Businesses eager to boost their return on ad spend (ROAS) and ad performance must put Facebook advertising at the forefront of their social media marketing campaigns. With over 3 billion active users a month, Facebook offers a wealth of interactive Meta ad types and the highest ROI across social media advertising platforms.
Meta offers a highly advantageous and competitively priced advertising toolkit, featuring different types of Facebook ads to address unique advertising goals. In 2024, advertisers must stay abreast with raging trends and adapt to shifting audience preferences in order to stay relevant.
Experimenting with different types of Facebook ads allows brands to revive creativity and explore different mediums to engage their audience. The Meta advertising landscape is rapidly advancing and evolving, and advertisers must experiment with new Facebook ad types and tools to continue growing their audience.
Our detailed guide will introduce you to the most promising types of Facebook ads and how you can leverage them to achieve your advertising goals.
Types of Facebook Ads
Facebook offers different types of Meta ads with distinct layouts to display your offerings, such as a static image with text, an interactive video ad or a carousel ad displaying multiple products or visuals. Businesses can choose from 7 different types of Facebook ads – each serving a distinct advertising purpose to generate leads and drive conversions through Facebook lead ads.
Let’s explore the Facebook ad types in detail.
1. Facebook Image Ads
The most basic and popularly used Facebook ad, image ads are quite versatile and impactful, featuring only a single image with text and a call to action (CTA). Image ads can be incorporated in various ad types, aspect ratios and placements, serving a vast multitude of advertising goals.
These ads are relatively easier to design and publish, ideal to highlight winning features of your products or services and encourage users to explore more. Image ads are popular because they can be designed to engage potential customers at all stages of the sales funnel. These ads serve many purposes, including driving conversions, promoting sales and discounts, or raising brand awareness.
While they are a versatile option, businesses cannot build their entire campaign around image ads considering the limitations of displaying your ad message with just one image. The single image format is ideal as an attention-grabber but it cannot be used to display product features or showcase a collection of best-selling products.
Running Image Ads
When using image ads, it’s important to be mindful of the aspect ratios to avoid distorting the image and capture user attention with a high-quality photo. Facebook is flooded with innumerable image ads, and in order to stand out, your image must be interactive and immersive.
These ads feature minimal text to convey a concise ad message and a CTA button to drive action. Image ads are quite easy to set up, as you can even boost an existing post or image instead of creating a dedicated image for your ads.
When it comes to elevating brand positioning and raising awareness, a well-crafted image ad works more wonders than lengthy blogs and carousel ads filled with statistics and benefits. Image ads will deliver your message in the simplest, most straightforward way.
Adhere to these specifications while designing image ads:
Image:
File Type: JPG or PNG
Ratio: 1.91:1 to 1:1
Size: Min 1080 x 1080 Pixels
Text:
Description: 27 Characters
Headline: 27 Characters
Primary Text: 125 Characters
Read more about Facebook ad headlines
2. Facebook Video Ads
One of the most popular types of Facebook ads, video ads are quite similar to image ads – the only difference being the use of a video instead of an image. Video advertising is all the rage, as modern-day users have exhibited a strong preference for videos, especially short-form video content. Video is a dynamic medium that allows brands to stay competitive and leverage ongoing content trends to capture and engage new customers.
Advertisers can run video ads with multiple placements, including News Feed, Stories or even in-stream ads displayed in lengthy Facebook videos and reels. When compared with other types of Facebook ads, videos are more impactful at capturing interest and nurturing leads toward conversions. Facebook is the second-leading video marketing platform, with over 8 billion video views daily.
Running Video Ads
Meta users spend over 60% of their app time watching videos on Facebook and Instagram. While video production and campaign management is complex and relatively pricier, the ROAS and conversion potential is quite encouraging.
Video ads feature one video to promote a product, a sale or a service. Video marketing offers higher user engagement, allowing small businesses to develop a competitive edge with unique and entertaining content.
In order to leverage video ads for higher conversions, it’s ideal to keep the video short, sweet and simple. Meta suggests advertisers to keep their video ads shorter than 15 seconds, introducing the purpose and incentive within the first 7 seconds. Meta also recommends designing videos with H.264 compression, fixed frame rate, square pixels, 128kbps+ stereo AAC audio compression and progressive scan.
The goal is to start with an attention-grabbing hook and keep your audience hooked with a clear and impactful message.
