The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Ads Best Practices

By:
Declan
April 17, 2023

As social media continues to dominate our daily lives, Facebook has become an increasingly important platform for businesses to reach their target audience. With over 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook offers a vast pool of potential customers for businesses to tap into through its advertising platform.

Facebook ads have proven to be a highly effective tool for digital marketers to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to websites, and generate leads. However, creating successful Facebook ads requires more than just throwing some images and text together and hoping for the best. To achieve maximum ROI, it's crucial to implement Facebook ad best practices.

By the end of this guide, you'll better understand how to create Facebook ads that drive results and engage your target audience. So, let's dive in!

General Facebook Ads Best Practices

Importance of choosing the right objective for your ad campaign:

Choosing the right objective is crucial for the success of your Facebook ad campaign. Your objective should align with your business goals, whether it's to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, or boost sales. Facebook offers various objectives to choose from, and selecting the most appropriate one can make a significant impact on your ad's overall performance.

Choosing the right aspect ratio for your ad:

When creating Facebook ads, it's important to use the correct aspect ratio to ensure that your ad looks great on any device. Choosing the wrong aspect ratio can lead to a distorted or cropped image, which can negatively impact the user's experience. Facebook recommends using an aspect ratio of 1:1 for image ads and 4:5 for video ads to ensure they look great on both desktop and mobile devices.

Check out the handy 2023 social media image size guide here to ensure you have the correct size for your placement.

Building a strong call-to-action (CTA):

A strong call-to-action (CTA) can make all the difference in the success of your Facebook ad campaign. Your CTA should be clear, and concise, and encourage users to take action, whether it's to make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or visit your website. Using action-oriented words like "shop now," "learn more," or "subscribe" can help to drive conversions.

Using high-resolution ad content:

Using high-quality and high-resolution ad content is crucial for creating eye-catching and engaging Facebook ads. Low-quality images or videos can appear blurry and unprofessional, leading to a negative user experience. High-resolution ad content can help your ads stand out and capture your audience's attention.

Utilizing movement and illustrating people using your brand:

Adding movement to your Facebook ads can help to capture the user's attention and make your ad stand out in the feed. Utilizing people in your ad content can also help to humanize your brand and make it more relatable to your target audience.

computer with facebook login screen

Considering text overlays and blending colours, palettes, and filters:

Adding text overlays to your Facebook ads can help to reinforce your message and grab the user's attention. Using a colour palette that complements your brand can also help to make your ad stand out in the feed. Using filters can also help to create a consistent and cohesive look for your ad.

Hooking your audience early and keeping your ads relevant:

The first few seconds of your Facebook ad are crucial for capturing the user's attention. Hooking your audience early with a strong visual or message can help to increase engagement and drive conversions. Keeping your ads relevant to your target audience's interests and needs can also help to improve your ad's overall performance.

Utilizing Facebook ad placement optimization carefully:

Facebook offers various ad placement options, including in-feed, Stories, and Audience Networks. Carefully selecting your ad placement can help to ensure that your ad is seen by your target audience and is relevant to their viewing habits.

Not going too narrow or forgetting about mobile:

While it's important to target your ads to a specific audience, going too narrow can limit your ad's reach and potential for success. Additionally, with more and more users accessing Facebook on mobile devices, it's crucial to ensure that your ads are optimized for mobile viewing.

Previewing and testing your Facebook ads every time:

Previewing and testing your Facebook ads before launching them can help to ensure that they look and function correctly. A/B testing different ad variations can also help to identify which ad elements work best with your target audience, leading to improved ad performance and increased conversions.

mobile facebook app on desk next to watch

Facebook Ads Best Practices: Image Ads

When it comes to image ads, less is often more. Facebook recommends using no more than 20% text in your image to avoid overwhelming your audience. Including your brand or logo in the image can help increase brand awareness and recognition.

In addition to these general best practices, there are a few tips for creating visually appealing image ads. Use high-quality, high-resolution images to make your ad stand out. Consider incorporating movement or using a visually interesting composition to catch the viewer's eye.

Facebook Ads Best Practices: Video Ads

Video ads can be a powerful tool for reaching your target audience, but they need to be executed correctly. To create an effective video ad, it's important to deliver a single message or story. This helps keep your ad focused and ensures that viewers walk away with a clear understanding of your brand or product.

Choosing the right placement for your video ad is also important. Depending on the length of your video, you may want to consider placing it in different locations on Facebook, such as in-stream or as a story ad.

Finally, given the increasing popularity of mobile browsing, it's important to create vertical videos that work well on mobile devices. Consider using subtitles to make your ad accessible to viewers who may not be able to play the sound.

Facebook Ads Best Practices: Carousel Ads

Carousel ads allow you to showcase multiple images or products in a single ad, making them a great choice for highlighting a range of offerings. When creating a carousel ad, it's important to add multiple images to keep your audience engaged and interested.

You should also choose your landing page and links wisely. Ensure that the links you use are relevant to the images or products featured in your carousel ad, and that they lead to a landing page that provides a seamless experience for the viewer.

If you have a large product set, carousel ads can be a particularly effective way to showcase your offerings. Consider grouping similar products together, or using the carousel to tell a story or highlight a particular theme.

Facebook Ads Best Practices: Instant Experience and Collection Ads

Instant Experience and Collection ads are two types of immersive ads that can help drive engagement and conversions. Instant Experience ads allow you to combine multiple media, such as images and videos, to create an immersive ad experience. Collection ads, on the other hand, allow you to highlight a variety of products or experiences in a single ad.

When creating Instant Experience or Collection ads, it's important to choose the right media and messaging to showcase your brand or product effectively. You should also consider using dynamic selection, which allows Facebook to automatically show the most relevant products or content to each viewer based on their interests and behaviours.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, following Facebook ads best practices can help you create effective ads that resonate with your target audience, maximise your spend and achieve your advertising goals. Whether you're creating image ads, video ads, carousel ads, or immersive ads like Instant Experience and Collection ads, there are specific strategies and techniques you can use to increase engagement and conversions.

At Soone Agency, we specialize in Facebook Ads management and can help you create, optimize, and manage your Facebook ad campaigns to achieve maximum results. Our team of experts can assist you with everything from choosing the right objectives and placements to creating visually appealing ad content and tracking performance. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve your advertising goals on Facebook.