Ad placements – what are they and how to choose them? Part 1: Facebook.

Facebook is the most extensive advertising space of all Meta’s products. Years of collecting data on users not only allows it to target ads effectively, but also to display them in places where getting a click is most likely to happen for a given person. However, algorithms don’t always work, and many people still prefer to choose ad placements manually. You can find out about Facebook’s display ad options after reading this article.

Meta product ad placements – what are they and where to set them?

When creating a Facebook ad campaign, one of the steps is to choose where our ads will be displayed. Facebook calls such places “placements.” Their selection depends primarily on the advertising goal we want to achieve. Not all placements will work if you want to gain contacts, engagement or traffic (link clicks). In addition, it’s worth remembering that we won’t display every type of ad in every possible placement – some placements simply aren’t suitable for a video or product ad, for example.

Meta provides us with the ability to place ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Meta Audience Network. Each of these products offers a breakdown of specific placements that we can indicate or exclude when creating an ad campaign. 

To do this, go to the “Placements” segment at the ad set creation stage, and then select either “Advantage+ placements” (more on this later in the article) or “Manual placements.” By choosing the first option, it is the algorithm that will decide where our ads will be seen. “Manual placements” will allow us to choose the ad display locations ourselves. 

In addition to the placements, we can indicate the devices on which we want to advertise. The default (and recommended) is to select all devices – restrictions, for example, only to computers can be used in the case of a mobile site redesign (for trafiic campaigns) or mobile app ads. 

Types of ad placements 

Ad placements can be divided according to several criteria: the categories of display placements, the types of ads they serve or the sites where they appear. I chose the last option and listed the placements by Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. Earlier I mentioned that it is still possible to use the Meta Audience Network and the Oculus mobile app, but these channels are less popular and still not as effective as the main three. In this part of the article I will focus on Facebook, the second will cover Instagram and Messenger.

Facebook ad placements

When we turn on Facebook, we are inundated with ads from all sides. These are not ads that interfere with the use of the site. There are no pop-ups or colorful banners. Instead, we see sponsored posts, product ads or small ads in the right column. Facebook offers the most placements of all Meta’s products. Among them, we find those specifically for video or product ads. However, the most popular placement is “News”.

In most placements, Facebook allows you to choose the configuration of a single image or video, carousel or collection. Images should be in square format (1:1) and videos in vertical rectangular format (4:5). However, some placements require additional conditions or impose configuration restrictions, which I will mention when describing placements.

News

News are all the posts, photos, status changes and information about events and likes that display in the main “feed” after logging into Facebook. The user, while browsing through them, comes across an ad from time to time. 

This placement allows us to use every available marketing target of an ad campaign – only in the case of a campaign for traffic can we not select the “application” option.

Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is a platform that allows you to sell and buy items from other users. Although it is much less popular than, say, Allegro or OLX, it has its followers. Going to the “Marketplace” tab, the first thing we see are products that, according to Facebook’s algorithms, are likely to interest us. Among them we find sponsored content, or simply ads. These are not always product ads – there are also graphic ads, carousels and videos.

Facebook does not allow the use of a “collection” configuration for ads in the Marketplace.

The goals available for placement are recognition, traffic (without the app), engagement (without the app, and we can only use video in the case of activity in the ad), contacts, app promotion and sales

Video sources

These are places on Facebook where only videos are displayed. Clicking on a video on Facebook will give us hints of other materials similar in theme. If we decide to scroll through them, we go into a mode similar to Reels on Instagram or TikTok. In the case of the mobile app, this is called “Facebook Watch.” Among the videos posted by users, we can place our ads.

The configuration of ads is limited in the case of ads with an activity target. We won’t use image, carousel or collection here.

The adverts will not be used here.

For video sources, all ad campaign goals are available except in-app activity and contact (in-app and as calls).

