Why You Should Know and Love Facebook’s Carousel Ads

Capacity Interactive AUTHOR: Capacity Interactive
Jun 17, 2015
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Does your News Feed seem a little different? It’s not your eyes deceiving you—it’s Facebook’s carousel ads.

Facebook first introduced this ad format almost a year ago, formerly dubbed as “multi-product ads.” Now, more advertisers are embracing the format with some really creative ads. I’ll give you the low-down, share some examples and tips, and you can take it from there!

What are carousel ads?

Carousel ads allow advertisers to showcase 3-5 products within a single ad unit. Each product has its own image, description, and if desired, click-through URL. They have the same sophisticated targeting capabilities available through Facebook Ads Manager, but your ad campaign goals must be set to Website Clicks or Conversions.

The carousel slides can be set to a customized order, or can be rotated based on Facebook’s optimization. Although many advertisers use the format to showcase different products, you can use your imagination and highlight various items or topics. For example, recipes from a cookbook:

Why You Should Know and Love Facebooks Carousel Ads

What we like about them.

Carousel ads are excellent thumb-stoppers and are easy to use. But they’re not just pretty to look at—they really do work. These ads generate 20-30% lower cost-per-click as compared to standard link ads with a single image.

We’ve used carousel ads for a handful of our clients and we’ve seen a dramatic increase in click-through-rate. One client more than doubled their CTR: compare 2.70% from a higher-performing single-image link ad to an outstanding 5.75% earned by a carousel link ad. In fact, many of our clients consistently see CTRs upwards of 3.50% on carousel ads. What’s not to “Like?” (Pun intended) 

When to use them.

Use carousel ads when you want to feature multiple items or topics in a single post. Group items together that motivate a single action from your consumer (buy a ticket, subscribe, sign up for a class, etc.) It is essential to feature striking photos, each with a single focal point that can be appropriately captioned to support your overall message.

Arts and cultural organizations could use carousel ads to feature:

  • Upcoming performances
  • Artists appearing in a single show or performance
  • Works of art in an exhibition
  • Shows or performances in a subscription package
  • Benefits of subscribing
  • Positive reviews from the press
  • Upcoming classes or workshops

 
Examples in action.

Check out some of our clients who have done a great job mastering carousel ads.

Signature Theatre's sponsored Facebook carousel post
Second Stage's sponsored Facebook carousel postBravo Vail's sponsored Facebook carousel post

Here’s more information and ad specifications. Happy advertising!

 

Have you used Facebook’s carousel ads? Tell us more in the comment section!