In Social Media Management, you can easily create and manage your Facebook ad accounts' campaigns, ad sets, and ads all from within the Advertise module. Using any existing ad set, you can get started creating and managing ads by following the steps below. 

What Types of Ads Can I Create?

In Advertise, you can create the following types of Facebook ads:

• Image posts
• Video posts
• Link posts
• Carousel (multi-link) posts

Please bear in mind that the ads you can create may be limited by your campaign objective. For example, if your campaign has the Video Views objective, you may only create ads containing a video. Similarly, if your campaign has the Traffic objective, your ad must contain a link.

Creating a Single Image, Video, or Link Ad

1. In Advertise, below the Overview menu on the left, click Ads.
2. From the top right, click Create New Ad.
3. From the Campaign dropdown, select any existing campaign with any objective other than video views. (For assistance, visit our help center article on Creating and Managing Ad Campaigns).
4. From the Ad Set dropdown, select any existing ad set. (For assistance, visit our help center article on Creating and Managing Ad Sets).
5. Under Choose your Ad format, select Media Assets.
6. From the top right, click Next.

7. Optional: Give your Ad a name in the top left.

   Tip:

   We recommend standardizing your Advertise asset naming conventions. By default, Social Media Management will name your video ad FLC - *ad type* - *post text*. It will automatically add a preview of the post text, or state, "No post text," if the ad text field is left blank.

8. Click Add images and videos to add visual assets. You can choose to drag and drop, click to upload, select media from your ad account library, or upload from the Publish Content Pool. 

9. Define the properties of your ad, such as the Facebook channel, Instagram channel, text, duration, and labels. (See the Ad Properties section below for more detail).

   
10. Preview your ad in different placements by clicking the Preview dropdown.
11. If you’re happy with the ad preview, click Finish Ad from the top right.

Creating a Carousel/Multi-link Ad

1. In Advertise, below the Overview menu on the left, click Ads.
2. From the top right, click Create New Ad.
3. From the Campaign dropdown, select any existing campaign with any objective other than video views. (For assistance, visit our help center article on Creating and Managing Ad Campaigns).
4. From the Ad Set dropdown, select any existing ad set. (For assistance, visit our help center article on Creating and Managing Ad Sets).
5. Under Choose your Ad format, select Carousel.
6. From the top right, click Next.
7. Optional: Give your ad a name in the top left.
8. Click Add images and videos to add visual assets. You can choose to drag and drop, click to upload, select media from your ad account library, or upload from the Publish Content Pool. 
9. Drag and drop uploaded assets to re-arrange the order.
10. To the right of each individual asset, click the arrow dropdown to add a CTA, link, headline, or description.
11. Define the remaining properties of your ad, such as the Facebook channel, Instagram channel, text, duration, and labels. (See the Ad Properties section below for more detail).
12. If you’re happy with the ad preview, click Finish Ad from the top right.

Ad Properties

Facebook Channel

Lets you pick the Facebook channel to publish your ad to.

If your campaign objective is set to Reach or Page Likes, the Facebook channel is already defined at the ad set level. Therefore, your ad will automatically be created for that channel and this option can't be edited on the ad level.

Instagram Channel (Optional)

You can choose an Instagram channel to post your ad to. You can only choose the Instagram channel that is connected to the Facebook channel selected above.

If your campaign objective is set to Page Likes, your ad is not valid for Instagram and this option will be unavailable.

Instead of using an existing Instagram account, you can also use a "Page Backed Instagram Account," which has Facebook create a facade Instagram account that is used purely for your ads. It automatically uses your Facebook Page name and image to create a real looking Instagram account. You cannot log into the account and users cannot interact with it.

Ad text (Optional)

Write an ad text with a maximum of 125 characters including spaces.

Not all ad placements support an ad text. Review the ad previews in the center of the screen to find out which ad placements will contain text.

Image or video attachment

This option determines if your ad will become a video or an image ad.

For Media Asset ads, you can either add one video, or up to six images. For Carousel ads, you can add up to 10 images or videos. Drag your files to the upload box or click anywhere in the box to open a local file browser. Alternatively, you can also hover over the upload box and click Ad Account Library to open a list of previously used media files.

Find out more about the supported image and video properties in our media attachments guide.

