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Let’s be honest: advertising on Facebook successfully is not easy. Its power to attract and close customers for pretty much any industry is undeniable, but that’s only if you know how to navigate and optimize the anatomy of a Facebook Ad.
When it comes to creating a Facebook ad for your business, there are a lot of different things to consider. How much text is too much? What should it say? Video or image?
And that’s on top of all the budget, strategy, and setup logistics.
It can be overwhelming but taking it step-by-step helps. Here, we’ll do just that, focusing on my favorite part of the whole process (and also the area where I shine brightest): the creative.
Looking for a detailed guide for getting started with Facebook ads? This blog article has you covered.
Table of Contents
In 2025, there are two main types of Facebook Ads — in-feed and right-column ads.
Right-column ads are only visible on desktops and are pretty minimal, with just a tiny image and headline to work with. Plus, with almost 99% of users accessing Facebook on mobile, these ads also don’t get as much attention, so I won’t cover them here.
(Note: If you’re curious about them, head on over to Facebook.)
Instead, I’m going to focus on in-feed ads. In-feed ads come in four different formats (which we’ll get into) and are made up of five key parts:
Let’s break down each of these using a snazzy ad I caught in my feed from Book of the Month.
Contrary to what its name suggests, your headline is not the first thing people see at the top of your ad. (That would be your profile picture and brand name.) It is, however, the boldest piece of text that appears below your visuals and next to your call-to-action button.
Your headline is basically your main value proposition — what you’re offering your audience and want them to engage to receive.
Meta Ads Manager claims it can be up to 255 characters long, but with the limited visual real estate, I’d warn against that. Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a headline that went past 10 words. A great Facebook Ad headline is short, clear, catchy, and compelling. It makes someone want to click.
This is where your conversion copywriting skills come in. Show personality or even play around with formatting (capitalization, symbols) and emojis to stop your audience in their scroll.
Pro tip: Try turning your headline into a verbal call-to-action that aligns with your button. This doubles down on your message and creates a more seamless experience.
Now, in my experience (and that of many other marketers, I’m sure), your media is the most important part of your Facebook Ad. It takes up the most real estate and is almost always what your audience will notice first in their feeds.
The media of your Facebook Ad will depend on the format, but they all appear in the same place — below your name and profile picture and above your headline and call-to-action/button.
There four main ad formats are Flexible, Single Image or Video, Carousel, or Collection, but your media is the focal point regardless of which you choose.
A Flexible ad lets Facebook’s ad delivery system decide what media or combination of different types (such as a single image, video, or carousel) to show to your audience.
With it, you can provide up to 10 images and videos for the system to choose from, but this format is currently only available for sales or app promotion ad objectives.
Now, this format is exactly what it sounds like — it’s a Facebook Ad that has a single image or video as its focal point. It’s one of the most universal options and arguably the one that looks most like an organic Facebook post.
Our handy dandy Book of the Month ad is an example of a single-image ad.
And here’s a great video ad from Aloha.
A carousel ad showcases two or more images and videos in a single ad.
One unique feature of this format is that each image or video can have its own headline, description, link, and call-to-action.
This can be extremely useful for highlighting multiple products at once and is common with eCommerce sites like Ulta.
The Collection Facebook Ad format pairs a video or image with a row of product images below it. It’s great for highlighting specific features or abilities of a single product
A Collection also comes with the option to use what Facebook calls an Instant Experience — a full-screen landing page that loads instantly when someone taps on the ad on Facebook or Instagram.
Source
The third part of a Facebook Ad is your copy or what the Meta Ads Manager calls your “primary text”). Thinking of standard, organic posts on Facebook, this is essentially the caption of your ad.
In it, you can use @ to tag Facebook profiles or Pages and Facebook recommends using 125 characters or less. This copy appears in most placements, though the position varies.
Pro tip: Caption writing is a common use-case for AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or even HubSpot’s Free AI Content Writer, but as I always warn you, tread lightly.
AI is a handy brainstorming and drafting tool, no doubt, but it needs editing to truly capture your brand and a human tone. More on that here.
The next piece of your Facebook Ad puzzle is your description, which is super vague and confusing if you ask me.
With its placement — sitting underneath the headline in faint text, next to your call-to-action — it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly it’s describing.
Plus, Facebook notes that it won’t be displayed for all ad placements, especially if you have a longer headline.
That said, any space you have to capture your message shouldn’t be wasted. There isn’t much here, but you can use it to include extra little details you want people to know like “free shipping” or “offer ending soon!”
Last, we have your button or call-to-action — the actual link that you need audiences to click to take advantage of the offer showcased in your ad.
Now, you don’t have to include a button, but it does make it much clearer to those viewing your ad what they need to do next. It eliminates confusion and just makes for a much better user experience.
Button text options vary depending on campaign type/objective, and Facebook doesn’t allow you to add custom text, but it does have a long list of common options like learn more and shop now.