Adhere to these specifications while designing video ads:
File Size: 4BG Max
Duration: 1 second to 241 Minutes
Resolution: Min 1080 x 1080 Pixels
3. Facebook Reels Ads
Facebook Reels ads are the most dynamic of all Meta ad types, emerging as the ultimate ad type to expand your target audience and acquire new customers. According to the Digital Global Overview Report, Facebook Reels ads engage a potential user base of over 616 million users, accounting for over 30% of the platform’s total ad reach.
Reels allow businesses to capitalize on the raging trend of short-form content, and Reels ads are short video ads displayed within the Facebook Reels feed. These ads are ideal for raising awareness around your products, services or brand positioning to engage users enjoying video content in the Facebook Reels section.
Meta reveals that over 62% of the Reels audience is male while 37.6% is female – making Reels ads an ideal medium for male-centric brands. As compared to other types of Facebook ads, Reels ads aren’t disruptive and blend seamlessly with organic Reels to increase engagement, drive brand visibility and boost conversions.
Running Reels Ads
Advertisers can boost an existing reel to convert it into an ad or design a dedicated ad to be displayed between organic Reels. A Reels ad is quite similar to an organic reel, the only difference being a call to action (CTA) button featuring a link to the landing page. This placement also allows businesses to display image ads with a single frame showcased between organic Reels as users scroll through their feeds.
When running Facebook Reels, advertisers can select from two types of Facebook ads:
Post-Loop Ads:
Standalone video ads that are displayed after a Reel has ended and can be skipped by the user. Once the ad is completed, the Reel is replayed on a loop.
Overly Ads:
The least disruptive of all Meta ad types, overlay ads are automatically displayed at the bottom of the Reels content. These ads are designed like an image carousel or a single static banner displayed beneath the content.
Keep in mind that you can only display one of the above mentioned Facebook ad types on one Reel. Meta strongly advises adhering to the same video settings as advised for Facebook video ads, and adding captions to boost information retention and drive conversions.
Adhere to the following specifications when designing Facebook Reels ads:
File Type: MP4 or MOV
File Size: 4 GB Max
Duration: 0 seconds to 15 minutes
Video Resolution: Min 500 x 888 Pixels
Video Ratio: 9:16
4. Facebook Carousel Ads
One of the most impactful types of Facebook ads for ecommerce stores and retail businesses, Facebook carousel ads allow advertisers to display up to 10 images of videos in one ad. These ads are highly interactive and capture user interest with a plethora of offerings. Featuring horizontally displayed images and videos, carousel ads can display multiple products or they can highlight winning features of one product or service.
Popularly used to nurture leads and drive conversions, each image or video in the carousel features a link to different landing pages. The underlying purpose of this ad type is to lead users toward different landing pages, product pages or other links relevant to the card’s content. By examining lead generation campaign examples, you can see how various businesses effectively guide users from ads to optimized landing pages, demonstrating practical applications of this strategy to maximize conversions and achieve specific marketing objectives.
Carousel ads are popular because of the creative freedom and space they provide within one ad, allowing brands to create an interactive and visually immersive story to drive user engagement. This ad type is ideal to showcase a newly launched collection, promote sales and discounts, or even share a behind-the-scenes story to raise brand awareness.
Running Facebook Carousel Ads
Facebook carousel ads can be displayed in a multitude of ad placements, including the News Feed, Facebook Reels, Stories, Marketplace, Search Results, Group Feeds and even the Facebook Audience Network.
Collection carousel ads is considered one of the most impactful Facebook ad types among the carousel formats, offering advertisers a conversion-focused medium that pulls photos and links directly from a connected product catalog or website. This is hands down the best of all Facebook ad types for ecommerce entrepreneurs managing their own marketing, as it automates the content creation and ad publishing process.
If you’re setting carousel ads in Facebook Reels, you’ll have to choose from two types of Facebook ads:
Catalog Product Carousel Ads
These ads offer 10 image placements with a unique URL link for each card. Catalog product carousel ads are placed at the bottom of your Facebook Reels, encouraging users to click on the images. This is one of the best Facebook ad types for ecommerce brands eager to promote products and drive website visits.
Overlay Carousel Ads
Overlay carousel ads offer 10 placement cards to feature images or videos, and these ads are displayed at the bottom of Facebook Reels to provide an undisruptive advertising experience. Advertisers can manually select the Reels for these ads or utilize Facebook’s Advantage+ placements to display them throughout the Facebook advertising network.
For maximum conversions, we suggest using Facebook carousel ads with a mix of images and videos, and each card featuring the link to the relevant landing page.