Right column

A frequently overlooked placement. Due to its small size, not all images are readable enough on it. It is used as one of the placements, few choose to display ads exclusively in the right column. The right column only displays when using a computer. 

The no position is available for the following goals: recognition, activity, contacts, application promotion.

Facebook Business Explore

Rarely used placement – ads display to users who click on a company’s post headline or its comment displayed in the news (on mobile devices). 

Available campaign goals: traffic (beyond calls and the app), activity on the app and site, contacts on the site and through the app, promotion of the app and sales Carousel configuration is not available for some purposes. In no case can the “collection” be used.

Facebook Relationships

The Stories format was copied from Instagram, and it’s all about displaying simple tiles with a photo or video in full-screen mode. The user, scrolling through the accounts of his friends or liked pages, from time to time comes across sponsored content.

The ad format here is default (1:1 – image, 4:5 – video), and only campaigns for traffic (calls), activity (in the app and on the Facebook page) and in-app contacts and sales are excluded from the campaign goals.

Rolls

Another format for short videos added by users. Also among them was a place for sponsored content. The preferred ad format is a video, but in most cases a single image can also be used. 

We will place ads here for campaigns aimed at recognition, traffic (directed to the site or Messenger), engagement in advertising, certain types of contacts, application promotion and sales on the site.

In-stream video

Here we are talking about longer forms of video on Facebook. These will be video content that is more extensive than reels or live broadcasts. The ads will consist only of a video or (in some cases) a single image. We will not use collection or carousel configurations here.

We will include here ads whose goals do not include interaction with apps and the Facebook page.

Search results

The option works for Marketplace and standard search results. When a user searches for a specific profile or product, the sponsored content appears adjacent to the search results. 

All campaign goals, except those related to the app, allow ads to be placed in search results.

Facebook ad placements – what’s worth remembering?

All of the above mentioned placements simply work. However, not always and not in every case. Depending on the content of our advertisement, the target audience and the purpose of the advertising campaign, we will choose different placements. When choosing the placement of our advertisement, it is worth considering that:

1. Advertising is almost always a good choice. Whatever the subject of the ad, we want it to occupy the center stage of the computer or smartphone screen. 
2. It is difficult to use, for example, the right column or Facebook Business Explore as the only placement. It is worth using them as one of many placements.
3. When preparing a creative, you should plan where to display it. Graphics displayed in the right column should be simpler and clearer, due to the small size of this placement.
4. It is a good idea to use ads in video format in placements designed for this purpose – video sources, reels or in-stream video. Videos perform better here than single images.
5. For product ads, the preferred placement (besides news) is Facebook’s marketplace. 
6. It is advisable to match the ad’s display location to its subject matter – an ad for a brokerage house or law firm should not be displayed among the rolls, whose subject matter is usually looser.

Facebook – summary

Now you know what the “placement” option set at the ad set level is for. It primarily refers to how ads are displayed in various places within the Facebook platform itself and external sites and apps that work with Facebook.

When we talk about advertising on Meta’s products, we primarily mean Facebook. Advertising campaigns here are the most extensive and allow for more configurations than in the case of Instagram and Messenger. This also applies to the possibilities of ad placements. The number of ad placements that are available is constantly expanding, and algorithms are getting to know users more and more. It may turn out that the placement that is currently most effective for a sales campaign will, in a while, only be an addition to a new placement that has yet to appear. This should be kept in mind when updating our campaigns. It is also worth testing different placements and their combinations. You may find that your creative, combined with the right target group, will be attractive enough that customers will click on it, even if they see it in the right column.

When choosing placements, be guided by your campaign objective, target audience and ad content. Be sure to test different possibilities, and check out Advantage+’s automatic ad placements. 

If you want to learn more about social media ad placements, check out the second part of the article, about Instagram and Messenger.

A good place is a key issue not only in the cinema!

If, after reading the article, you still do not know “which seat will be the most comfortable” for your ads, leave this decision to us! We will check, test and find the best solution!

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