Now that you know what makes up the anatomy of a Facebook Ad, how can you optimize them to achieve your goals? Let’s unpack a few actionable tips.
In a recent HubSpot study, marketers said Facebook offers the second-best audience targeting tools of all social media platforms, losing out to YouTube by just 1%. That’s one of the best things about it.
With the wealth of information shared on Meta, you can target people using demographics, interests, or even previous activity on and off the platform, among other things. (More on that here.) It only makes sense that you get just as niche with your ad content to match.
For example, imagine you’re an online retailer like Amazon that sells pretty much everything under the sun.
You can easily go general and speak to anyone and everyone, but why would you, when creating ads specific to smaller audiences (e.g., people identifying as women in their 30s, teens who like gaming, etc.) gives you a better chance of earning clicks?
This Old Spice ad is an excellent example of going niche.
Sure, it could appear to be any old commercial for the brand at first glance, but calling out Costco specifically and linking directly to the retailer’s website makes it clear they’re trying to reach a certain clientele.
The more specific you get with your content, the more likely it will strike a chord and resonate with your intended audience.
Research shows including people in your marketing helps your audience envision themselves using your product or service. In fact, one experiment found that photos of people helped increase a brand’s conversions by more than 95% over other alternatives.
Showing people helps audiences actually picture what their lives could look like if they clicked the button to buy or learn more. It helps eliminate some mystery of what they’re getting into and makes them more comfortable taking action.
Take this ad from Cycling Frog seltzer, for instance. If you’re wondering what trying the company’s product will be like, just take a good look.
The simple but creative ad shows a young, laughing woman buried in confetti and holding a can of Cycling Frog.
The company’s About Us page reads, “Life’s Short. Enjoy the Ride,” and that’s precisely the energy this ad captures.
Facebook, like most social media, is an increasingly visual world. Of course, you want to capture details like your differentiators and main offer but do so as concisely as possible.
Orange Theory does an impressive job with that in the ad below. Not a single sentence (even the fine print) is longer than five words, but it still manages to leave no question unanswered.
What do you get by clicking? A free class that will help you build muscle, burn calories, and see results. And bonus: Some smiling faces will be there to greet you as well.
(Side note, but this is also great choice of image, considering its sense of community is another big selling point for the company.)
Pro tip: Incorporate relevant emojis. They can help draw the eye and also make your message appear more friendly and casual.
Overcomplicating your Facebook ad can lead to distraction. Like you would a website or landing page, ask yourself what’s the one big thing you want people to see or pay attention to and make that the center of your ad.
Candlelight Concerts nails this.
The event company has shows all year round, but this minimalist ad wants people to know they can make the perfect Valentine’s Day date.
With this message in mind, the ad showcases a striking, close-up image of two people holding hands surrounded by candles as they would be at a concert. It grabs your eye and perfectly captures a romantic “this could be you” energy.
Consumers will always believe other people more than they believe in brands, and who can blame them? Marketers are trying to sell something, after all.
Thankfully, incorporating real outside support for your claims, such as customer reviews, awards, sales numbers, etc., (aka social proof) can help quiet your audience’s reluctance and make them feel more comfortable taking action.
Kind Laundry does a great job of directly adding a quote, name, and rating from a real customer to its ad.
Pro tip: Don’t fake your social proof. Nothing is a secret on the internet, and if you make an award or sales number up, your audience can easily find out, and that trust is hard to regain.
Storytelling in marketing and advertising is nothing new. Stories make information (including marketing messages) easier for people to grasp and remember using emotion and relatable experiences.
That said, telling a story with your Facebook Ad can engage your audience and fit more naturally into the platform’s culture. People turn to Facebook to connect with friends and family.
Creating an ad that feels like you’re just catching up with a loved one blends in.
In this video example, our friends on the INBOUND team take us through a day at the event with one of the speakers. It offers a first-hand look at what it’s like attending and comes off as just an approachable video from a friend.
Pro tip: You can tell a story through any format, really, but carousels and videos lend themselves to it more easily. Videos are self-explanatory, but with carousels, look to advance the story with each slide/frame.
So, how do the tips we shared look when they all come together? Here are some of the best Facebook ads from my feed in the past week and what they did right.
What I like:
What I like:
What I like:
What I like:
What I like:
Looking for more Facebook Ad Examples? Check out “16 of the Best Facebook Ad Examples That Actually Work (And Why)” or our free lookbook, “50 Facebook Ad Examples We Actually Clicked.”
Mastering Facebook Ads doesn’t have to be hard. While the names and logistics can be a bit confusing (just like human anatomy), once you get the hang of them, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish for your brand with Facebook Ads.
Keep this cheat sheet in your back pocket, and you’re ready to create Facebook ads that catch eyes, get clicks, and drive real results from your target audience.
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