Marketers know that images are an important part of ad design and campaigns.
Lots of time goes into browsing through the latest Facebook ad guidelines, then finding the right images to include and last (but not least) testing ads to find the combination of images and text that will get the most attention.
But why does Facebook ad image size matter?
Why should you care and invest time figuring out the right dimensions to use for the different kinds of ads you run on Facebook?
Simply because it can make the difference between a top campaign and a flop one… What would you choose?
On Facebook ad image size matters for a few reasons:
- Understanding Facebook ad image size means you avoid images that appear distorted because they’re stretched, pixelated or blurry.
- Depending on the marketing objective for your ad, the image size and placement you use will either help your ad stand out or blend in with everything else your audience sees.
- The right size and placement help your ad target the right audience — across multiple platforms.
Facebook offers a myriad of ad options, and Facebook ad guidelines change frequently. Navigating these options can be confusing, especially if you’re brand new to Facebook ads.
This guide is the 2017 edition of all things related to Facebook ad image size specs and requirements — as they relate to ad objectives.
What Are Ad Objectives?
Objectives are meant to help you create ads that target your specific audience. Before you even start creating an ad, the first step is to decide what you want the outcome of the ad to be.
Do you want to grow your audience through leads? Promote a new product? Or increase video views? Whatever your goal is, each ad you run requires a different approach to get the outcome you’re after. That’s why establishing your objectives early on helps you set up effective Facebook ad campaigns every time.
At a higher level, the objectives you set for your ads should also match your business goals. To help you figure out what objectives to use, Facebook has divided objectives into three categories:
- Awareness – these objectives are meant to trigger interest in your business and what you offer.
- Consideration – these objectives are meant to get people to seriously consider buying something from you.
- Conversion – these objectives are meant to get people who are interested in you to buy something.
Note that Messages is a new type of objective in the Consideration category and isn’t available everywhere yet. Facebook is still rolling out this feature to users. Messenger ads will serve three purposes. They help you:
- Widen the reach of your ad campaigns
- Start conversations in Messenger with potential customers
- Re-target current customers
Each of the above marketing objectives has its own set of corresponding CTAs. For example, some of the CTAs for Reach include Apply Now, Book Now, Contact Us and Download.
Depending on the objectives you choose, you can use different platforms to maximize the impact of your ad campaign.
Different platforms require ads to be different sizes to maximize their effectiveness. So what works on one platform won’t work on another. Available platforms include:
- Audience Network
- Messenger
Not all platforms support every objective.
For example, Brand Awareness is available on Facebook and Instagram because these are the best places to get people who haven’t heard about you interested in your product. Something like Messenger is more personal and best suited for consideration and conversion objectives.
How To Choose Your Objective
To choose an objective, look at where you are in your growth cycle. If you’re a new company, then your objective is to make your target audience aware of your products and/or services. Reach and Brand Awareness are a good fit because they:
- Help more people find you and learn more about what you offer.
- Help you drive traffic to your site or specific pages on your site.
Keep in mind that you can choose more than one objective. You’ll likely run a variety of ads with different goals for each. Facebook lets you create and run as many campaigns as you need.
Choose Ad Formats That Match Objectives
Once you’ve decided on your ad objective, there are two factors that determine Facebook ad size: ad format and ad placement.
Let’s look at ad format first.
Ad format refers to how you’re going to share the ad with your audience. Facebook keeps evolving and as a result, a wider range of formats and capabilities are available for you to choose from. Now more than ever before, your ads can stand out compared to those of your competitors.
There are the five ad formats available, but their availability depends on the objective you’ve chosen:
- Single Image
- Single Video
- Carousel
- Collection
- Canvas
When you first start using Facebook ads it’s normal to feel like you’ve wasted time trying to figure out why your images aren’t rendering properly. You might even feel like the quality of the finished ad isn’t quite what you want it to be. Often, your frustration can be linked to using the wrong image size.
The trick is to understand that image specs change depending on the objective — so even a unified marketing campaign will need different images across platforms and formats.
