All Facebook Ad Types (Formats) That Advertisers Must Know

Facebook Ad Types are core things that advertisers need to learn as soon as possible. So what types does it include? What are the unique characteristics of these types? What does it look like? Please follow my article. I will talk about each of them one by one and very specifically so you can follow along. Please read it in its entirety.

All Facebook Ad Types That Advertisers Must Know

Right here, I will analyze for you the current Facebook Ad Types in 2024. This is also an important part when learning about Facebook Ad structure because these formats have slight differences in structure and display method.

Image ads

This is one of the first Facebook Ad Types which appear on this platform. The structure of image ads is extremely simple, using only one or more images as the main content. 

But since it launched, it has always shown effectiveness. Because of its convenience, speed, and high efficiency, image advertising has become one of the top choices of every advertiser and business when thinking about Facebook Ads. 

I love running Facebook Image Ads to increase conversions. Sometimes I don’t have time to create Videos or complicated things. So I usually use Adobe Photoshop or Canva and it only takes about 30 minutes to create an attractive Ad Copy.

Video ads

Video advertising helps advertisers and businesses introduce products and services to audiences through a short or long video. This is a video format with a lot of creative space. And below are the detailed parameters of this Facebook ad types:

Design suggestions

• File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
• Ratio: 1:1 (for desktop or mobile) or 4:5 (mobile only)
• Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan, and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps or higher
• Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Video subtitles: Not required but recommended
• Video audio: Not required but recommended
• Videos should not contain edit lists or special cells in the file container.

Text suggestions

• Primary Text: 125 characters
• Headline: 27 characters
• Description: 27 characters

Technical requirements

• Video duration: 1 second to 241 minutes
• Maximum file size: 4GB
• Minimum width: 120 pixels
• Minimum height: 120 pixels

When using video ads, you can choose from many display locations on Facebook. It is for this reason that video ads have many variations to suit advertising goals. I will analyze Video Ad variations in detail later in the article.

Carousel ads

With this form of Facebook advertising, you will introduce many products and services at the same time. Ads appear as sequential slides on both desktop and mobile interfaces.

This Ad Format can display up to 10 images or videos in one ad, each image/video has its own link.

This form of advertising will help you convey the full message through images designed with close links. Requirements when conducting carousel advertising:

• Sharp image size 600×600.
• Up to 10 images or videos.
• The ad is about 90 characters long.
• The title is about 25 characters long.
• Product or service descriptions are approximately 30 characters long.

Instant experience advertising

In Instant Experiences, people can watch videos, swipe through a series of photos in the carousel, view products in a catalog, explore images with tagged products, and tap buttons to go to another website. 

Ads with Instant Experiences will show in Facebook Feeds, Facebook Stories, Instagram Feeds, Instagram Stories on mobile and other locations. Which placements you can use depends on the ad format and Instant Experience components.

Instant experience ads are best suited for advertisers running campaigns that drive app download traffic. This ad takes the audience through a series of graphical interactions so customers can imagine the app and use the trial.

Collection Ads

Collections are an ad format through which people can seamlessly and intuitively move from discovery to purchase. 

Each collection ad has a main video or image, followed by three smaller images below in a grid layout. Here are some recommended specs for you to learn:

Design suggestions

Videos or cover art shown in collection ads will use the first media asset in your Instant Experience.

• Image type: JPG or PNG
• Video file type: MP4, MOV or GIF
• Ratio: 1:1
• Resolution: Minimum 1080 x 1080 pixels

Text suggestions

• Primary text: 125 characters
• Headline: 40 characters
• Landing page URL: Required

Technical requirements

• Instant Experience: Required
• Maximum image file size: 30MB
• Maximum video file size: 4GB

Slideshow ads

Facebook slideshow ads are video-like ads that use movement, sound, and text to tell a story elegantly across devices. 

The advantage of these slideshow ads is fast loading speed, so they can work well at any connection speed. 

Besides, Slideshow Ads is also very convenient for new advertisers because it is quite easy to create. You can create a simple slideshow from one or several images.

Analyze Variations Of Facebook Video Ads

As I said above, I will analyze the variations of Facebook Video Ads so you can clearly understand the structure of this Facebook Ad Types. Why do you need to understand this Ad Format? Because currently, video advertising is a trend in 2024. 

According to Socialstatus, the average Video View Rate on Facebook last month was 48.97%, which means that for every 2 active users on Facebook, 1 will definitely watch videos.

This also shows that Video in general and Video Ads in particular are proving more effective than ever. It shows the strong reach and power of video on Facebook.

Especially you should pay attention to ads on Reels. But other forms of video ads can also make advertising more effective such as:

Single Video Ads

Single video ads show on Newsfeed. But in recent updates, Facebook Ads allows it to display right on Reels, of course the display time is shorter than videos on Newsfeed. 

No matter what type of display it is, it requires creativity in content from the ad creator. Advertising video content is usually:

• Product demo video
• Video introducing the business
• Video review of products/services
• Video records the process of creating products and services

Creativity in the process of creating promotional videos is unlimited, so try to convey the advertising message skillfully, attractively, and attract attention. It’s better to focus on attracting attention in the first 5-10 seconds to keep customers watching the ad.

Story Video Ads

Videos on Story have a short display time of only 5-15 seconds. Therefore, you need to filter and focus on attracting attention right from the first 3 seconds of the video. 

Otherwise, your ad will easily be quickly skipped by the audience because they also want to see other Stories of their friends.

In this part, I advise you to prepare a vertical video format, good quality, eye-catching and create a surprising effect for the audience. 

At the same time, try to write a short caption that fully conveys the information you are trying to advertise. If you write a caption that is too long, it will cause interruptions while the audience watches the video.

Reels Video Ads

Video advertising on Reels is trendy now and it will still be trendy for a few more years. One of the reasons this advertisement is the top choice is because its interaction volume is increasing dramatically thanks to good effects from TikTok and IG Reels. 

These two platforms along with Facebook Reels open up new opportunities in reaching potential customers.

Reels Video Ads are vertical with an aspect ratio of 9:16. Display time is from 3-60 seconds, so you should focus on creating short, blur-free advertising videos with attractive content in the first 5 seconds of the video so that customers stay with the ad.

Epilogue

To summarize all the above ideas, I want you to clearly understand that Facebook Ad Types is the most basic thing you need to learn when starting out. I have also shared specifically in this article. However, running Facebook Ads effectively requires a lot of skills, techniques as well as practical experience.

To do well or overcome difficulties, you can contact experienced experts from GDT Agency. We are always here and ready to help advertisers overcome all challenges.

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