So far you are probably starting to get a good picture of how Facebook advertising works and you probably have experienced it yourself in the past. Maybe you remember seeing Facebook ads pop up on your newsfeed or in the sidebar.
But before you can get a complete understanding for how all this works and what you might not have been aware of as a more casual observer is that there are actually multiple different types of Facebook ads for you to choose from.
Here we will look at what each of those are. For each one, you will notice a ‘supported placements’ list. This tells you where on the Facebook page your ads can be places and that is another way in which you can categorize your ads.
Just to clarify, the positions you can choose from are:
Right Column: The sidebar on the right hand side of the page at all times as you are using Facebook.
Newsfeed: The ‘homepage’ on Facebook where you see all of the updates from your friends and other contacts.
Mobile Newsfeed: The same homepage but for mobile users specifically.
Domain Ad
Supported Placements: Right Column
Domain ads are essentially adverts that appear in the sidebar and that point directly to a website that you’re hosting. These are perhaps the simplest form of ads and are composed of a simple heading and a block of text. Users will also see the URL and an image alongside the ad. As they go, this is perhaps the most ‘classic’ form of Facebook ad and the most basic. These days they perform less well than some newer alternatives but they are nevertheless a very affordable and effective choice that will be appealing to many advertisers.
Page Post Link
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
Page post links have become the most common form of advert used by Facebook advertisers. The idea here is to link an external website while at the same time getting ‘likes’ for your page. This type of advert is also perfect for combining with a content marketing campaign, which effectively means that you are creating regular content to try and build trust and authority in your niche.
You’ll likely have seen a lot of page post links yourself when browsing through Facebook – and they will have had large images alongside a link and some text underneath. If you ‘like’ the post, you like the company’s page rather than the post or image itself. If you click it, then you get taken to that post.
Multi Product
Supported Placements: Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
Multi-product ads display multiple items on a slideshow type display that lets users browse and shop right from Facebook. This is incredibly powerful for e-commerce stores and means that you’re really only posting one ad to promote a whole range of products. The movement meanwhile makes the ad more noticeable and engaging.
Page Like
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
This is an advert for your Facebook page, wherein you are trying to increase your number of likes so that you can generate a bigger audience to market to. Again you get a nice big image and a prominent ‘Like’ button – make sure to include a call-to-action in your text to encourage this further.
Page Post Photo
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
A page post photo can also be used as an ad which basically shows off a nice big image. It’s not quite so effective for generating traffic as you get less space for text – but images will get you a lot of likes.
Page Post Video
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
Page post videos let you showcase a video. Again, these are good for getting likes and are powerful for video marketing. Creating a great video is rather time consuming and expensive but it can also be a very powerful tool when used effectively!
Page Post Text
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
This of course allows you to showcase some text but is a little bit of an anomaly when it comes to Facebook advertising. The problem with this one is that there isn’t really much reason to use it: seeing as images are much better at grabbing attention and options like page post links let you combine both in a more effective manner.
Mobile App
Supported Placements: Mobile
This is an app that is specifically used for promoting a Facebook app. This type of ad can be used through the Facebook app in order to compel viewers to download your branded apps so that you can gain a direct way to communicate with them through a channel you designed. If your customers can order/buy through your app, then this can also lead to a number of direct sales.
Desktop App
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed
You may recall that Facebook also has its own ecosystem of apps. If you have built a branded app for Facebook, then this is how you can promote that and encourage
downloads. Of course though, Facebook apps can only run on desktop computers and as such, you won’t be able to promote these through mobile.
Event
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed There really are a lot of types of Facebook ad aren’t there?
Events allow you to advertise events as you might expect. This can be useful for increasing interest for a company launch event for instance or a conference. This is one where limiting the geographical reach can make a lot of sense.
Offer
Supported Placements: Right Column, Newsfeed, Mobile Newsfeed
And finally! An offer advert is useful for companies that want to market a special offer. This works through your page again though and you’ll need at least 50 likes to use it.
This is an interesting option because anyone who clicks on your ad will be e-mailed a code that they can then use in order redeem your special offer. It’s great for encouraging sales!
Choosing the Right Facebook Ad
So how do you choose what will be the right type of Facebook ad for your particular objective, brand, product and/or goal?
As a general rule, you will want to use the domain ads when you’re looking to generate direct conversions by selling a product such as an e-book. In the example we looked at earlier of the fitness e-book, a domain ad makes a lot of sense as it’s simply displaying a product at a set price. These make sense in this capacity because you aren’t especially trying to build your brand and because you will pay less for this kind of ad.
Meanwhile, the page post links make more sense for companies trying to build followers and represent a more long-term strategy. Gaining ‘fans’ for a page on Facebook can be a very powerful tool as it allows you to market to them more often and it lets you strengthen your relationship with them.
Unfortunately though, Facebook recently updated its policies so that posts on your page only reach about 2-6% of your fan base organically. Thus, you need to use a promotion such as a page post link or page post video. These still only reach out to your fans though, so if you want it to work well you’ll also need to promote your page – and you can do that via the page like ads.
Finally, for ecommerce stores, there’s clearly a big benefit in multi-item ads and for companies running events, event ads make sense!
Really though you won’t know which ad is the very best for your campaign until you try a few. You may find that you’re surprised if you compare the performance of a few different adverts, so experiment with them for a bit and don’t make assumptions.
At the same time, you should also try to avoid thinking of each ad individually and instead think of them as part of a large campaign. For instance then, you might use a domain ad in the sidebar to generate some immediate cash but you may then sink this into some longer-term plans like using page post like ads to try and gain more followers for your page. Once you’ve managed that, you can then use page post links to grow your brand through a content marketing campaign and then start selling through your website. Facebook ads work best when you combine them into a single broad strategy and maintain synergy with your other marketing activities too.
