Advertising with Carousel Ads on Facebook
What is a Carousel Ad?
Carousel ads are a great way to create a simple, efficient advertisement for various objectives. From raising awareness to driving traffic to a website link, the use of multiple images and video paired with engaging copy, allow the viewer to browse multiple products each with their own unique URL.
Some Use Cases of a Carousel Ad
Advertise Multiple Products with One Ad
One of the major advantages a carousel ad offers is the multiple images displayed and scrollable by potential clients. Using this to display multiple unique products can offer multiple chances to convert. Utilize automated ordering and creatives based on browsing data to create an automated retargeting campaign.
Highlight Individual Features of a Product/Service
Dive deeper into the competitive advantages or main features of a product. Show the multiple use cases/advantages of purchasing your product or service. Show multiple angles with high quality video or photos on each card.
Seed Active Engagements with the Ad
Carousels naturally garner engagement due to the format of the ad and swiping right to see what’s next. Use that to influence the creative and tell a story across the cards.
Explaining a Process
Simply break down a complex service for your potential customer to encourage them to book with you and your knowledge/experience. Show how to use the product in question through a card by card process.
What Makes a Good Carousel Ad?
Content
Content is always king and without proper content showing striking visuals and clear copy that meets the target market’s expectations, any ad will fail. Time to break it down.
Photo vs. Video
Should you use a photo or video? While this is a simple question the answer is more about the quality. Ideally a quality video will most likely convert more than a quality photo. However a quality photo will convert more than a not-so-quality forced video.
Copy
Facebook recommends roughly 25 words for a carousel ad. Think of it as a sentence or two in order to succinctly drive the point. As often stated, the less actions the potential customer has to make, the higher the conversion rate. Avoid the “Show More” button when writing advertising copy.
Technical Details
Creative
- Image File Type: JPG or PNG
- Video File Type: MP4, MOV or GIF
- Ratio: 1:1
- Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Text Recommendations
- Primary Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 40 characters
- Description: 20 characters
- Landing Page URL: Required
Technical Requirements
- Number of Carousel Cards: 2 to 10
- Image Maximum File Size: 30MB
- Video Maximum File Size: 4GB
- Video Duration: 1 second to 240 minutes
- Aspect Ratio Tolerance: 3%
Objectives
The following objectives allow for carousel ads to be used in the campaign.
- Brand Awareness
- Reach
- Traffic
- App Installs
- Lead Generation
- Messages
- Conversions
- Catalog Sales
- Store Traffic
Calls to Action
The following calls to action are available for carousel ads (depending on the industry).
- Apply Now
- Book Now
- Contact Us
- Download
- Learn More
- Send Message
- Get Showtimes
- Get Quote
- Request Time
- See Menu
- Shop Now
- Sign Up
- Watch More
- Listen Now
- Subscribe
- Send WhatsApp Message
Conclusion
Carousel Ads are useful for many different advertising applications across Facebook. Allowing for users to flip through multiple products in a catalog or experience a story is more involved than just showing a plain image. The format does have its limitations, however the benefits outweigh the limits imposed.
