People see advertising content on Facebook in several formats, including images, collections of images (carousels), videos and interactive Instant Experiences. You’ll have seen examples of each of these yourself, without necessarily knowing what each is called, and why you’re seeing it.

Different ad formats and placements

Each ad format has its own place, depending on what you’re trying to market – and to who. To complicate matters further, those different types of ads are shown to people in about 16 different ways and places, depending on the advertiser’s choices and budget and even whether the person uses Facebook on a desktop, mobile or tablet.

Which types of Facebook ads are best for real estate?

The most effective types of advertising for the property world on Facebook are Instant Experiences, videos and carousels. You’ve always marketed properties visually and there’s no reason to change that, in the online space. But knowing how to use them effectively is the difference between making a sale or winning a mandate - or wasting your time and money.

For instance, Instant Experiences and videos are great for driving brand awareness and growing your audience, while carousels are valuable in generating leads. People are far more likely to watch an engaging video than they are to work through a text-heavy post.

An Instant Experience is a full-screen experience that opens after someone taps your ad on a mobile device. You can create an Instant Experience to visually highlight your brand or products and services. Instant Experiences can combine single images, videos and carousels to tell a story about your brand – it’s possible to guide people through an experience with text, creative elements, buttons and links and it helps add even more valuable content to the ad.

Effectively using Facebook ads to achieve your goals

When you’re advertising on Facebook, you need to be very specific about what you’re hoping to achieve – and know which tools are the best to help you achieve that aim – or, again, you’re wasting your money. Facebook will run just about any ad in almost any place you tell it to – without helping you achieve your aim.

Flow automates this process, helping you achieve what you need to via its simple interface. It pulls the listing content from your website, designs and places the right ads, in the right format, in the right places, to meet your audience where they are.