In the current landscape of Facebook advertising, where GIFs, videos, slideshows, and Canvas ads are everywhere, one thing is clear: users are drawn to interactive content over static content. They crave movement and engaging experiences that still images can’t deliver. While image ads remain relevant, the numbers don’t lie: views of branded video content on Facebook increased 258% as of June 2017. Each day, over 500 million people turn to Facebook for video content. Modern users desire multifaceted brand stories and choices presented effortlessly. This is where Facebook Carousel ads shine.
While this might seem perfect for e-commerce and not much else, that’s far from the truth! This post will guide you through crafting a Facebook Carousel ad and explore how to utilize them for various marketing goals.
Let’s dive right in!
Understanding Facebook Carousel Ads
Facebook Carousel is a dynamic ad format that showcases up to 10 images or videos on individual “cards” within a single ad. Speaking of videos, have you explored the nexus-security Advisor video library for Facebook ads?). Carousel ads are powerful not only because they encourage interaction but also because they provide ample space to highlight products or unfold your brand’s narrative. This makes them a top choice for e-commerce advertisers.
Notice how this advertiser uses cards to spotlight specific features of a single product, each card having its own description. This unveils a potent aspect of Facebook Carousel ads: the ability to incorporate multiple calls to action, each linked to different landing pages, under various products. This level of customization is unmatched in other ad formats. With 10 unique cards, you potentially have 10 opportunities for prospects to connect with your brand.
Here’s another noteworthy Carousel statistic: Facebook claims that advertisers have seen Carousel ads can reduce cost-per-conversions by 30-50% and cost-per-clicks by 20-30% compared to single-image link ads. That’s a significant return on investment for a bit of extra creative effort.
Facebook Carousel Ad: Size and Specifications
Due to the multifaceted design of the Carousel format, it’s crucial to understand the sizing and specifications before starting the creation process. Here are some key specs to remember:
- Image/Thumbnail size: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels
- Image/Video aspect ratio: 1:1 (square)
- Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 40 characters
- Link description: 20 characters
- Number of cards: 2-10
- Image file size: 30MB maximum
- Video file size: 4GB maximum
- Video length: Up to 240 minutes Adhering to these guidelines ensures a smooth creation, delivery, and display of your ads.
Creating a Facebook Carousel Ad
To create a Facebook Carousel Ad, go to Ads Manager and choose a marketing objective that supports the Carousel format: reach, brand awareness, traffic, app installs, lead generation, conversions, or catalog sales. Once you’ve set up your ad set and selected the Carousel format, you’re ready to go. Here’s what you’ll see when crafting your Carousel ad:
1. The text in this section should be comprehensive, covering the essence of all cards in your Carousel. If it’s about one product, describe that product. If it’s about a product line, describe the line.
2. This option, available only for News Feed and Instagram ads, lets you prioritize your best-performing card if the order isn’t crucial to your story. If you’re showcasing multiple products, leading with the top performer can be beneficial.
3. While not supported for the Store Visits objective, you can incorporate a map to enhance local ads. Take a look at this example.
4. Your cards. You can drag and drop to rearrange their order before or after creating them.
Choose either video or image creative, and then add a headline and a more detailed description below it.
As you scroll down, you can set individual call-to-action buttons for each card or remove them for a cleaner look. The “add an overlay” option lets you add a “Free Shipping” or “Cash on Delivery” mini-banner to potentially increase conversion appeal.
Facebook Carousel Ad: Examples
Believe it or not, there’s there lives within Facebook showcasing the finest Carousel ads. It’s a treasure trove!
For Carousel inspiration, this group is your go-to resource. Though less active recently, it boasts a vast collection of Carousel examples for analysis.
As a reminder, Facebook Carousel ads support seven objectives: reach, brand awareness, traffic, app installs, lead generation, conversions, and catalog sales. For brevity, we’ll group reach with brand awareness and catalog sales with conversions. We’ll also save app installs for another time. Let’s focus on Carousels designed for four common yet distinct objectives: brand awareness, traffic, lead generation, and conversions, and analyze their effectiveness.
Facebook Carousel Ads for Brand Awareness
Who better embodies credibility than Rupert Lordchampion? This ad’s messaging cleverly combines an image of enduring market presence with modern-day edge—Rupert, an established figure, challenges authority with millennial-like boldness. From a structural perspective, this example illustrates why Carousels excel at conveying compelling brand narratives (even humorous ones like this). Dr. Pepper seamlessly incorporates three short and snappy 10-15 second ad spots within a single Carousel, encouraging continued engagement. Whether developing a character like Dr. Pepper or weaving together threads of a larger story, the ability to string together extended messaging makes Carousel ads an enticing format with vast potential.
Facebook Carousel Ads for Traffic
Carousel ads are a solid traffic driver for driving traffic, whether it’s general traffic, traffic to distinct pages using individual cards, or directing all traffic to a single landing page. For their 4-Course Feast promotion, Red Lobster chose to divide their cards by courses, linking them all to one page. This strategy works well for showcasing products that hold individual value but are best experienced together, like a real estate agency highlighting different rooms of a listed property. When designing traffic-driving Carousels, consider the actual customer journey toward purchasing your product. You have 10 distinct cards to vividly depict this journey. Address your customers’ pain points and demonstrate how your unique value proposition provides solutions. Tell a compelling story.
Facebook Carousel Ads for Lead Generation
Facebook Lead Ads are a gold standard in paid social lead generation, and for good reason. They’re cost-effective, efficient, and incredibly fast because lead forms load within Facebook, not on external pages. Carousel ads offer this same functionality within the Carousel format, providing more opportunities to capture valuable leads for your business.
It’s important to note that you can’t link unique lead forms to individual cards. If you want to gather different types of leads through your Facebook Carousel ad, you’ll need to link to separate landing pages. Instead, incorporating Lead Ads into your Carousel allows you to amplify your creative.
In the example above, Connectio uses three distinct images with unique headlines, targeting different segments of their audience to collect names and email addresses. Their description is broad enough to resonate with all three segments. Prospects simply click any card to provide information and are instantly directed to a “Thank You” screen with options to visit the website or download a guide.
Lead ads within the Carousel format are pure magic.
Facebook Carousel Ads for Conversions
Finally, we arrive at the objective for which Carousel ads seem perfectly suited: conversions. The example above showcases a Hawkers Co. Carousel ad optimized for e-commerce. While targeting multiple audience segments within a single ad isn’t new:
Having the ability to direct those segments to unique landing pages with Carousel ads allows advertisers to expand their reach compared to using a single image ad. This broader approach is possible because you’re promoting multiple products to various segments. Hawkers Co. utilizes this feature to send prospects to product pages featuring the same sunglasses with different lenses.
Notice also the smooth blending of creative imagery across cards, similar to Target’s approach in the first example. This technique transforms your Carousel into an elegant panoramic display, providing prospects with a comprehensive view of your product or story.
Final Thoughts…
For online sellers, Facebook Carousel ads are a perfect platform to showcase a variety of products to diverse customer segments. However, don’t underestimate Carousel ads for awareness, traffic, or lead generation campaigns. Engaging visual storytelling is becoming essential for capturing the attention of Facebook users as they navigate purchase funnels. In this regard, Facebook Carousel ads have emerged as a powerful tool for a wide range of campaign types.