A new look for Facebook Ads

To start this blogpost, let’s take a look at the current ad format. Your ads consists of 4 parts. The top part is your brand or business name and logo. Then comes the message or text you posted along with the ad, before the visual asset is displayed. You also have the option to add actions or call-to-actions as buttons on your ads, as listed below. (You can also take a look at our Facebook photo cheat-sheet here: http://blog.24sevensocial.com/facebook-picture-cheat-sheet/)

On monday 23rd, Facebook is updating the ad-formats in their ad network. This means that advertisers will have the ability to run enhanced and larger ads in the right column of the Facebook News Feed. The update will provide you with the bigger, more effective, and simpler to buy format for ads in the right-hand column. Making the ads bigger will be more consistent with ads that appear in the News Feed, as the new design shares the proportions of the desktop News Feed ads.

The update will become effective for all advertisers as of August 1st. One thing that is worth noting, is that all ads in the right-hand column will be subject of the 20% text policy as currently also applies to ads in the News Feed. There will also be changes in number of ads shown in the right-hand column. Facebook will show two larger format ads on every page:

So the current ad-placements that are now available on Facebook’s Ad Display Network are on News Feed mobile, News Feed desktop, and Right-hand side on Facebook. The update will bring more consistency, as your ads will be displayed similarly across the different placements.

How do you buy premium ads on Facebook? Take a look at the table below. (On a small screen? Click the picture for a bigger version)

(IO – means buying an insertion order through a Facebook representative)

So, in summary: your ads will now be more consistent across all devices. Here is the timeline for what to expect starting next week:

Starting immediately: You can take advantage of the better performance of the larger ads upon launch. It is important to bear in mind the upcoming 20% text policy when building creatives.

June 24th: Facebook will begin rolling out the new Right-Hand Column ad format. Ads that meet the specs for the new format will automatically be rendered in the large format. Ads that do not meet the specs will still be rendered in the smaller format.

From June 24th and onwards: There will be a moderate increase in CPM as ads start rendering in the larger format and will increase over time as more advertisers use the new format.

August 1st: All new Right-Hand Column ads that are created will be subject to the 20% text policy.

September 1st: All Right-Hand Column ads will be presented in the large format. So ads that do not meet the spec for this format will be declined.