The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Carousel Ads

Social media advertising has bypassed the power of billboards. They left the word-of-mouth speechless, taking over the whole audience control. Social media advertising is the technique of using social networking sites to deliver a marketing message to audiences. This is a paid method to complete a digital marketing campaign, gain new leads, enter new markets, or make a profit. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the most popular sites to launch advertising. These platforms make reaching consumers quick and smooth with ease of application and the spread of realization.

The accessible data allows marketers to personalize and customize their advertising campaigns for the target audience groups. Marketers have more information about current and prospective customers than ever before. They use this knowledge to communicate effectively, convert and retain their customers.

Compared to other forms of advertising, social media ads are budget-friendly and promise high rates of ROI. Depending on the audiences you want to reach and the intent of your campaigns, advertising platforms and types will vary. We distinguish the following ad forms:

• Static image ads

• Video ads

• Stories ads

• Messenger ads

• Carousel ads

The latter is on our agenda today. Facebook carousel ads have become current thanks to being efficient to the marketer and beloved by the consumer. This article will expand the topic of Facebook Carousel Advertisement and discuss how and why to create them.

Here is Your Guide to Facebook Carousel Ads

First things first, let’s start from the essence.

What is a Facebook carousel ad?

The most creative and flexible ad form, a Facebook carousel ad, allows you to display a few images or videos in one ad unit. The number of images and videos can range from 2-10. Each item has its headline, descriptive wording, link, and CTA (call to action). To view the full ad, users swipe left on mobile or click the arrows on the right when viewing on desktop. You can place this ad on the feed, messenger, or an Audience Network.

The flexibility of the Facebook Carousels doesn’t incorporate space and size. Facebook has distinct metrics and measures for a reasonable carousel ad. Learn the requirements before placing a carousel ad on Facebook.

Visual Nice-to-haves:

• Image file type: JPG or PNG

• Video file type: MP4, MOV or GIF

• Ratio: 1:1

• Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels

Content Nice-to-haves:

• Main text: 125 characters

• Headline: 32 characters

• Description: 18 characters

• Landing page URL: Required

Technical Must-to-haves:

• Number of carousel items: 2 to 10

• Image file size: max 30 MB

• Video file size: max 4 GB

• Video duration: 1 second - 240 minutes

• Aspect ratio tolerance: 3%

Reasons to Use Facebook Carousel Advertisements

Social media marketing campaigns are huge and wild games among marketers. They vie for customers’ attention and trust; ads are the converting strategies. Thus, every marketer needs solid reasons to utilize an ad type. Facebook Carousel Ads have a lot of advantages over the single-image ad format. There are multiple reasons to use them in your campaigns.

1. Facebook Carousel Advertisements are Engaging

The manifold nature of the Carousel Ads attracts more viewers than any other ad form. Since you have more room to experiment and flex with the advertisement, you can include multiple visuals in one single go and present it in the most attractive “wrapping”. This look and arrangement make viewers want to swipe or click for the next one. It is like a magic box; you don’t know the content. The sequence of actions leads the users’ engagement to rise and eventually ends up on the business page through the link to take action.

2. Facebook Carousel Advertisements Bring More Traffic

The lack of scarcity expands chances to grab attention. Advertising on Facebook with Carousel Ads are the best way to generate traffic since they compose more than one headline, image, and place to put the ad message. You can experiment more and gain higher click-through rates. Through Facebook Carousel Ads, you can showcase the benefits of your product through attractive images and videos. Kinetic Social estimates that Facebook Carousels bring over 10 times more traffic than static sponsored Facebook posts. They are an engaging, fun, and interactive advertising method to promote your business on Facebook in front of its 2.934 billion monthly active users, who are a likely audience.

3. Facebook Carousel Advertisements Generate More Leads

More room to share the information, more information shared! Thanks to their engaging character, Facebook Carousel Ads effectively bring more leads. Variable format and the number of items let you share more of what you do, sell, offer, and who you serve. Since carousels drive people to your webpage, creating traffic makes it easier for you to collect customer information and grow your leads list. Thanks to customized targeting your ad can be shown to audiences in particular locations or interests. The size of lead generation from this type of ads depends on how creative you will get in persuading the viewers to click through.

4. Facebook Carousel Advertisements are Cost-Effective

The online advertisement has gone viral thanks to its cost-effectiveness. It fits the budgets of any business and market need. A Facebook Carousel Ad may cost from $0.50 to $2.00 per click, depending on the industry. Marketers always prioritize cost-effectiveness. They aim to reach maximum incomes with minimum investment. The objective when placing an online paid ad is cost-per-click and cost-per-conversion rates. Facebook Carousels are a winning game for advertisers. In fact, Facebook has claimed that the Carousel Ads require a 30–50% lower cost-per-conversion and 20–30% lower cost-per-click than the single-image Ads.

