Transcript:

Looking to wow your customers with a carousel? No, not a fairground ride, I mean the ad format you can use on Facebook silly!

With the option of showcasing up to ten images or videos in a single ad, each with its own link, it’s a great way to get creative.

And with carousel ads promoting a 72% higher click-through rate, who are you to argue?

Ready yourself for a good spin, because Wednesdays and your ads are about to get GIANT. 

Hi! my name is Ben and welcome to Giant Wednesday, the only place to be to discover the wonderful world of digital marketing. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and post your comments below.

Facebook advertising offers a whole host of options and benefits to explore – so whether you’re looking to increase sales for a new service or boost brand awareness, there’s an ad format for you.

The one we’re focusing on today is carousel ads. They look a little bit like this… 

As I mentioned, they give you the opportunity to display up to ten images or videos within a single ad.

This additional creative space, in comparison with other formats, means that you can highlight different products, bring attention to specific details about one product, service or promotion, or use the multiple tiles to tell a story, and take the viewer on a journey. 

Carousels won’t always be the best way for you to promote what you want to promote, so don’t get too excited and rush into it without a bit of consideration.

It’s common sense now that people like to interact with things on the internet and this ad format allows this, giving them a chance to ride along with a prolonged brand experience.

They’re really useful for generating traffic, conversions, brand awareness and lead gen campaigns.  

And if you’re clever, you can see past their obvious e-commerce benefits and mould them to fit your own objectives.

So, if it sounds like the kinda ad for you, then I’ve got 5 tips for getting the most out of carousel ads on Facebook.

Tip #1 – make sure that a carousel is the best option

Sometimes it’s tempting to try things just because you’ve seen someone else do it, or because you like the way it looks – but that’s not always the road to success.

Don’t just opt for carousel ads because you think it looks cool – make sure that it’s a format that suits your audience, and suits the content you’re promoting as I’ve just mentioned.

If you can say what you need to say in one image, then don’t drag it out over 6 for no real reason. People will get bored, and bored people don’t convert.

Tip # 2 – make sure it’s visually appealing

With the option to add up to 10 cards, it’s important to make sure that your visuals are on point. 

Use different images for each card, and put the most eye-catching first, to grab peoples’ attention.

You can also tick a box which allows Facebook to optimise your carousel ads based on which image is getting the most engagement – but be careful, if your visuals hold a narrative, you might want to leave that box unticked.

Tip #3 – use videos in the carousel!

Video is a great way to catch the attention of over-saturated social media users, with carousels offering a great way to break up your video into digestible chunks.

Plus, they promote interaction from the user through the swiping element, which helps to get them invested and encouraging them to take action. 

You can add up to 240 minutes of video to carousel ads, which gives you the opportunity to portray more information in a short amount of time.

Tip #4 – make it dynamic

You can use the carousel format to create dynamic ads which is a funky way of saying personalised content.

Doing this automatically use images and information from your catalogue of products or services to promote products to people who’ve shown an interest on your website. 

You will need to upload a catalogue containing product and service information if you want to advertise using this format, as well as making use of Facebook pixel to understand how people interact with your ads – and your website as a whole.

We’ll explore the Facebook Pixel and dynamic ads in future episodes so hit the subscribe button to be notified.

Tip #5 – tell a story… 

I briefly mentioned before about being able to use your ad visuals as a narrative. 

Well, this ad format gives you such a great opportunity to tell a story to your views which make the prospect of engaging way more enticing for them. 

You can use the narrative to build suspense and encourage people to scroll through, using the text captions on each card to emphasise your points. Everyone likes a good story, after all!

Here’s one we made before that did just that!

And that’s some advice for you, from me, for free. You’re welcome!

Once you’ve got the hang of them, carousel ads are a great tool for helping you to achieve your business goals.

With success stories showing stats like 30-50% lower cost-per-conversion, 20-30% lower cost-per-click, and generally higher engagement than single-image link ads, there’s never been a better time to use carousel ads to share your brand story. 

So now you’ve got a few things to consider I’ll leave you to get building. If you need any help with setting them up or have any further questions on this ad type then pop them in the comments below.

That’s it for today, go forth and comment your views, give us a like and subscribe to see more great digital and marketing content every week.

Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next week for another GIANT Wednesday.

Giant Wednesday