The Evolution of Facebook Advertising | Wallaroo Media

With the Audience Network, Atlas, Header Bidding, Collections, Canvas Ads, & More, Facebook is THE Place to Spend Your Ad Dollars

Facebook is coming for your wallet. And it’s time to pay up (and be happy about it too).

We manage a lot of social advertising campaigns for our clients. Much of our effort is spent on Facebook and Instagram ads (although Snapchat advertising is growing quickly). We like to explain Facebook/Instagram ads to our clients like this: You hand us (and Facebook) a $1 bill, and we’ll hand you back a $20 bill. It’s like clockwork. And if you’re not on the train, now is the time.

 

Facebook’s Ever-Improving Ad Product

 

facebook monetization

Everyone knows that Facebook makes money via its ads, so it makes sense that they’re trying to innovate as quickly as possible. We recently wrote about Facebook Atlas, which is a huge move for its ad product. Facebook allows you to target people regardless of browser, device, channel, or publisher. Atlas also allows you to connect your digital advertising to in-store sales for a better picture of your campaign performance.

Facebook also recently announced that it’s bringing advertiser demand from its Facebook Audience Network to mobile web publishers that use header bidding (if you’re not familiar with header bidding, click here). Large publishers like Forbes, the Washington Post, Daily Mail, and many others use header bidding. This new announcement will allow Facebook advertisers to be seen in those publications.

Facebook Collections is another new ad offering from the social network, available only on mobile devices. Facebook notes that 45% of all shopping journeys now contain a mobile action. Collections ads are designed to win customers over within the Facebook app before directing them to the advertiser’s website. Collections ads start with a main image followed by 4 product images below. When someone taps on the ad, a broader catalog opens up that can hold up to 50 more product images. Then if a user taps on a specific product – the ad directs them to the advertiser’s website. Beta testers of this new ads format have reported a 2x to 5x increase on ad spend. See an example below:

facebook collection ads

Facebook Collection ad example

Facebook Canvas ads were introduced last year, and they’re incredible. You can see a gallery of Canvas ad examples here.

Canvas ads are a little more geared towards “storytelling.” This ad format uses a combination of videos, images, text, and call-to-action buttons. In Canvas, people can swipe through a carousel of images, tilt their screen to view panoramic images, and zoom in on images to see more detail.

Canvas ads are another mobile-only ad format from Facebook. They are also FAST, loading as much as 10 times faster than the standard mobile web. Facebook reports that the average interaction with a Canvas ad is over 30 seconds, an astounding metric.

In summary, you need to be running Facebook Ads. They work for B2B, e-commerce, large brands, and local retailers. Knowing which format works best for your company and goals is crucial. Understanding the Facebook Newsfeed algorithm is also necessary.

If you have any questions or need help in any way, contact us today!

Author

Brandon Doyle

CEO + Founder