5. Facebook Carousel Advertisements are Versatile

Creating an ad takes a lot of effort, time, imagination, and resources. Why not compile multiple goals in one ad campaign? In a single Facebook Carousel Ad, you can lead customers to your website, educate them on your niche and company, provide contact information, including a call to action, lead them to download a free resource, etc. Facebook Carousel Advertisements have up to ten places for a CTA. You can put one on each image or video, shooting multiple birds in a shot. You can work your whole imagination and creativity.

6. Facebook Carousel Advertisements Boost Brand Awareness

High engagement and interaction result in one crucial business goal – brand awareness. Facebook Carousel Advertisements are the ideal way to tell a brand story and a creative way to enhance your brand awareness. Promotions with Facebook Carousels incite content engagement around a brand story. While you can design a good Twitter banner, use Instagram Reels, and other types of visual elements to improve your branding, Facebook carousels can perfectly promote your brand worldwide.

Imagine a brand showcasing the set of products they have available for sale. By introducing the offers, the business boosts brand recognition among the masses. The brand keeps the audience’s attention by sharing greater value from behind the screen. An original carousel ad has the potential to go viral, attracting new markets.

Steps to Create a Carousel Advertisement for Facebook

Aware of the essence and the requirements of the Facebook Carousel Ad and armed with the reasons to have it, it’s time to learn how to create one. Follow the steps below for a seamless first Carousel Ad creation.

• Choose the items you want to include in your ad, and be mindful of what visuals you use. Keeping the items around one topic in a similar style, colors, and moods is highly recommended.

• Download and access the Facebook Ads Manager app by logging into your Facebook business page.

• Click the “+” button to Create

• Choose the marketing objective. The options are Brand Awareness, Reach, Traffic, App installs, Lead generation, Messages, Conversions, Catalog Sales, Store traffic. Thus, it can vary from driving traffic to generating views, from page likes to video views. In this step, you can name your campaign, ad set, and ad on this page. Proceed with Continue.

• Set a budget optimization and schedule. It is possible to allocate a daily or lifetime budget for the ad. You can decide to run continuously, now or later. In this stage, you choose the audience: create a new audience or use the saved audience data. You can set A/B Testing and Special Ad Categories.

• Proceeding next is the Ads Tab, where you select the carousel option and upload the previously picked images and videos to use in the Facebook Carousel Ad.

• Check and verify the Payment Methods.

• Preview the Carousel.

• Click the “Publish” button.

• You’re ready to Track your successful ad campaign.

Ways to Use Facebook Carousel Ad

It’s time for the fun part. Having learned the importance, effectiveness, and power of the Facebook Carousel Ads, your imagination and creativity are ready to get down to business. Below are ways your imagination can mix with the carousel techniques for ultimate results.

1. Use Storytelling

The spin of a carousel is ideal for storytelling. Uploading multiple pictures and giving them a caption might not be engaging enough. Yet, serving them creatively will cover the story loop. Businesses can use a carousel post to tell the brand story, the story of a product, and customer or employee stories. Instead of directly promoting a product for sale, use the carousel ads to tell your brand’s unique narrative. You can create closer relationships by giving your audience an insider’s look into your brand. Stories incite commonality, a sense of belonging, and familiarity.

To drive the audience to go on with the narrative, you must hook them and grab their attention from the beginning. You want them to reach the end of the story; that’s to swipe through the Carousel. A landscape picture divided into several parts is a great way. You keep them in the hook of imagination to swipe for the end. Storytelling can be a superb strategy for any ad type; however, taking their captivating characteristics, Carousel Ads will work best for the narrative purpose. Mixing headings for texts and images for the visual effect create fruitful storytelling through carousels.

2. Showcase Social Proof

Social proof is a reason to confide in your brand. Sharing how your previous customers feel about your brand is a powerful way of converting potential. Carousel Ads will work great because you can compile a couple of reviews or testimonials in one post. It is a fact that positive word of mouth incites willingness to own the same product or use the same service. Happy customers are important since they drive others into the sales funnel.

Considering the advantages of reviews, Carousel Ads can work best to display multiple testimonials at one go. It is both the way of presenting and the amount of positivity you can transmit. Carousel testimonials will impress your audiences since consumers search online for a product. Others’ positive opinions play a vital role in their decisions.

The link on each testimonial can vary, taking the viewer to a purchase page. Align the variation according to the product mentioned in the review. Others’ words will place potential customers’ trust and confidence in your brand. The purchase will be closer than with a promotion image.

3. Present a Lineup

What better way to present a lineup of products than a Carousel Ad? Landing in front of your customers with a series of offers is an ideal way to boost sales and product awareness in one fell swoop. The fundamental goal of a carousel ad is to increase engagement. Voila, it is all you need to introduce your product line and encourage customers to look through and make a purchase. You can meet the purpose by linking each product with its purchase page on your eCommerce site. It is like giving your customers a digital catalog of your products to choose.

