Guide: Getting Started on Facebook Catalogue Shopping Product Feed Ads

Before diving into how to set up and use these ads, it’s essential to understand what they are. Facebook Catalogue Shopping Ads are dynamic ads that automatically show products from your Facebook product catalogue to potential customers based on their interests and behaviours.

A product feed contains detailed information about the items you're selling, including product names, descriptions, prices, and images. Facebook uses this information to create compelling ads for the right audience, increasing the chances of conversions.

Using Facebook Catalogue Shopping Product Feed Ads has multiple advantages:

1. Personalisation: These ads can be tailored to each user’s interests, making them highly relevant.

2. Ease of Management: Once set up, Facebook automatically updates your ads based on your product feed, reducing the need for constant manual intervention.

3. Increased Engagement: Since the ads are designed to be visually appealing and dynamic, they tend to grab attention and encourage clicks.

4. Cross-platform Reach: Your ads will appear on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network, maximising your visibility.

The first step in getting started with Facebook Catalogue Shopping Ads is creating a product catalogue. This catalogue will store all the information about the products you sell, which Facebook uses for the dynamic ads.

How to Create a Product Catalogue

1. Go to Facebook Business Manager: Log into your Facebook Business Manager account.

2. Navigate to Commerce Manager: From the Business Manager dashboard, click on Commerce Manager.

3. Create a Catalogue: Under the “Data Sources” section, click on Catalogues and then select Create a Catalogue. Choose a business type that suits your products (e.g., retail, travel).

4. Upload Your Product Feed: Once you’ve created your catalogue, you need to upload your product data. Facebook accepts product feeds in CSV, TSV, or XML formats. Your feed should include details like product IDs, names, descriptions, prices, availability, and images.

Best Practice for Creating a Product Feed

• • Ensure Accurate Product Information: Make sure your product feed is accurate, as this will help Facebook serve the right products to the right customers.
  • Optimise Product Titles and Descriptions: Use clear, keyword-rich product titles and descriptions for better search ranking.
  • Provide High-Quality Images: High-resolution images are crucial to make your products stand out in the ads.
  • Update Regularly: If you add new products or make changes to pricing or availability, update your product feed regularly.

Once your product catalogue is set up, it’s time to connect it to your Facebook Ads Manager to start running dynamic ads.

How to Link Your Catalogue

1. Go to Ads Manager: In Facebook Ads Manager, create a new campaign.

2. Choose Campaign Objective: Select the "Sales" objective to run catalogue sales ads.

3. Select Catalogue Sales: Under the “Ad Set” section, choose the "Catalogue Sales" option and select the product catalogue you created earlier.

By linking your product catalogue, Facebook will automatically pull in product information to create your dynamic ads.

Now the exciting part: making your advertisements. You can automatically show items from your catalogue that correspond with user interests with dynamic ads.

Steps to Create a Dynamic Product Ad

1. Choose Your Audience: Choose who will see your ad. Facebook can automatically target people who have shown interest in your products or related products.

2. Set Your Budget: Define a budget that fits your marketing goals. Facebook offers various budget options, including daily and lifetime budgets.

3. Create Your Ad: Under the "Ad" section, select Carousel or Collection ad formats, which are ideal for displaying multiple products. Choose your product catalogue as the source for your ad.

4. Design Your Ad: Add compelling headlines, descriptions, and a call-to-action (CTA), such as “Shop Now” or “Learn More”. Facebook will pull in product images, names, and prices from your catalogue automatically.

Tip: Use a Catchy CTA

The right CTA can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your ad. Consider experimenting with different CTAs to see what resonates with your audience.

Both Carousel and Collection ads are popular formats in Facebook Catalogue Shopping Product Feed Ads, but they offer different ways to showcase products.

Carousel Ads

• • What it is: A type of ad that allows you to display multiple images or videos within a single ad unit, which users can swipe through.
  • Best for: Showing a range of products or showcasing different angles of a single product.
  • Advantages:

    - You can add up to 10 images or videos.

    - Works well for products with different features or variations (e.g., colours, sizes).

    - Each product can have its own link.

  • Example Use Case: Ideal for showing different products in a collection, like a product range (e.g., shoes in different colours or a clothing collection).

Collection Ads

• • What it is: A type of ad that combines a cover image or video with a catalogue grid of products underneath. It provides a more immersive shopping experience on mobile.
  • Best for: Promoting a group of related products in a seamless, visually appealing way.
  • Advantages:

    - When users tap on the ad, it opens a full-screen experience with more product details.

    - Great for showcasing a brand or category, such as "summer essentials" or "winter clothing".

    - Instant checkout options allow users to make purchases directly within the ad.

  • Example Use Case: Perfect for promoting seasonal collections or themed sets (e.g., a "home décor" set with different pieces).

Which One to Choose?

• Use Carousel Ads when you want to give users the option to browse through multiple
• Use Collection Ads when you want to highlight a product category or create an immersive, visually-rich shopping experience.

Once your ad is live, the next step is to track its performance and optimise for better results.

Key Metrics to Monitor

• • Click-Through Rate (CTR): calculates the number of people who saw your advertisement and clicked on it.
  • Conversion Rate: Tracks the number of people who made a purchase after clicking the ad.
  • Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This metric helps you understand how much revenue you’re generating for each pound spent on ads.
  • Example Use Case: Ideal for showing different products in a collection, like a product range (e.g., shoes in different colours or a clothing collection).

How to Optimise Your Facebook Shopping Ads

• • Test Different Audiences: Run A/B tests to see which audience segments respond best to your ads.
  • Adjust Product Feed: If certain products are not performing well, consider tweaking their descriptions, images, or prices.
  • Retargeting: Make use of Facebook's retargeting tools to display advertisements to people who have already interacted with your company.

Facebook provides several features to enhance your catalogue shopping ads and improve the shopping experience.

1. Dynamic Retargeting:

You can retarget users who have interacted with your product catalogue but haven’t made a purchase. These dynamic ads will show the exact products they viewed, which can help increase conversions.

2. Instagram Shopping:

Since Facebook and Instagram are connected, your product catalogue can also be used to create shoppable posts and ads on Instagram. This is especially useful for visually-driven products.

3. Facebook Pixel:

Integrate Facebook Pixel into your website to track user behaviour and improve the accuracy of Facebook's targeting for catalogue ads.