Facebook updates its ad size specs on a regular basis so, to get you started, we’ve included an overview of the most recent specs. Remember, you can use Facebook News Feed, Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger to share your ads.
To keep things simple, we’re only talking about image specs for ads placed on Facebook News Feed.
Facebook Ad Image Size: Single Images
Let’s say you have a new product and want to build some hype around it. One way to do that is to use a clean, clear image in your ad:
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A single image ad is one of the simplest ads available because it’s easy to set up — it doesn’t take a lot of time to make. Once you pick an objective you just choose your audience and then upload your content, image, and links.
This kind of ad is a perfect introduction to Facebook ads because it helps you reach lots of customers and build interest quickly. You don’t need a big budget and you don’t need lots of time trying to figure out how to create the ad.
Single image ads are available for the following objectives:
Design Specs:
- Supported file types: jpg and png
- Image ratio: 16:9 to 9:16
- Amount of text allowed on image: no more than 20%
Recommended image size:
- 1,200 x 628 pixels
Additional information:
- Image ratio: 1.91:1
- Ad headline: 25 characters
- Description text: 125 characters
- Link description: 30 characters
Facebook Ad Image Size: Single Video
If your marketing objective is to get traffic to your site, then a video ad is one way to grab the attention of potential site visitors.
Depending on where you decide to share your video ad — Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network — Facebook makes it easy to create different types of videos.
For example, you can create short GIFs to longer, more in-depth videos for sharing on Audience Network.
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Video ads are available for the following objectives:
Design specs:
- Video Ratio: 16:9 to 9:16
- Upload videos without letterboxing — the black bars at the top and bottom or sides of a video)
Video requirements:
- Video File Size: 4GB Max
- Video Length Minimum: 1 second
- Video Length Maximum: 240 Minutes
Additional information:
- Ad headline: 25 characters
- Description text: 125 characters
- Link description: 30 characters
Facebook Ad Image Size: Carousel
If you want to upload more than one image to your ad and give audiences a better idea of what you offer, use carousel ads.
With carousel ads you can upload between two and ten images for the ad to scroll through. An added bonus is you can make each image link to a different page on your website. For example, if your objective is to get “product catalog sales,” you can link each image to a different product on your product page.
Carousel ads are an engaging ad format because you can use a combination of images and videos.
Every ad tells a story but let’s say yours is complex because your product has a lot of features. With the image and video combo, you can break the story down into bite-sized bits that are easy for your audience to digest.
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Carousel ads are available for the following objectives:
Design specs:
- Supported image file types: jpg and png
- Suggested video file types: MP4 and MOV
Image requirements:
- Max image file size: 30MB
- Recommended image size: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels
- Recommended image ratio: 1:1
- Amount of text allowed on image: no more than 20%
Video requirements:
- Max video file size: 4GB
- Max video length: 240 minutes
- Aspect Ratio: Vertical (4:5)
Additional information:
- Ad headline: 40 characters
- Description text: 125 characters
- Link description: 20 characters
Facebook Ad Image Size: Collection
Use this ad format if you have a product line and want to showcase your products without overwhelming your audience.
With the collection format, you can use a combination of images and video to make the ads more versatile and engaging.
Start with a short video highlighting your product’s main selling features. Maybe add some music and special graphics to make the video stand out. Then, under the video, add four or six high-quality images of your most popular products.
This approach gets people to stop and watch the video. Because you’ve also included product information in the ad, people are more likely to click over to your site to keep searching or to buy something.
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When potential customers click on the ad, they’re taken to a fullscreen version of the ad.
This feature is meant to boost engagement and get people interested in and excited about your product.
Collection ads are available for the following objectives:
Design specs – use canvas templates based on your marketing objectives:
- Get new customers
- Sell products: grid layout
- Sell products: lifestyle layout
- Showcase your business
Image requirements:
- Minimum recommended image size: 400 x 150 pixels
Unlike the other formats, there aren’t any CTA buttons for this format.
The goal of this ad format is to get the audience to click on the images and access full-screen Facebook Canvas ads.