4. Make It a How-to

Multiple places to experiment will turn the Carousel Ads into a perfect method to show a process. A how-to-use, how-to-apply, how-to-make post will be engaging and intriguing for your customers. First, the viewer is pulled closer to the purchase when you show the how-to part behind the purchase. You simplify the use and purpose of the product. You take the burden off their shoulders. There is no need to worry about reading the instructions or following the guidelines since your Carousel Ad has explained them explicitly and in detail. Images and videos are great for s step-to-step guide. Showcasing the features, you can wrap the how-to in a guide format. With the guide, you create the best uses and benefits your customers will get.

Remember how you feel seeing your friend using the latest blender, making the best smoothies in seconds. You will probably feel jealous seeing the ease of use and convenience of those. Also, when you see the process, you instantly want to own one. The same applies to ads. When potential consumers see an item in use, something unveiled, unpacked, or discover the applications, they instantly wish for it. In other words, click on the link to buy one. Feature the usability, effectiveness, and daily application of an item.

5. Keep Customers Wondering

Incentives and interests. Carousel Ads can make the customers hold their breath until the last image, wondering what is coming next. As mentioned above, splitting a landscape image into several parts and featuring one after the other makes the viewer swipe through. In other words, a panoramic split keeps the observer wondering what the end is.

Besides wondering what a product looks like, you can make them take a step forward to buying. Customers will stick to the post when you promote a limited product, a discount around a specific period, or an attractive offer.

6. Make an Event Promotion

Facebook Carousels are ideal for promoting products as well as events, such as courses, training, or conferences. These can be on sale with the link as a CTA to buy the ticket. In each item of the Carousel disclose:

• details about the event

• information about when it will take place

• guest speakers

• the venue to attend

• what to expect

• how to buy tickets

• highlights and benefits of the event

• the opportunities it will open

Combine these points to create the feeling of “FOMO”. Event promotion via Carousel Ads will build up the hype among customers until the big day.

Let’s Talk Business

Which industry will get the maximum benefit from Facebook Carousel Ads? We talked a lot about promoting and leading to a purchase decision. We discussed that Facebook Carousel Ads would work best for driving the customers into the sales funnel. Generally, the basis of an ad is to convert and sell. Showcasing the products, especially online, which industry will it work better if not eCommerce? Facebook Carousel Ads are the quick display of the products and a quick selling chance. They also work as a quick way to pass the customer through the funnel. You tell a story, educate the audience on your niche, incite an interest, convince them they have a pain point and suggest a solution – all in a setting.

Information and product description mixed with a call-to-action. Facebook Carousel Ads can help eCommerce businesses increase their conversion rates and sales. eCommerce websites are sometimes unheard of. You will increase exposure and promote action by placing them as a Facebook Ad. You can get flexible with those Ads mingling various objectives in one campaign.

The Greatest Examples of Facebook Carousel Advertising

Facebook Marketing is a common practice among marketers. No one refuses to make use of the abundant opportunities that Facebook Carousel Ads, in particular, hold. Both heard and unheard businesses have promoted their advertising through carousels at least once. It’s worth perceiving the best practices for the best insights. Let’s jump right into it.

BarkBox

With dog owners as a target audience, BarkBox is a dog product seller. The Facebook Carousel Ad they created is a striking example of creativity and attractive design. They have used a panoramic image as a promotional image dividing it into a couple of cards. Each card featured a description and benefits to viewers. The ad arouses interest, making them swipe until the end.

Shein

Targeting females with its reasonable pieces and interesting, stylish clothing items, Shein has not ignored the power of Facebook Carousel Advertisements either. They made a carousel ad to promote the Black Friday sales and introduced the clothing categories and available discounts. The unique thing they did was add an ID to search for that particular item. It was a well-thought eCommerce practice.

H&M

The clothing shop targeted the LGBT community with its Facebook Carousel Ad. They created the ad to promote their pride collection. The trick they used was placing the frank looks on models in the images. Through this move, they created mutuality and made the target audience find themselves in the ad.

PicsArt

The popular photo and video editing platform decided to promote the app through the Facebook Carousel. They present the look the user can create through the app – minimal elements and edits. They aimed to boost the installations, so they placed a CTA right in the carousel cards to lead the viewer to action.

LinkedIn

Yes, you read it right. LinkedIn used Facebook Carousel Ads for network promotion. The target of LinkedIn as a network is the professional working segment. With the ad, LinkedIn targeted professionals who wanted to increase their sales. They presented the network as the “place to shift the selling tactics”. Each card on the Carousel Ad had descriptive images, the benefits of the LinkedIn services, and a “learn more” CTA button.