Types of Facebook Ads – Which Ad is Right For Your Campaign?

Types of Facebook Ads – Utilize the Right Ad Campaign Type to Generate the Most Buzz for Your Business

In the past year there has been quite a shift in Facebook’s advertising options. Most notably, the algorithm changed in Facebook’s favor. 2016 is the year Facebook finally grew up and figured out how to make money by requiring post boosts to simply reach the majority of business page fans. Of course, with the roll-out of boosting options like Facebook Canvas, native videos, Instagram and Twitter integration, and lead forms, there are now plenty of channels built-out to businesses grow their social media presence. We want to help explains the differences between Facebook ads to help you navigate the ad manager options.

One of the challenges I’ve had is understanding all of the options now available. Which campaign is right for my post? Can an ad type lower my cost per click? Facebook’s own description of the campaign options is hidden in the Facebook Help Center and isn’t as comprehensive or as simple to interpret as we’d like. We took some time to go through the options and build a short tutorial on what the current ad campaigns look like and how you might want to utilize them.

The first step in any ad campaign is being an editor or admin for a business page. You’ll need to associate any ad campaign with a credit card in Facebook’s system.

The next step is to click on the downward arrow in the upper right hand corner of any page within Facebook. Select “Create Ads”.

You’ll come upon a page that looks like this where there are 11 different ad campaigns based on objectives. We’re going to go through each one and explain what it would be used for and show an example of each.

Let’s look at each campaign’s appearance and recommend uses for each type of ad.

1. BOOST YOUR POSTS

Page Boost has been around for a while and is the workhouse of Facebook Ads. Boosting Posts increases exposure to a post on your wall. It can be placed in feeds by specific demographics and have a button to Like your page. This is a very effective way to get exposure for an individual post.

2. PROMOTE YOUR PAGE

Promoting your page can be useful when initially launching your page in a market. It takes your heading or a photo or video of choice and presents the ad in the timeline with a button specifically asking for a Page Like. We’ve all seen these appear with the “Suggested Page” heading. It is often used by companies to promote to friends of people that like your page and show with a suggestion like “Dan Likes This”. We’ve found this to be most effective in re-targetting and extended networking from an existing page.

3. SEND PEOPLE TO YOUR WEBSITE

In addition to soliciting page likes, this ad includes a link to a page on your website. This is a great way to promote a blog or service. You’ll get clicks that will open directly to your website. You can also choose the button you want including Apply Now, Get Quote, Download, Learn More, No Button, and others. These tailored options can be really helpful and make this a useful campaign element.

4. INCREASE CONVERSIONS ON YOUR WEBSITE

A similar ad to sending people to your website, but more focused on tracking, Increasing Conversions will give you a pixel to embed and increase your ability to measure performance. You can upload videos or generate offers and track all conversions through Facebook Insights directly or with your own Analytics account.

5. GET INSTALLS OF YOUR APP and 6. INCREASE ENGAGEMENT IN YOUR APP

Designed to promote your App with a direct link to download. A fairly uncommon ad type, this is only available in mobile news feed. We don’t have an app to promote, so I’m using Search Engine Land’s app as an example.

7. REACH PEOPLE NEAR YOUR BUSINESS

A way of creating awareness for your business for users in locally proximity. You can create a target radius around your business with a specific ad. Great for grand openings, events, and locally targeting. You can add directions, request Likes, or activate a Call Now button.

8. RAISE ATTENDANCE AT AN EVENT

Create a buzz for your event with an invitation post including an Interested button and a link to the event page. Great for open houses, fundraisers, and events.

9. GET PEOPLE TO CLAIM YOUR OFFER

Use a post to create an offer for potential customers. Users can use the offer like a coupon and claim it through a sign-up form. You can limit the number of offers redeemed to reduce exposure as a small business. A great way to create tracking for offers directly marketed and promoted through Facebook ads. Be careful with this type of ad through, you can’t delete or edit offers and we’ve seen a lot of complaints from people who created drafts that were published as offers without the business knowing it.

But seriously, we are offering 1% off right now. What a deal!

10. GET VIDEO VIEWS

If you do nothing else with this post, at least watch this sweet video.

Promote an uploaded video through Facebook native videos. Use Facebook Insights to track views and responses. A perfect place for a promotional video for an event or a product introduction. You can create an action button to direct traffic to a landing page or a download. Facebook has made a move to house more content in an effort to limit traffic bleeding to YouTube or news outlets for videos.

11. COLLECT LEADS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Use the ad as a sign up form for a mailing list or to capture lead info directly from a potential client. This ad replaces the need for a pop-up or landing page by facilitating the lead information. You can create custom questions for the prompt. Overall a useful tool.

SUMMARY

Sometimes I look at these ads and think they really aren’t that different, but they are designed with different campaigns and business types in mind and try to meet the needs of everyone.

As of June 2016, these are the Facebook Ads available through the Facebook Ad Creator. Though this overview covers all of the ad types, we didn’t go into all of the design options including multiple photos, buttons, or what the best ad type is for your specific situation. At Lion Tree Group we are constantly evaluating campaigns based on post schedule, cost per impression, ad type, and expectation realization.

We’ll be posting in the future on some of the tips and tricks to creating Facebook ads including some of the easiest design tweaks that can make or break an Ad’s performance.

About the Author

Ben Lindberg, CR is a partner in Lion Tree Group, a digital marketing agency in Madison, WI. His expertise is in multi-platform brand messaging with a focus on inspiring homeowners. As an industry insider, he has walked the walk and developed a winning business campaign strategy from experience with one of Wisconsin’s largest remodeling companies. His agency specializes in digital design and branding updates. He regularly blogs at his company’s blog: The Bark and Roar.