How to Create Facebook Carousel Ads in 2024 With Ease: A Quick Guide
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Carousel Ads are a type of ad format that allow small businesses to showcase multiple images or videos with individual links, all within a single ad. They're perfect for presenting a variety of products, telling a story, or even guiding customers through a step-by-step process.
I realize carousel ads might seem intimidating at first, but stick around, and soon you'll be able to leverage the benefits of carousel ads to boost your brand, attract new customers and meet your marketing goals.
What are Facebook Carousel Ads?
Carousel ads are an ad format that allows businesses to showcase multiple product images or services within a single, scrollable unit.
​You're able to to share up to 10 images or videos in a single ad, each containing its own link. This provides a great opportunity for potential customers to interact with various products or services being offered.
Single-image ads are mostly what you see, but if you are a business that has different products you might get better results with carousel ads.
​Carousel ads are the best way of highlighting different aspects of a single product as well, such as showing different angles, colors, or features. This makes it easier for potential customers to understand the product better before making a purchase decision.
As a social media strategist, I am always excited about the advertising options available on Facebook.
Another great way to use these ads is for storytelling
Benefits of Creating Carousel Ads
Using the Carousel ad format is a creative way to keep your potential customers interested in your offer.
You have the opportunity to engage your target audience with a series of images presenting a story or step-by-step process, such as a DIY tutorial, which is one of the best practices for a high click-through-rate.
By using multiple links in the carousel, you can direct users to specific product pages, increase your website traffic and ultimately increase the likelihood of conversions and sales.
Showcase multiple products or features in a single ad
You can include up to 10 cards with different images, links, and descriptions for each item, providing a richer and more dynamic experience than single-image link ads.
targeting capabilities
Of course one of the huge benefits of facebook ads is the detailed targeting capabilities on the platform, which helps you ensure that your ads are relevant and appealing to the right people.
visually engaging on both desktop and mobile devices
We're all used to scrolling on our phones, so Carousel ads have the same seamless scrolling experience we expect, and bonus: these ads typically result in a higher click-through rate (CTR) and engagement compared to a traditional single image ad.
dialed in metrics
Measure the users behavior to discover what the best-performing cards are, which will help for retargeting purposes. You'll then use the best performing cards in a new ad which will save your overall campaign budget, and get better results.
Carousel ads also support Facebook's automatic ad placements feature
This ensures your ads reach users across multiple platforms within the Meta ecosystem including Instagram.
How to create Facebook Carousel ads
1)Head to Facebook Ads Manager
First things first, navigate to the Facebook Ads Manager. This is where you'll create and manage all your ad campaigns. If you haven't used it before, follow along with this guide.
2)Choose Your campaign Objective
Once you're in the Ads Manager, it's time to select the objective for your campaign. Some good objectives for carousel ads are engagement, traffic, and conversions. Choose the one that aligns with your goals
3)Set up Your Audience
Next, you'll need to determine who you want to see your ads. You can get as specific as you want with age, gender, interests, and behaviors. You can learn more about setting up audiences here.
4) Set Your Daily Budget
Think about how much you're willing to spend. If you're just starting out using Facebook ads manager and haven't created any campaigns yet, you won't have a lot of data to reference. Ads are all about testing, so I recommend you have the mindset of “paying for data.” Don't worry; this daily budget isn't your forever budget. You can always adjust your budget later on if needed.
5) Ad Level: Create Your Carousel Ad
Now comes the fun part! Click on the “Carousel” format and start uploading your images or videos. Keep in mind that Facebook recommends a 1:1 aspect ratio for images and up to 1080p for videos. You can include up to 10 cards with each showcasing a different product, feature, or even a story.
6) Add Your Copy
Time to add headlines, descriptions, and calls-to-action for each card. Make sure to keep your text concise, clear, and engaging. Use a consistent tone and messaging across all cards and all your different landing pages for a seamless browsing experience.
7) Review & Publish Your Ad
Before you hit publish, take a moment to review your carousel ad. Have a look at the placement optimization feature in ads manager and Make sure that everything looks good: visuals, text, and links. If you're happy with the result, go ahead and submit your ad for review.
Facebook will notify you once your ad is approved and live, which is usually within 24 hours.
And there you have it!
Now that you know how to set them up, let's have a look at some good examples I've discovered out in the wild.
Carousel Ads Examples
I came across some really effective Facebook carousel ads that I would like to share with you. These examples will hopefully inspire and guide you in creating your own engaging carousel ads.
Zappos Shoe Store multiple products
This ad effectively highlights the variety of Steve Madden shoes on Zappos. Each image in the carousel features a pair of shoes, allowing potential customers to easily browse the products. Each card had a clear call-to-action, “Shop Now”, this ad encourages users to visit the brand's website or app.
Marriott Vacation Club promoting various destinations
I loved this carousel ad by Marriott Vacation Club that used beautiful, eye-catching images of multiple destinations to inspire Vacation Club owners to book their vacation. Each carousel slide showed the destination's name and a “Learn More” call-to-action button. The ad was visually appealing while quickly informing the viewers about the various travel options they could explore.
Square A tech company sharing a Personal Story
This particular carousel ad showcased one of Square's customers inspiring story with heartwarming images about her empowering giving spirit. The black and white is eye catching and the call to action button is “watch more”
Ad Video Credit: Hubspot
Remember, the goal of a carousel ad is to engage the audience through visually appealing images, informative text, and clear call-to-action buttons.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the specifications for a Facebook carousel ad?
Number of Cards: 2 to 10 images or videos.
Image Size: 1080 x 1080 pixels is recommended.
Image Ratio: 1:1.
Video Ratio: 1:1 (square) is recommended.
Video Duration: Up to 240 minutes, but shorter videos (15s-60s) are recommended for ads.
Video File Size: 4GB max.
Text: 125 characters (not including CTA).
Headline: 32 characters.
Link Description: 18 characters.
File Type: JPEG or PNG for images. GIFs are not recommended.
Please note: this changes frequently. Check here for up to date specifications
What are the costs involved in running Facebook carousel ads?
The cost of running carousel ads on Facebook varies based on factors like targeting, placement, ad quality, and bidding strategy. Facebook operates on a bidding system, so the actual cost can fluctuate. It's advisable to set a daily or lifetime budget, monitor the performance, and adjust accordingly. The Ads Manager dashboard provides insights on the ad's cost-per-result and overall spend.
What's a good number of carousel cards to make?
While you can have between 2 to 10 cards in a carousel ad, the optimal number often depends on your story or product features. However, studies suggest 3-5 cards tend to perform well, offering enough content to engage viewers without overwhelming them.
Is there a way to create an organic carousel on Facebook?
No, not as of the time of this writing. There is a work-around, but probably not worth the effort in my opinion. You can post on Instagram and share to Facebook if that helps.
To sum it up
Facebook Carousel Ads are an efficient and practical way of showcasing multiple products or services, increasing brand awareness, and driving more engagement. Using this format, you can make my advertising more dynamic and cater to a broader audience with varying interests.
Many marketers also find their costs go down using this format, but like I always say- it's all about testing. 🤓
I hope you found this helpful and thanks for reading! If you want help with your Meta Ads, feel free to connect with me on social! Join my Facebook Community for all things social media marketing!