Adhere to the following specifications when designing Facebook carousel ads:
Images:
File Type: JPG or PNG
File Size: 30 MB Max
Display Size: Min 1080 x 1080 Pixels
Aspect Ratio: 1:1
Videos:
File Type: GIF, MP4, or MOV
File Size: 4 GB Max
Duration: 1 second to 240 Minutes
Display Size: 1080 x 1080 Pixels Max
Aspect Ratio: 1:1
5. Facebook Stories Ads
These types of Facebook ads are displayed in the Stories section, designed to engage user’s scrolling through their News Feeds on smartphones and tablets. Positioned strategically between organic content from the user’s personal social circle and followed influencers, Facebook Stories ads feature a vertical format.
Vertical videos are all the rage in advertising, capturing user engagement and driving actions by leading users towards websites and landing pages. Visual appeal and creativity are the most crucial aspects to consider when designing Facebook Stories ads. Advertisers can experiment with images and videos to grab attention and convey an impactful message to users as they enjoy watching different Stories on the app.
It’s wise to keep the ad length shorter than 15 seconds to avoid disrupting the user experience and convey your message in the simplest, most straightforward manner without compromising creativity. Of all Facebook ad types, Stories ads are considered a highly advantageous investment as this ad type integrates seamlessly with other Meta platforms. Additionally, choosing the optimal Facebook ad size for Stories can enhance visibility and engagement, ensuring that your concise message captures attention effectively across various devices and platforms within the Meta ecosystem.
Facebook Stories ads are displayed on multiple advertising platforms, including Facebook, Messenger and Instagram to generate and convert maximum leads.
Running Facebook Stories Ads
Facebook Stories ads featuring videos play for the first 10 seconds, allowing users to choose if they want to continue watching the ad. Images are displayed for 5 seconds, unless the user swipes on to the next story. Much like other types of Facebook ads, capturing attention in the first 3-5 seconds is of the utmost significance when running Facebook Stories ads.
The content added to the beginning of the video must be intriguing enough to hook users and encourage them to continue watching. If you’re adding an image, make it impactful and take advantage of stickers, links, text overlays and other enhancements to make it interactive.
Incorporating Facebook keyword ads into this strategy allows for more targeted visibility, ensuring that your video or image content reaches users actively searching for related topics, thereby increasing engagement and the potential for conversions.
Adhere to the following specifications when running Facebook stories ads:
Images:
File Type: JPG or PNG
File Size: 30 MB Max
Aspect Ratio: 9:16
Display Size: 1080 x 1080 Pixels
Videos:
File Type: MP4 or MOV
File Size: 4 GB Max
Display Size: 1080 x 1920 Pixels Min
Aspect Ratio: 9:16
Duration: 10 seconds to 2 minutes
Final Thoughts
Setting up a Facebook ad campaign is a creative labor that requires extensive effort and great attention to detail. Crafting a winning campaign requires more than just immersive visuals and impactful ad copy – it requires optimization and an algorithm that works in your favor. But if you’re overwhelmed by Meta’s restrictions and limitations, your ad performance is bound to suffer, resulting in a waste of advertising spending.
At GCG Media, we’ve empowered countless advertisers and businesses with our specialized Facebook agency account for rent – the ultimate solution to eliminate restrictions and bans impeding your progress. We encourage agencies and brands to leverage our privileged relationship with Meta and take advantage of a specialized algorithm designed to boost ad engagement and conversion potential.
Get in touch with our team to learn more!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) How to choose the right Facebook ad types?
The right ad type for your brand depends entirely on your unique advertising goals, business offerings and target audience. In order to determine the right pick from various types of Facebook ads, you must determine your campaign goals and target audience.
For instance, image ads are ideal for promoting sales and discounts while video and carousel ads drive conversions by intriguing users and encouraging them to visit your website. Ecommerce brands have much to gain by investing in carousel ads and stories ads as these Facebook ad types instantly grab attention and drive action.
2) How many types of audiences are there in Facebook ads?
Advertisers can select from three different types of Facebook ads audiences: core audiences, custom audiences and lookalike audiences. It’s important to select the right audience in order to improve campaign performance and maximize the conversion rate and ROAS.
3) What are the different types of Facebook ads goals?
Facebook Ads Manager offers multiple advertising objectives to help businesses reach their goals. These include Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion and Sales. Each objective serves a unique purpose, allowing brands to spend their budget on achieving their underlying goal.
For instance, Awareness focuses on brand positioning and identity by increasing audience reach, video views and website traffic. In contrast, Leads and Sales are more conversion-focused objectives that drive conversions by targeting high-intent users most likely to convert into customers.
