3 New Social Media Ad Formats that Every Brand Should Use

As more media dollars are going to social, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are constantly rolling out new social media ad formats to meet unique business needs. Here are some proven and upcoming formats that are expected to bring great results for retailers.

Facebook Carousel Ads

Although these ad units have been around since 2014 we’ve been seeing them more frequently in our newsfeeds as more advertisers see the benefit of these ads. With a Carousel ad you can display 3 to 5 images and/or videos with links. This makes for an attention-grabbing ad that lets you showcase multiple products, highlight many features of a single product or tell a story. You can also select one of nine call-to-action buttons to appear on each carousel card, with many retailer-friendly options such as, Apply Now, Book Now, Contact Us, Donate Now, Download, Learn More, Shop Now, Sign Up, and Watch More. With a click-through rate 3x higher than non-carousel ads  this ad format is great at generating results. If you’re looking to promote multiple products or tell a story about your product or offering, carousel ads could be a great option for you. Looking to get started with the Carousel format? Check out our post 3 Easy Ways to Enhance Your Carousel Ads.

Facebook Canvas Ads

It’s not surprising that the majority of time users spend on social media is spent on mobile devices. Knowing that the majority of user’s access to Facebook is on mobile, Facebook recently introduced Canvas ads, an immersive mobile-only experience where businesses can tell their stories and showcase their products. With Canvas ads, users can easily swipe or scroll through a carousel of images, watch videos, and tilt to view panoramic images, all on their mobile device. This new storytelling format gets users to engage with the brand and if users are willing to engage, they are more likely to take another step into the purchase process. International brands such as Coca Cola and L’Occitane have already used this ad format to showcase products and tell a story about their products. Check out their stories below.

 

Twitter Carousel Ads

Similar to the Facebook Carousel ad, Twitter is in the process of rolling out a Carousel ad format that will allow advertisers to include multiple tweets with videos, images, or text within a single swipeable ad unit. Although this new format is only currently available as an alpha test for select managed accounts, it won’t be long until it’s available to all accounts. If the new format is similar to Facebook’s it has potential to generate high click-through rates.

 

If you are a brand or retailer that is looking for a new way to increase engagements and click-through rates on your social media ads, be sure to try one of these three social media ad formats and tell us how it works. Not sure how to implement these into your content calendar, contact us and we’d be happy to consult with you!



Ignite Social Media