Facebook Ad Image Size: Canvas
Between checking and sending messages, logging onto apps or even playing games, people spend about 4 hours a day on their phones. This is why Facebook is making it easier for marketers to reach mobile audiences. The canvas ad feature is only available on mobile devices, and for good reason.
Canvas is a fullscreen experience meant to kick your advertising efforts up a notch.
Instead of scrolling through a news feed and just looking at an ad, when people click on the ad they’re taken to a new screen to watch a short clip highlighting your product features and benefits. This approach is more interactive for audiences because it’s a unique experience.
The ad doesn’t have to be just video either. Add a gamification element by getting people to swipe to reveal more information or interact with the ad. You can even add 360 panoramic views to the ad so that when people tilt their phones, they get a better look into the world you’ve created with your ad.
Canvas ads are available for the following objectives:
Image requirements:
- Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Amount of text allowed on image: no more than 20%
- Image ratio: 1.91:1
Canvas requirements:
- Aspect Ratio: Tolerance : 3%
Video requirements:
- Recommended length: up to 15 seconds
- Aspect Ratio: Vertical (4:5)
- File size: Up to 4 GB max
Additional information:
- Ad copy text: 90 characters
- Ad headline: 45 characters
- Audiences access canvas ads by clicking on an ad (either an image, video or carousel) in a mobile news feed.
Bonus: Slideshow
Slideshow ads are a hybrid of videos and image ads. If your objective is “conversions” but you’re working with a tight budget, a slideshow ad might be the answer. You don’t need a massive video production budget to make this work.
All you have to do is upload product images in a sequence that makes your message clear.
Slideshow ads also boost your audience’s experience. If some of your audience is in an area where video downloads are slow, a slideshow is a good alternative because they download quickly.
Facebook makes using slideshows easy for you because you can use images you already have of your product, or you can take an existing video and let Facebook capture a handful of images you can incorporate into your slideshow.
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To create your slideshow:
- Choose an objective that supports videos and choose your audience.
- In the video section of the new ad, click on “Slideshow” and upload three to seven pictures.
- Decide what you want the ad to look like by selecting an aspect ratio. Your ad will be square or rectangular depending on the ratio you choose.
- Set the image duration. This can be anywhere from one to five seconds.
- Finally, set the image transition and add music.
Ad Placement Optimizes Ads
Now you know how to choose an objective and an ad format to maximize the success of your ads.
The final piece of the puzzle is figuring out the placement of your ad. The ad itself needs to be optimized by placing it in the “right” place.
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Choosing the right placement ensures that you’ve chosen the ad size so that your ads will appear on multiple platforms and stand out. Placement is important because your audience doesn’t hang out in one place. You want them to see your ad in multiple places so you have to make sure that the ad experience is the same across the board.
If your audience has the same experience with your ads regardless of where they see them, you’re more likely to meet the goals you set for your ads.
Ads can be placed in any of the following places:
- Facebook News Feed
- Facebook Right Column
- Facebook Instant Articles
- Instagram Feed
- Instagram Stories
- Audience Network
- Sponsored Message
- Messenger Home
Where you place your ad determines the type of ad format you can use.
Here’s a rundown of where you can place your ads depending on the ad format you choose:
Single image placement:
Single video placement:
Carousel placement:
Collection placement:
Canvas placement:
Getting Started
There are lots of combinations of objectives, ad formats and ad placements you can use.
Here are three tips from the experts you should follow:
- Before you start your ad, do a little research to find out what combination will result in the most engagement.
- Make a list and narrow it down to four or five options. Then run multiple ads using those combinations to get maximum reach.
- Ads are all about learning so make adjustments to the format and placement as you learn more about your audience and their habits.
And there you have it: everything you need to know to figure out the purpose of your ad, what the ad should look like and Facebook ad size specs.
Effective ads are more than just throwing together a glossy picture and hoping something good happens. You have to be strategic with your objective to make sure it’s in line with the bigger picture of what you want your ad to accomplish.
You spend time and effort creating crafty content for your ads. Spend just as much time understanding ad size so that your ads stand out and get your audience to take action.
REF : Adespresso