Strategy

Facebook Canvas: Tell Stories, Big Ideas and Products on Facebook

Sanne Kruis

The Marketing Manager of The Next Ad.

Jan 21, 2016

Facebook Canvas: Tell Stories, Big Ideas and Products on Facebook

Facebook recently introduced a complete new way to create great Facebook Ad Creatives which is called Canvas. The new feature isn’t available for everyone yet, but we’ll give you the knowhow of Canvas in advance. So, what’s Canvas?

Let me introduce you to Canvas

Canvas is a brand new space on Facebook for businesses to tell their stories and showcase products, in the same ad up to 5 (full-)screens! “The new feature is a mobile-optimized, full-screen, post-click experience that can feature a combination of images, videos, text and links” explains Facebook. Tell your story, promote your products or a combination of these goals. It’s up to you, with Canvas.

From the moment Canvas is available, advertisers can create a Canvas in the Canvas Editor (located in the Publishing Tools section of the Page). When you’ve created a Canvas, you get a URL to place in your website click and/or website conversion ads.

"People who tap an ad with a Canvas on their mobile phones or tablets can interact with the Canvas through taps, pans and swipes without leaving Facebook. A Canvas can also link off to your website where people can learn more about your business or purchase items they browsed on the Canvas."

What’s Canvas about?

• Designed and developed for mobile
  Bring your content to life in a fast-loading and seamless experience on mobile (both Android and iOS). Canvas loads quickly, as much as 10 times faster than the standard mobile web.
• Real life storytelling experience
  Create and design your canvas using a combination of videos, images and call-to-action buttons. In Canvas, people can swipe through a carousel of images, view panoramic and full-screen images and view videos.
• Flexible for any business goal
  Would you like to tell your brand story, promoting a new product or showcase your products? You have complete creative control to achieve any business goal with Canvas.

6 Types of components to add to your Canvas

There are 6 types of components you can add to your Canvas. You can add multiple component types at once. Below I listed the types with a note for each one.

Headers

A header is an image that appears at the top of your Canvas. If it doesn’t fit the width of the screen, you can select a background color to fill in the empty space. Unlike other Canvas components, you can only have one header and it has to be at the top of the Canvas.

Photos

A single image you can add to your Canvas. You are able to have up to 20 photos in Canvas. When you upload a photo to Canvas you have the option fit to width (tap to expand) and fit to height (tilt to pan).  Images in a carousel can also be fit to the width and height, but can’t be expanded or panned.

Videos

The first frame of your video serves as its thumbnail. You are able to have multiple videos, but the duration of all videos combined can’t be longer than 2 minutes. When you upload a video, you have the options fit to width and fit to height (tilt to pan), but don’t make your video full-screen. Landscape orientation videos will automatically resize themselves to play in portrait.

Buttons

The call-to-action button contains a link that people can click on which takes people off Facebook and your Canvas to a specific location on your website. Customize your buttons by using colors or design them outlined. Pay attention to the maximum of 30 characters on a button. Buttons should be 48 pixels high and have 48 pixels of padding above and below.

Text Blocks

A place to add text. You are able to use up to 500 words per text block and your font size can be 6 point to 72 point, bold, italic or underlined and left, center or right aligned. Pay atention to the maximum of 1000 total words in your Canvas.

Carousels

A series of blocks with images and links that people can swipe through. Tap in on the image will send people to the link’s URL. You are able to create up to 10 images per carousel, but your images should be the same size.

Good to know & tips

• Show your product, company name or logo in the first screen of your Canvas so people understand how the Canvas is related to the ad.
• You are able to preview your Canvas as well as other ads. Once you’ve saved or published your Canvas, experience it yourself.
• Before you start keep in mind what kind of experience you want to create for people, and make sure your creative assets are ready long before you want to launch your campaign.
• You don’t pay extra or have to bid more for your Canvas ad. It’s works the same way as other Facebook ads, you choose how much you want to spend and what you’re charged for.
• You can use your Canvas URL in the website clicks and website conversion ads.