Table of contents
In the previous part of this article, I outlined what ad placements are and what to consider when choosing where to display our Facebook ads. This part will cover Meta’s next products – Instagram and Messenger. I will also answer the question, “Is it worth choosing placements at all?”
If you don’t know what placements are, where to set them or what to keep in mind, go back to the first part of the article Sticking with the division I used there, we will separate the placements according to the service in which they appear.
Ad placements on Instagram
Instagram is designed to attract us with graphic content – photos, graphics and videos. For this reason, we will not find here the equivalent of all Facebook placements. We have moved only those that rely heavily on graphic creations and (especially for some time) video.
Similar to Facebook, not all ads will serve the same goals Instagram also restricts certain formats of graphics and videos, but I’ll talk more about that with specific placements. It’s also worth remembering that on Instagram, the “Collection” configuration will only be used when placing ads on Stories.
News
News on Instagram, like on Facebook, is the central part of the application. It is the first element a user will see after logging in. Compared to Facebook, the main content here is images, and descriptions are only complementary. Ads placed here will only be displayed to users on the mobile app.
This is where we can place all ads, regardless of the purpose of the campaign to which they belong. It is worth noting the format: the standard recommended is square (1:1) for images and rectangle (4:5) for videos.
Profile updates
When we browse someone’s profile on Instagram, its main content is photos. However, for some time now, among them, we can find advertising banners of sites we do not follow. The ads only appear on public profiles belonging to people who are at least 18 years old. However, we can’t choose the category or specific profile on which our ads will be displayed.
We can place an ad in the profile’s news feed for a campaign aimed at recognition, contact, app promotion and sales. In most cases, we will use all configurations of advertising, namely: image, video and carousel.
Explore on Instagram
The Explore tab allows you to browse photos and profiles of people you don’t follow, based on your interests and observed profiles. This space is also used as an advertising space. Instagram suggests using ads prepared for the News placement here, due to the similar format of the two placements.
Similar to News, we can place ads here regardless of the campaign goal. The only exceptions are campaigns with the purpose of promoting the application, the placement of which is blocked.
The only exception is campaigns with the purpose of promoting the application, the placement of which is blocked.
Store
The Shop tab is the equivalent of Facebook’s Marketplace. Like there, the space is mainly for product ads, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only type allowed. Ads placed on the store card will be marked as “sponsored,” and users will be redirected to a customer page or directly to check out when they click on the ad, depending on the settings.
Although the store is an ideal place for ads whose purpose is sales, we can place campaigns here with any purpose except recognition.
Instagram Stories
Stories is one of the most popular and effective ad placements on the Instagram app. As one of the pioneers of this type of relationship, the app continues to dominate over its Facebook counterpart, making companies more willing to use this placement. Here we can use photos and videos of all sizes, but note that they are mostly displayed on rectangular smartphone screens.
The placement allows us to use ads from all campaigns, regardless of the purpose. Stories is the only place on Instagram where we can post ads in the Collections configuration.
The Collections are the only place on Instagram where we can post ads in the Collections configuration.
Instagram Reels
Rolls became popular thanks to TikTok. It didn’t take long for Facebook and Instagram to implement similar solutions into their apps. The Reels tab on Instagram allows users to watch short videos, comment on them and like them. Among them, users hit paid ads. These are not much different from organic Reels — they too can be commented on, skipped or liked.
The site is designed to post short videos (up to 60 seconds) in a vertical, full-screen format.
For each campaign target, the allowed and recommended ad format is video.
Ad placements in Messenger
Some time ago Messenger could be considered part of Facebook. However, for the past few years it has been a separate application that is developed in a way that is unrelated to Facebook. This includes the ability to place ads in it, and is related to the ever-growing number of placements available in the app. At the moment, we have a choice of three main placements, which differ significantly from those we can find on Facebook and Instagram.
Inbox
When you turn on the Messenger app, a list of callers and the last messages you exchanged with them appears. Sometimes you will find an advertisement among them, which looks like the last conversation. In place of the profile picture, the company logo usually appears, and the content of the last message is a short headline and an encouragement to click on the ad. Once this is done, the ad will expand, allowing us to explore its broader content.
Originally, the placement type was only available for the “news” target, but currently (19.01.2023) Facebook does not provide the option to select this target. Ad placement in the Messenger inbox is, for the moment, only an element of Advantage+ placement and we cannot indicate it manually.
Messenger Stories
Almost the same as Instagram Stories and exactly the same as Facebook Relations. The content that users post on Facebook Relations and Messenger Stories is the same. The placements have been separated, however, so that advertisers can choose whether they want to display their ads in the Facebook app, Messenger or both places.
The recommended aspect ratio, as in the relationship on Instagram, is 9:16. Most ad targets are available. However, we will not use the goals for the app or Facebook page here.
Sponsored messages
If you, as a company, are communicating with your customers using Messenger, then you can use sponsored messages. These are messages, containing offers, promotions and updates, sent to people with whom your site has already had conversations. Such messages are not sent to people with whom you have exchanged messages in the last 24 hours or more than a year ago.
This placement is not used when creating ordinary campaigns. It is worth knowing that it exists, however, in order to place advertisements in it, you need to prepare content with similar characteristics as in the case of mailing.
The content must be prepared similarly as in the case of mailing.
Is it worth choosing ad placements in Meta products? — Adventage+
In addition to manual placement selection, Meta recommends using Advantage+ placement. This is nothing more than giving the full power of placement selection to algorithms. They segment audiences according to the likelihood of performing interactions at specific locations and display ads to users based on the data. Although this is a recommended option, according to many marketing agencies, it doesn’t always work. Often, the clicks obtained for campaigns on traffic using Advantage+ are random and low-value, and engagement amounts to empty impressions. Still, it’s worth testing ads using manual placement selection and Advantage+’s automated placements.
Summary
As you can easily see, ad placements on Instagram are mostly the equivalent of placements on Facebook. Also we have the main News feed, store card or testimonials and rolls. This means we don’t have to think about how to prepare ads to make them effective and attractive. If we can do it on Facebook, then Instagram will be no problem at all. However, it is worth remembering that Instagram is a service designed mainly for posting photos. If we want the ads to be as effective as possible, the main message should be posted on graphics, keeping text content to a minimum.
The case is different with Messenger. Meta is just developing this service, and some placements disappear and appear in the campaign builder. The ads placed there are quite different from those we would use on Instagram. The creatives differ not only in content, but also give different options, such as in the context of a button containing a CTA. Messenger is the app that gives us the fewest possibilities among Meta’s three main products. However, I am sure that in the future, Messenger’s advertising space will start to expand, making Messenger placements more and more numerous.
Finally, I will still refer to the first part of the article: there you can find information about the technical aspects of ads, depending on placements, and among other things, learn how placements work and where to set them up. There I also described all the most popular placements we use on Facebook and when it’s a good idea to use them. If you found yourself here without having read the first part before — I highly encourage you to do so.
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Hi! I have been involved in internet marketing for almost two years. I click on the computer and spend money that is not my own in such a way that it is most profitable for the owner of that money :) Despite a relatively short presence in the marketing industry, I have dealt with the largest Polish e-commerce companies. At UpMore I am responsible for managing projects including: in Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Apple Search Ads.