By Chang Liu, Social Account Coordinator
Facebook is constantly updating ad units and creating new options for advertisers. Here, as of February 2017, is a breakdown of all ad types, including where you can use them and specs for text and images. Let’s get started.
Link-Click Ads
Link-click ads are one of the most basic ad formats available on Facebook. They showcase an image that can be clicked upon to lead the user to a desired landing page. The image should have minimal text in order to be approved by Facebook.
Specs
- Available on both Facebook desktop and mobile and on Instagram
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Link Description: 30 characters
Carousel Ads
Specs
Carousel ads are left-to-right scrolling ads that allow you to showcase your product or service via multiple images on Facebook. It's very easy to use this ad unit in creative ways to show continuity or to tell a story with 3-5 cards.
- Available on both Facebook desktop and mobile and on Instagram
- Recommended image size: 1080 x 1080 or 600 x 600 pixels
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Link Description: 30 characters
Lead Gen Ads
Lead generation ads allow you to prompt users to fill out a form that auto-populates with information from their Facebook profile. You can create context cards for these ads to give more background information on your product or service. Leads are stored within Facebook's lead forms library, where they can be exported as Excel files. These ads can also be linked up with external CRM tools to automatically download and contact leads that come in.
Specs
- Available on both Facebook desktop and mobile and on Instagram (beta)
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Link Description: 30 characters
- Context card can be in paragraph format, which has no character limit, or 5-bulletpoint format, which allows for 80 characters per bullet
- Context card headline: 60 characters
- Context card button: 30 characters
- Privacy Policy and website URL links are required
Dynamic Product Ads
These ads allow you to promote relevant products to shoppers who have previously browsed your product catalog on your website or mobile app. These ads dynamically update to show Facebook users relevant products related to their browsing history on your website. To set up, upload your product catalog to Facebook, set up a Facebook pixel on your website, and create a dynamic ad template on Facebook using Ads Manager or Power Editor.
Specs
- Available on both mobile and desktop Facebook News Feed, Right Hand Column ads, and Audience Network
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 or 600 x 600 pixels
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Link Description: 30 characters
Canvas Ads
Canvas ads are an immersive mobile experience on Facebook that lets you combine creative, video, and more into a top-to-bottom and left-to-right scrolling presentation that tells a story or showcases a product beautifully. Think magazine pull-outs, digitized.
Specs
- Available on Facebook mobile News Feed
- Canvas has the following possible components:
- Header with logo
- Full-screen image
- Text block
- Button for offsite links
- Image carousel
- Auto-play video
- Full-screen tilt-to-pan image
- Product set
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Headline: 45 characters
Video Ads
Video ads are excellent for story-telling and automatically start playing silently in your News Feed, showcasing your product with subtitles available. When users click into the ad, the video will play fully with sound.
Specs
- Available on Facebook desktop and mobile and on Instagram
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Aspect ratios supported: 16:9 to 9:16
- File size: up to 4 GB max
- Continuous looping available
- Video can be as long as 120 min., but most top-performing videos are 15-30 seconds
Slideshow Ads
Facebook Slideshow ads are similar to a PowerPoint presentation for your brand or product. Images fade into one another to create the feeling of a video; you can also add a music file and text overlay on top of your images if so desired.
Specs
- Available on Facebook desktop and mobile
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Recommended image size: 1,280 x 720 pixels
- 3-10 images, up to 50 seconds
Of course, depending on when you’re reading this, there may be more ads to choose from. We recommend following this blog and checking in on Facebook’s blog frequently to keep pace with what’s current.
