In yet another move to promote online sales, Facebook has introduced a new ad unit that combines the visual appeal of video along with the selling features of a digital catalogue. Facebook Collections, made specifically for mobile, allows business to create an ad that features a video on the top half and four images of products from their product catalogue on the bottom.
Businesses can also build these ads with a picture or slideshow on the top half if they don’t have a video. However, considering that almost three-quarters of consumers indicate that there is a connection between viewing a video on social media and making a purchase, these ad units are a perfect opportunity to showcase your brand on video.
Clicking on Facebook’s Collection Ads will lead potential consumers to a fast-loading catalogue page set within the Facebook framework where they can view up to 50 of a brand’s products. Should they choose one of those products to purchase or want to learn more, clicking on the ad will take them to the businesses’ website or app.
To create your own Collection ad, you will first need to add a Product Catalog. The catalog can be added through their Facebook Business Manager account, a process we detailed in our previous blog post on Facebook’s Dynamic Ads.
Once the product catalog is added, you can create the ad through your Facebook Ads Manager page by choosing either the Traffic or Conversions ad objective and then clicking continue.
The next step is to indicate where you would like users to go once they click on the Collection ad. The options are either App or Website or Messenger. If you choose the App option, Facebook recommends linking users directly to a business’ products within the app.
The next step is to decide on the audience, budget and schedule for the ad and then click continue.
From there, choose the Collection ad format.
At this point, users can build the unit itself, indicating whether the top half should be a video, an image or a slideshow. For video, it should fit either the 1:1 or 16:9 format. For images, the size should be 1200 x 628 pixels. To complete the look of the top half of the ad, users should choose the correct Facebook page, a headline (25 characters) and text (90 characters).
From the drop-down menu, select your pre-loaded product catalog. Indicate the product set you would like to highlight in the ad or create a new one by clicking the plus button.
To start building the bottom half of the Collection ad, select the Mobile News Feed option under Ad Preview. At this point, a pop-up window may appear asking you to remove all non-mobile placements. Click the Remove Placements button to resolve the issue.
The final step is choosing the four products that will make up the bottom half of the ad. The default option is four products Facebook has ranked by likelihood of purchase. However, you can choose your own four products to post by clicking Change and selecting four images from the product set. We’d recommend four different products to ensure you capture a wide range of interests. Just make sure the products you choose makes sense with the video, image or slideshow at the top of the ad.
Once you’ve picked the products, choose the Preview option below Post Click Experience to see how the ad will appear once clicked by Facebook users.
The final steps are to click on the external link icon in the top right corner and choose the Send Notification to Facebook option in order to get the ad approved.
Click the Place Order option to finish the ad. As with all ad unit, you will be notified once the ad is approved.
The Facebook Collection Ads are still being rolled out so it may not be available on everyone’s business page. Contact your Facebook representative to find out when the option will be available to you.
