More and more people are choosing to shop via their mobiles, with 30% of mobile shoppers claiming that video is the best way for them to discover new products.
With this is mind, Facebook has recently launched a new ad feature that lets brands draw in visitors with engaging storytelling and encourage them to click buy.
What Is a Facebook Ad Collection?
The new ad format targets users on mobile devices and features a video or an image above a collection of linked product images relating to the media.
If the user clicks on one of the product images, they are immediately taken to an on-site experience that shares up to 50 more products with them. From there, the user is taken to the designated product page on the brand’s site if they want to find out more information.
It’s the perfect solution for e-commerce companies, particularly those that are reaping the benefits of dynamic ads.
Why You Should Use a Facebook Ad Collection
Collections are ideal for e-commerce companies trying to attract new customers. In an age where connection, trust, and authenticity are key, the visual, story-centred format of the ads have the potential to be hugely successful because they:
- Inspire sales by sharing deeper brand stories
- Highlight a range of products that are best fitted to the featured story
- Explore a specific theme, whether that’s a season of goods, a targeted audience, or a sale you’re running
When Tommy Hilfiger used the new ad format, they saw excellent results. “The format was well-received by our audience, with our engagement rate almost doubling compared to video link adverts and ROI growing by an impressive 200%,” says Stefanie Graemer-Clark, Director of Social Media for the brand.
So now you know what Facebook ad collections are and why you should be using them, let’s talk about how you can set them up for your brand.
How to Create a Facebook Ad Collection
The typical format of a Facebook ad collection is a top video or image (in a landscape format) with a row of four product images beneath that. To get started, you need:
- An image or a video as the feature piece
- A product catalog (here’s how you can create one for WooCommerce, and here’s how to do it if you’re on Easy Digital Downloads)
A Step-By-Step Guide
1. Go to Ads Manager and click on Traffic or Conversions as an ad objective
2. On the next page, select Website or Messenger or App (this is where your collection will link to)
3. Choose who you want to target, your budget, and schedule, and choose the Collection format option on the next page
4. Choose whether you want your featured media to be an image, video, or slideshow, and upload it. The recommended image size is 1200 x 628 pixels, while videos are recommended to have 1:1 or 16:9 aspect ratios for best results
5. Select the Facebook Page you want the ads to run from, an eye-catching headline, and accompanying text
6. Choose your pre-installed product catalog from the drop-down menu
7. From there, you can choose your product set or create a new one (make sure the set is filled with products relevant to your featured media). You can determine how to isolate the products in each set by choosing which features you want to focus on. These include things like, product type, brand, size, gender, price, pattern etc.
8. Select the Mobile News Feed option under Ad Preview to check out what your collection ad will look like on screens
9. In the Products featured in News Feed section, you can choose which four images you want to show beneath your featured media. You can swap them around by clicking Change
10. Preview the ad by clicking Post Click Experience to see what the screen will look like once users click through on an image
11. Place your order to finish
With PixelYourSite’s Product Catalog Plugin, you can easily create WooCommerce feeds to copy and paste into your Facebook product catalog. With just a few clicks, you can generate a feed of specific products at specific prices to show in your ads.
If you are using Easy Digital Downloads, you can create a Product Catalog with our dedicated plugin.
One Response
I successfully set up a feed, but apparently it’s under my agency name/account and not my client’s. I can’t see a way to set up a product catalog unless I’m logged in as them.