ ​Image Ratio​: 8:3

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App Engagement​: -​ ​Image Ratio​: 16:9

​Single Video Ad You can tell your story in a much more interactive way using single video ads. Except for ​product promotion​, these ads can be used for every other objective.

Recommended Design and Video Specifications Text​: 90 characters Headline​: 25 characters News Feed Description​: 30 characters Video Format​: .mp4 and .mov are the ideal formats Resolution​: 720p at least Video Length​: 120 minutes at max Video Length (Instagram)​: 60 seconds maximum Audio​: Stereo AAC compression, preferred +128 kbps Caption Length Text​: Max 2,200 characters, text only Thumbnail Image Size​: 1,200 x 675 pixels Tip: To successfully measure your results, you should install a conversion-tracking pixel on your website.

Also, don’t forget the Call-to-Action button.

Carousel Ad This type lets you run up to 10 pictures, videos or slideshows in a single ad unit, with all of them linked to different pages. So, it can be used to direct people to different locations on your website.

A thing to keep in mind is that ​carousel ads​ cannot be used for the following objectives: -​ ​Boost post -​ ​Page promotion -​ ​Reach nearby people -​ ​Video views -​ ​Event attendance

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Recommended Design Specifications (Image) Image Size​: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels Image Ratio​: 1:1 Link Description​: 20 characters Headlines​: 40 characters Text​: 90 characters

Recommended Design Specifications (Video) Video Format​: .mp4 or .mov Minimum Resolution​: 600 x 315 pixels Aspect Ratio​: 1:1 or 16:9 File Size​: Up to 4 GB Thumbnail Image Size​: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels Thumbnail Image Ratio​: Same as the video’s aspect ratio Tip: You can try different creative strategies like using product imagery for high-intent customers. You can also experiment with sequencing and storytelling.

We hope you’ve been keeping up and implementing everything into your Facebook advertising strategy.

Slideshow Ad With Facebook’s slideshow ad, you can design a looping video advertisement that includes a maximum of 10 images. Except for product promotion, slideshow ad can be used for every other objective without any hindrance.

A combination of text, images and sound can e used to create a high-quality, customized ad experience.

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Recommended Design Specifications Text​: 90 characters Link Description​: 30 characters Headlines​: 25 characters Image Size​: 1,280 x 720 pixels Image Ratio​: 1:1/2:3/16:9 Video Format​: .mp4 and .mov, both being the ideal choices Tip: Use high resolution images or an existing video, avoid distorted pictures. Ensure that all the images have similar image ratio.

Canvas Ad Canvas is the newest and a pretty amazing ad type​ that provides for an immersive mobile experience. It is, however, only available on mobile.

It can only be used for the following 6 objectives: - ​Boost Posts -​ ​Increase Brand Awareness -​ ​Increase Reach -​ ​Send people on/off Facebook -​ ​Increase Website Conversions -​ ​Video Views

Components of Canvas Ad Canvas offers a number of components that be combined for different configurations.

These are:

can

-​ ​Ad Unit -​ ​Images -​ ​Video -​ ​Carousel -​ ​Tilt-to-Pan Images -​ ​Header -​ ​Buttons -​ ​Text Block www.brandsmartini.com Page 9

There’s no compulsion to pick each and every component. You are free to include the one you prefer into your ​canvas​.

Ad Unit - Recommended Design Specifications You are free to choose an image or a video for the ad unit. Ad Unit is the part people will see in their news feed.

Image Ratio​: 1.9:1 Image Size​: 1,200 x 628 pixels Text​: 90 characters Headline​: 45 characters Link Description​: 30 characters Video Format​: .mp4 or .mov Video Aspect Ratio​: 1:1 or 16:9 Make sure that the image doesn’t include more than 20% text

Photo - Recommended Specifications These are full-screen images that consume the entire width of the mobile screen. There are 3 sizing options, each with different specifications. These are:

Fit to Width (Linkable)​: -​ ​Image Size​: Width 1,080 pixels -​ ​Image ratio​: By default, the images use screen’s full width Fit to Width (Tap to Expand)​: -​ ​Image Size​: Minimum height of 1,080 pixels -​ ​Image Ratio​: ​By default, the images use screen’s full width

File Type: ​.jpg and .png Number of Images​: Up to 20 images

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Tilt to Pan Images – Recommended Specifications These images give you the option to upload images wider than the mobile phones. Users can tilt their devices to rotate the images from side to side.

Image Size​: Height of 1,920 pixels Image Ratio​: ​By default, the images use screen’s full width

Image Width​: 3,240 – 5,400 pixels, i.e. 3-5 times the width of mobile screen)

File Type: ​.jpg and .png Number of Images​: Up to 20 images

Video – Recommended Specifications Along with rest of your chosen content, you can incorporate ​video clips for a better user experience​.

The specifications are as follows:

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Video Format​: Ideally, .mp4 or .mov should be used Video Length​: The total running time shouldn’t exceed 2 minutes if you want an optimal loading speed Video Resolution​: A least 720p Orientation​: Portrait is recommended. Neither full screen videos nor landscape

Carousel – Recommended Specifications Each carousel components in a​ ​canvas ad is linked to a different page and people​ ​have the option to scroll right or left in order to interact with them. The following are the recommended specifications: Image Ratio​: Each of the images should be of same size. Although, they can be partial or full height

Image Size: ​The maximum width being 1,080 pixels and maximum height 1,920 pixels File Type: ​.jpg and .png Number of Images​: Up to 20 images

Text Block - Recommended Specifications Text​: Maximum 500 characters Font Size​: 6-72 point Font Colour​: #rrggbb Font Alignment​: Right, left or center Font Options​: Sans Serif/Serif Font Style​: Bold/Italic/Underlined (Should remain the same for the entire block)

Buttons – Recommended Specifications A canvas ad needs at least 1 Call-to-Action button, ​linked to an external URL​. Mentioned below are the design specs: Height​: 48 pixels with 48 pixels Text Limit​: Maximum of 30 characters Options​: Sans Serif/Sans

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Header - Recommended Specifications Always pinned to the top, throughout the canvas ad, the header component doesn’t let you brand logo fade away. The following are the specifications recommended by Facebook: Image Size​: 66 x 882 pixels File Type​: transparent .jpg That’s all folks; over to you now!

We hope the guide serves the purpose and helps you well in accomplishing your ​Facebook advertising objectives.

We’d try our best to keep the post as updated as possible.

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