Facebook Advertising Changes 2019

Trying to keep up with Facebook Advertising changes in 2019?  The struggle is real.

Facebook does keep adapting to their growing ads platform popularity and as advertisers, we have to adapt and change our strategy.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the recent changes and what I see coming in the future.

Facebook Ad Image and Video Sizes are changing

Facebook Ad images used to be typically 1.91:1 ratio (typically 1200 x 628 pixels) for many of the Objectives.

But Facebook is relaxing that rule and making a range of sizes possible – anywhere between 9:16 to 16:9 will now work.

This is great news if you want use square images (1:1 ratio) for both Instagram and Facebook to cut down on your design work.

The larger size also looks better on mobile and stands out in the Facebook News Feed.

Facebook Ad Square images

The size change also applies to Facebook Videos (see my recent post about what’s working now with Facebook Video Ads).

Facebook Video ad changes

 

 

Facebook Pixel Has New Standard Event Codes

The Facebook Pixel helps you track website visitors and also helps you track conversions.  Facebook recently rolled out new Standard Event codes to help you track more things.

This change is largely cosmetic and really doesn’t require you to go in and make any adjustments to anything you currently have in place.  What this means is you can get a little more granular with what you are tracking on your site.

Facebook has also grouped the standard event codes by industry type to give you some suggestions on which codes you may want to use – but you are not limited to these groupings.  You can use whichever Standard Event code that you want.

 

Facebook Pixel Standard Event Codes

 

Facebook Business Manager Becomes More Necessary

Facebook will continue to push marketers to use the Business Manager.  Last year, they changed the ability to use the Custom Audience Email lists to only people who were using the Business Manager.

And they automatically created Business Managers for many marketers.

Don’t fret if you have resisted the move to Business Manager – it’s actually not too difficult when you get used to it.  Read my tutorial here:  Facebook Business Manager Explained.

 

Facebook Business Manager

Facebook Ads Terms Change

Facebook terms continue to evolve so it’s important to know what you can and can’t advertise but also keep on top of the changes.  Review Facebook’s Ad Policies regularly and look at their examples of do’s and don’ts in the Common Points of Confusion section at the top of that page.

Facebook’s policies can basically be broken down into 4 segments:

  1. What you advertise – Facebook does have restricted and prohibited content (fair or not, it’s their sandbox) that includes gambling, tobacco and the usual suspects but also includes MLM and work from home opportunities.
  2. What language you use in your ads – Do not call out “Personal Attributes” in your ad.  Any time you use the word “You” that can be a flag for Facebook to manually review your ad.  You isn’t prohibited but things like “Are you a…” fill in the blank is calling out a “Personal Attribute”.  See my full post here:  Facebook Ad Policies: Personal Attributes.
  3. Your landing pages or website – Facebook is taking a closer look at websites where the ad traffic is being sent to watch for policy violations as well.
  4. The use of Facebook or their Brand Assests in ads – you can’t show Facebook in a screenshare in an ad and you only make limited use of the word Facebook or Instagram (including abbreviations like FB).

Personal Attributes continues to be a big issue when it comes to ads being denied.  Getting specific in your ads is a great way to grab attention but there are right ways and wrong ways to do it.

Facebook Ad policies Personal Attributes

Watch Facebook and Instagram Stories and Messenger Placement

As Stories and Messenger continues to grow, experiment with that placement in your ads.  To separate out that placement, create new ads just for that placement with dedicated budgets.  Currently the reach there may be lower but it will start to grow in 2019.

Also watch how the ad looks in that placement so that you are sure it’s formatted properly. I did some recent experiments with video ads in Facebook stories and while the mobile News Feed still outperformed the story placement, the results were promising.

Facebook Story Ads

Looking ahead into 2019

The competition for ad space continues to drive up the prices.  Facebook continues to add more placements like Marketplace and Messenger so watch which placements are most effective for you – typically the mobile news feed is outperforming ad placement for most of my clients.

Facebook is looking to protect user experience so look for more constrictions on their policies and what can and can’t be advertised.

Use a combination of cold outreach and then retargeting to connect your ads to your perfect potential customer.  A sequence of video ads can help you warm up and nurture leads.

Writing compelling copy and creating eye-catching images is going to be even more important in the future to draw in your audience.

Staying on the cutting edge of the ad options so your ad looks unique will help you stand out from the crowd.

Facebook is going to continue to enhance their tracking and reporting.  The Analytics area in Facebook ads offers some visibility into tracking between your Page and your website and hopefully they will continue to develop that.

How do you continue to stay on top of Facebook Ad Changes?  Join my Course!

Facebook changes are coming at a more rapid pace as they innovate and try to stay ahead of the pack.  Plus Instagram Ads are an up and coming option and created on the Facebook Ads platform!

As a marketer, you need to get notified of new changes and get real-world information on what’s working and what’s not.

My Facebook Advertising Secrets course can help and will be opening soon!  Get on the list to be notified.

This deep-dive training and year-long mentorship program will give you the confidence and expertise you need to run successful Facebook advertising campaigns for your clients.