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A quick tour of Facebook ad placements

Advertising on Facebook is shown to users not only within the social network itself. The site has many placements or placements. To set up effective ads, you need to understand how to use them. They differ in requirements for creatives and have a different audience composition. We decided to take an overview of all currently available Facebook placements.

About placements

Placement is the placement of ads on Facebook. It can appear in:

Facebook and Instagram feeds

Instagram and Facebook Stories

In-Stream Video Ads

Sponsored messages

Articles

External applications and sites

Facebook search

Depending on the chosen goal, ads will be shown in one or another ad placement. The goal is set at the campaign creation level. Order can be selected manually, or you can give a choice to the Facebook advertising system. Usually, automatic placement is turned on by default when you create an ad group. In this case, Facebook will automatically show your ads in the most effective places from its point of view. There is a drawback here – if you do not set up individual creatives for each placement, they may not look correct. For each ad placement, Facebook gives its recommendations. We will tell you more about each location.

Facebook and Instagram feeds

Ads on Facebook and Instagram feeds are seen by users who log into the social network from mobile devices and personal computers.

 

Facebook desktop and mobile feed. By choosing this placement, users will see your ad when they log into the social network from a mobile device or a personal computer. As for the formats, it can be an image, ring gallery, video, or slideshow. They will be available in both mobile and desktop versions. If you choose to use Instant Experience or Collections, they will only open on mobile.

The recommended creative format is square (1: 1). But you can also use 16: 9. You need to select a photo with a size of at least 1080 × 1080 pixels for a carousel gallery. These placements are available for all Facebook advertising purposes.

The right column of Facebook. Available only in the desktop version and only for “Traffic,” “Conversion,” “Selling goods from the catalog.” The recommended aspect ratio is 1: 1 or 16: 9. If your audience mainly comes from mobile devices, then it is better to disable this placement. You can post a single image or a carousel here.

Instagram feed. When this placement is selected, users will see your ad in their Instagram feed on mobile devices. Here you can place an advertisement with one image or video, a selection. If you have chosen a carousel gallery, your ad will contain several photos – up to 10 pieces. This placement is available for the following goals: Reach, Conversions, Traffic, Lead Generation, Brand Awareness, Engagement, Selling products from the catalog.

“Interesting” on Instagram. You can get to the “Search and Interesting” section by clicking on the magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen. Most of it is occupied by the selection “Interesting.” This placement is available for the following goals: Reach, Conversions, Traffic, Lead Generation, Brand Awareness, Engagement, App Installations. A creative with one image video is also available here.

Facebook marketplaceNot yet available for all users in Russia. This is a placement with which you can sell and buy goods from users who are nearby. It is present in the Facebook ad account and is available for the following purposes: “Reach,” “Conversions,” “Traffic,” “Lead generation,” “Brand awareness,” “Responses to invitations.” The site recommends using a square image for it. Here you can place from 2 to 10 advertising cards.

Facebook Messenger Inbox. In this case, users see your ad on the Facebook Messenger home page. It can be a single image or a carousel. Recommended creative aspect ratio: 1: 1 or 16: 9. Placement supports goals: “Messages”, “Conversions”, “Traffic”, “Sales of goods from the catalog”, “Application installations”.

Videotapes. If a user opens a video in a Facebook feed, other videos in that feed are opened. Your ad will appear in between these videos—video aspect ratio: 16: 9 to 9:16. The only video format is available here. Placement supports goals: Brand Awareness, Conversions, Engagement, Video Views, App Installs, Reach.

Facebook and Instagram Stories

There are only three placements here: stories on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

 

Facebook Stories. These are vertical ads that users will see between stories. Their duration is up to 15 seconds. The user can reject the ad. You can also place one image here. Placement is available for the following goals: Brand Awareness, Conversions, Lead Generation, Video Views, App Installations, Reach, Traffic.

Instagram Stories. In this case, the display time of history is up to 5 seconds for images and 120 seconds for videos. Video aspect ratio: 9:16 and 16: 9 to 4: 5. Placement supports goals: Brand Awareness, Conversions, Lead Generation, Video Views, App Installs, Reach, Traffic.

Stories in Messenger. Here photos are displayed for 5 seconds if the user does not close them earlier. Recommended format: 1.91 to 9:16. Placement is available for the following goals: “Brand awareness”, “Conversions”, “App installs”, “Reach”, “Traffic”.

In-Stream Video Ads

This placement option shows your ad before and after showing the video to users who watch the video content on Facebook or the Audience Network. Its duration is from 5 to 15 seconds.

 

The following goals are available for Russia: “Brand awareness”, “Conversions”, “Engagement”, “Video views”, “Coverage”. The Install Applications target is only available in the United States.

Sponsored messages in Messenger

If the user has already communicated with your company in Messenger, then you can send him an advertising message using this placement. Recommended aspect ratio: 9:16 or 16: 9 Placement is available for the following purposes: “Conversions”, “Messages”, “Traffic”.

 

Facebook Instant Articles

In this case, ads are shown to users who read instant articles on Facebook. You can post one image, video, carousel here. Facebook also recommends 9: 16 or 16: 9 square photos and videos. Placement is available for the following goals: Brand Awareness, Engagement, Lead Generation, Video Views, App Installations, Reach, Traffic.

 

Apps and sites

This placement is called the Audience Network, and the quality of its traffic is controversial. Often a lot of bots and spam come from it.

 

This option displays ads on high-quality mobile websites and apps. Here you can use video, single image, carousel. The recommended aspect ratio for images is 1: 1, for videos – 9:16. Placement is available for the following purposes: “Conversions”, “Video views”, “App installs”, “Reach”, “Traffic”.

Facebook search

This is a new placement that has appeared recently. People will see your ads when they search for information on Facebook. It connects only in conjunction with the Facebook feed placement. You can post a single image or a carousel here. Placement is available for the following purposes: “Conversions,” “Sales of goods from the catalog,” “Traffic.”

Outcome

Facebook offers a large number of ad placements. Each of them has its characteristics for creatives and target audience. Most often, the site suggests using square creatives and videos in 16: 9 format. Facebook often changes placements’ characteristics and adds new ones, but they do not appear for all users right away. They are tested in several countries for some time and only then are they distributed to all.

 

Zeeshan

Writing has always been a big part of who I am. I love expressing my opinions in the form of written words and even though I may not be an expert in certain topics, I believe that I can form my words in ways that make the topic understandable to others. Conatct: zeeshant371@gmail.com

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