Facebook Carousel Ads is not only a popular advertising feature that most people pay attention to, but it is also a rotating advertising application. So what are the advantages of Carousel and how to use it most effectively and easily accessible to users? Let’s find out through this article by Optimal Agency!
What is Facebook Carousel Ads?
Facebook Carousel Ads, also known as Facebook Carousel, is a rotating advertisement format on Facebook. This advertising method allows you to display up to 3-5 images, videos, CTAs, or links on cards within a single ad.
Using Carousel Ads is not only effective because they encourage potential customers to interact with your product ads, but also because they are simple and allow you to have more space for your products or part of your brand story.
Here, you will notice that product advertisers have chosen to use cards to highlight specific parts of a product, and the bottom of each card has its own unique description.
This brings a powerful and notable feature of Carousel ads – the potential for different CTAs, located under different products, leading to different landing pages.
This is a flexibility that cannot be seen in any other ad format.
Clearly, if you have only 10 tags, that’s 10 unique opportunities for potential customers to interact with your brand/product.
Another statistic, unique to Carousel: according to Facebook, advertisers have seen Carousel ads drive conversion costs lower by 30-50% and cost per click lower by 20-30% compared to single-image link ads.
This brings benefits to everyone when you just change a little bit of creativity.
The benefits of using Facebook Carousel Ads
Using Carousel Ads is not only effective because they encourage potential customers to interact with your product ads, but also because they are simple and allow you to have more space for your products or part of your brand story.
Here are some of the benefits of using Carousel Ads:
- Promote interaction: Carousel Ads are visually interactive product ads that are more likely to attract the attention of your target audience and encourage them to take action. They are more engaging than standard image ads.
- Interactive: Even if your customers just click through the carousel to view more product images, they continue to interact with your brand and increase their knowledge of your products and services.
- Cost-effective: Carousel ads, like any other media advertising, are targeted to reach specific audiences. This means you only spend less money targeting people who are not intending to respond to your content.
How to Create Facebook Carousel Ads?
Create Facebook Carousel Ads with Meta Ads Management
- Step 1: Go to Meta Ads Manager.
- Step 2: Select + Create in the top left corner to start a new campaign.
- Step 3: Opt for an objective compatible with the carousel format. Be aware that the Engagement objective is not compatible with the carousel format.
- Step 4: Fill in all the information about your advertising campaign like normal (Bidding, Targeting,…). Within the Identity section, choose the Facebook Page you wish to associate with your carousel ad.
- Step 5: Opt for Manual upload or Catalogue to dynamically generate a carousel using your products in the Ad setup section. Subsequently, select Carousel.
At this stage, you will have the option to add, edit, and optimize each segment shown on the cards:
- Headlines
- Description
- Redirected URLs
- Call to actions
Facebook allows advertisers to optimize carousel ads with its recommendations like:
- Profile End Card: Add a card with your Page profile picture at the end.
- Relevant Comments: Display the most relevant comment below your ad on Facebook.
- Music Add-Ons: Add music to your ad to match the look and feel of platforms that use sound.
- Dynamic Description: Facebook chooses when to show your carousel description.
- Highlight Carousel Card: Automatically show the best-performing card first.
Create Carousel Ads with Facebook Business Page
- Step 1: Select Create Ads on your Page.
- Step 2: Opt for Get more website visitors.
- Step 3: Input an optional description for your ad in the Description box.
- Step 4: Choose Select media. On the Browse media page, upload your images or videos or select existing ones. Arrange them in the desired order for your carousel and click Select. Note that you can include up to five images or videos.
- Step 5: Input optional text into each Headline box. Use the arrows to navigate through your carousel cards.
- Step 6: Click the Button label drop-down and pick a phrase for your button.
- Step 7: In the Website URL box, provide the URL you want people to visit upon clicking your ad.
- Note: If you wish each carousel card would direct people to a different URL, create your ad in Ads Manager.
- Step 8: Toggle the Special ad category, if applicable, and make selections for audience, duration, and daily budget.
- Step 9: Click the Placements drop-down to specify where your ad appears. Check the box next to a placement to select it. If you have established and implemented a Meta pixel and wish to enable event tracking, toggle the Pixel.
- Step 10: Fill in all advertising information like Budget, Placements, Targetings, or Pixel to complete the setting up phase. Then, click Confirm to start advertising
Some tips to create a perfect Carousel ad
- Grab attention with the first image Facebook Newsfeed is a very busy place and users are often overloaded with content. To help your ad succeed, pay attention to the first image and make sure it has its own meaning and is also enough to grab attention.
- Follow Facebook’s recommendations Facebook has shared some design suggestions for Carousel ads. If you are looking to maximize your performance, it is best to try and follow these if possible.
Due to the multi-faceted nature of the Carousel format, it is important to reduce the size and specifications before participating in the creation process. Here are some technical specifications to keep in mind:
- Image /Thumbnail size: 600 x 600 pixels
- Image /Video aspect ratio: 1:1 (square)
- Text: 90 characters
- Heading: 40 characters
- Link description: 20 characters
- Number of cards: 2-10
- Image file size: maximum 30 MB
- Video file size: maximum 4GB
- Video length: Maximum 240 minutes
Adhering to these technical specifications will ensure that you do not encounter any difficulties in creating, distributing, or presenting your ad.
Tip: Use the Headline space below each image for product names or benefits, discount offers, or percentages, or even a call to action.
Facebook Carousel Ads case studies
Straight Compton Outta
A company used carousel ads to promote different part of the movie and announce its release on VUDU.
Deezer
The company used carousel ads to announce and promote that The Beatles’ music is available on their app. The ad features images of the band spread across three cards and used the headline space on each card to promote Beatles news on Deezer.
Xbox
To promote the latest Tomb Raider game app, Xbox used a panoramic image of the game’s character, Lara Croft, hanging on a rock face.
In addition to images, Xbox used card headlines to tell the story of the game. The last cards on the carousel were a link to purchase the game.
Here are some Facebook Carousel Ads guidelines that I hope will help you apply carousel ads to your business’s advertising strategy.