Once you've added a video, you can optionally change the thumbnail to one of your own choosing.

If you add multiple images, each image will become its own separate ad. You can preview each by clicking through them at the top of the preview section.

Call to Action

You can add a Call to Action (CTA) button to your ad and choose the text on it.

There are a variety of options depending on the chosen objective and placement.

For the Page Likes campaign objective, your Call to Action button automatically becomes a "Thumbs Up" button.

Link to promote

Add a link that will be the destination for any user who clicks on the Call to Action button or the link preview under the media.

If you've chosen the campaign objectives Traffic (App), Conversion (App), or App Installs, the field is automatically populated with a link from your ad set.

Headline (Optional)

The character limit is 40 characters including spaces. Some placements support more characters.

You can review the ad previews in the centre of the screen to see which placements can contain a headline.

Description (Optional)

You can add additional text to emphasize why people should visit your website.

Display Link (Optional)

Instead of showing your link's URL at the bottom of your ad, you can choose to replace it with a better-looking link, or even a call to action text. The link behind your "Display Link" text will still point to the "Link to promote" URL that you provided earlier.

Dark Post (Optional)

Checking this box will make the ad a dark post. These posts do not appear on your timeline as an organic version of your ad, but only in the spaces of your chosen placement.

Mark as Political (Optional)

Mark posts as "political" if the ad is about: abortion, budget, civil rights, crime, economy, education, energy, environment, foreign policy, government reform, guns, health, immigration, infrastructure, military, poverty, social security, taxes, terrorism, and values. Find out more about political ads in Meta's help center and get authorized for political ads.

Messenger Setup (Optional)

If your ad set directs traffic to your Facebook Messenger, your Call to Action button opens a Direct Message conversation between your page and the customer. You can create an automated message for when the conversation is started.

Instant Forms (Optional)

If you're creating an ad with a Lead Generation objective, you can choose a form to attach. Forms can be created in the Forms Library of your Facebook Page, under the Publishing Tools section. The generated leads can also be downloaded from the same location.

Ad Duration (Optional)

The duration is determined by the ad set by default. However, Social Media Management does offer a unique option that allows you to set an alternative duration for individual ads. The ad will automatically stop when the duration expires.

Labels (Optional)

Add labels to your ad. These make the ad easier to locate in the Publish and Advertise modules.

Any labels already assigned to your campaigns and ad sets will be automatically added.

URL tags (Optional)

With URL parameters you can track how your links are performing, such as which link is getting the most traffic, where it's coming from, and what kinds of users are clicking it. If you wish to analyze the data, a website analytics tool such as Google Analytics is required.

Facebook Pixel (Optional)

You have the option of adding a Facebook Pixel to your ad.

For ads with a Conversions objective, the pixel is inherited from the ad set and can't be changed. For all other objectives, the pixel is added by default but can be changed.

Conversion domain

For ads with a Conversion objective only, the conversion domain field is required when information will be shared with a pixel as it specifies where conversions will happen.

The conversion domain field will auto-populate with the most active domain which sent events to your pixel over the last 24 hours. Using the dropdown, you can choose from all domains listed in the Events Manager section of the Business Manager. If you don’t see one of your domains, you can manually type it in the field.

The selected conversion domain does not have to be the same domain as the link in your ad, though choosing a different domain will no longer optimize your ad for the correct conversions.

Managing Ads

The table below the Statistics graph lists all of your ads. Use the Actions option to the right of an ad you are working with in order to:

Play / Pause

Set the ad live by selecting Play or stop it by selecting Pause.

Open in Ads Manager

View the ad natively in Facebook's Ad Manager.

Open Facebook post

View the ad natively on Facebook.

Edit Ad

Change the options that define the ad parameters. This is where you can edit and add labels for the ad.

Delete

Remove the ad.

Statistics

The statistics section will give you an overview of the performance of your ads. You can apply various filters, search for labels, and change the date range in order to customize your view.

Creating Ads in Publish

If you've already been using Publish to create your Facebook and Instagram posts, did you know that you can create ads, boost existing posts, and monitor ad insights directly from Publish? To learn more, visit our articles on Creating Facebook and Instagram Ads in Publish and Viewing Ad Insights in Publish.