Creative, Placement, and Preview

Use Facebook ads with your existing customers and to reach new ones. Each guide describes Facebook ads products to help meet your advertising goals. There are several types of ad units with a variety of appearances, placement and creative options. For guidelines on ads units as creative content, see Facebook Ads Guide.

Breaking Change: Event Ads, Link Ads not Associated with Valid Page

We recently announced an initiative to make the Facebook Advertising platform more transparent to Facebook users. Read more about this in the Facebook press release.

To support this initiative, we've deprecated Event Ads and Link Ads that aren't connected to a valid page from Marketing API.

As of November 2017, this breaking change impacts all supported API versions, including the upcoming Marketing API version v2.11, and v2.10 and v2.9, which are available, but are deprecated.

You can no longer create or edit Event Ads and Link Ads that aren't connected to a valid page. Requests that do so return the error: ErrorCode::ADPRO2__AD_MUST_HAVE_PAGE (1885833)

The following ad options used together will fail:

Event Ads
Objective: EVENT_RESPONSES
Creative fields: body, object_id
Link Ads
Objective: LINK_CLICKS
Creative fields: title, body, object_url containing image_file or image_hash

You can still create Event Ads and Link Ads if you provide a valid actor_id in the ad creative's object_story_id or object_story_spec fields.

These options used together are valid:

Event Ads
Objective: EVENT_RESPONSES
Creative fields: object_story_id or object_story_spec
Link Ads
Objective: LINK_CLICKS
Creative fields: object_story_id or object_story_spec

The nodes, edges and requests impacted are:

Any pre-existing Event or Link Ads continue to run, but you can't modify these ad's creatives or create new ads with the invalid options once the change goes in effect.

Creative

An ad creative is an object that contains all the data for visually rendering the ad itself. In the API, there are different types of ads that you can create on Facebook, all listed here.

If you have a campaign with the Page Post Engagement Objective, you can now create an ad that promotes a post made by the page. This is considered a Page post ad. Page post ads require a field called object_story_id, which is the id property of a Page post. Learn more about Ad Creative, Reference.

An ad creative has three parts:

Ad creative itself, defined by the visual attributes of the creative object
Placement that the ad runs on
Preview of the unit itself, per placement

To create the ad creative object, make the following call:

curl -X POST \
  -F "name=Sample+Promoted+Post" \
  -F "object_story_id=%7Bpage-id%7D_%7Bi-ent-post-id%7D" \
  -F "access_tokens={ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.12/act_{ad-account-id}/adcreatives

const adsSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-ads-sdk');
const AdAccount = adsSdk.AdAccount;
const AdCreative = adsSdk.AdCreative;

let access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>';
let app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>';
let app_id = '<APP_ID>';
let id = '<ID>';
const api = adsSdk.FacebookAdsApi.init(access_token);
const showDebugingInfo = true; // Setting this to true shows more debugging info.
if (showDebugingInfo) {
  api.setDebug(true);
}

const fields = [
];
const params = {
  'name' : 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id' : '<pageID>_<postID>',
};
(new AdAccount(id)).createAdCreative(
  fields,
  params
)
.then((result) => {
  adcreatives_id = result.id;
  console.log(adcreatives_id);
})
.catch((error) => {
  console.log(error);
});

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use FacebookAds\Object\AdAccount;
use FacebookAds\Object\AdCreative;
use FacebookAds\Api;
use FacebookAds\Logger\CurlLogger;

$access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>';
$app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>';
$app_id = '<APP_ID>';
$id = '<ID>';

$api = Api::init($app_id, $app_secret, $access_token);
$api->setLogger(new CurlLogger());

$fields = array(
);
$params = array(
  'name' => 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id' => '<pageID>_<postID>',
);
echo json_encode((new AdAccount($id))->createAdCreative(
  $fields,
  $params
)->getResponse()->getContent(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebookads.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative
from facebookads.api import FacebookAdsApi

access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>'
app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>'
app_id = '<APP_ID>'
id = '<ID>'
FacebookAdsApi.init(access_token=access_token)

fields = [
]
params = {
  'name': 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id': '<pageID>_<postID>',
}
print AdAccount(id).create_ad_creative(
  fields=fields,
  params=params,
)

import com.facebook.ads.sdk.*;
import java.io.File;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class SAMPLE_CODE_EXAMPLE {
  public static void main (String args[]) throws APIException {

    String access_token = \"<ACCESS_TOKEN>\";
    String app_secret = \"<APP_SECRET>\";
    String app_id = \"<APP_ID>\";
    String id = \"<ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdAccount(id, context).createAdCreative()
      .setName(\"Sample Promoted Post\")
      .setObjectStoryId(\"<pageID>_<postID>\")
      .execute();
  }
}

access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>'
app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>'
app_id = '<APP_ID>'
id = '<ID>'

FacebookAds.configure do |config|
  config.access_token = access_token
  config.app_secret = app_secret
end

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
ad_account.adcreatives.create(
    name: 'Sample Promoted Post',
    object_story_id: '<pageID>_<postID>',
)

The response to the API call is the id of the creative object. Store this; you need it for the ad object:

use FacebookAds\Object\Ad;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdFields;

$data = array(
  AdFields::NAME => 'My Ad',
  AdFields::ADSET_ID => <AD_SET_ID>,
  AdFields::CREATIVE => array(
    'creative_id' => <CREATIVE_ID>,
  ),
);

$ad = new Ad(null, 'act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>');
$ad->setData($data);
$ad->create(array(
  Ad::STATUS_PARAM_NAME => Ad::STATUS_PAUSED,
));

from facebookads.adobjects.ad import Ad

ad = Ad(parent_id='act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')
ad[Ad.Field.name] = 'My Ad'
ad[Ad.Field.adset_id] = <AD_SET_ID>
ad[Ad.Field.creative] = {
    'creative_id': <CREATIVE_ID>,
}
ad.remote_create(params={
    'status': Ad.Status.paused,
})

Ad ad = new AdAccount(act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>, context).createAd()
  .setName("My Ad")
  .setAdsetId(<AD_SET_ID>)
  .setCreative(
    new AdCreative()
      .setFieldId(<CREATIVE_ID>)
  )
  .setStatus(Ad.EnumStatus.VALUE_PAUSED)
  .execute();

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')
ad = ad_account.ads.create({
  name: 'My Ad',
  adset_id: <ADSET_ID>,
  creative: {
    creative_id: <CREATIVE_ID>,
  },
  status: 'PAUSED',
})

curl \
  -F 'name=My Ad' \
  -F 'adset_id=<AD_SET_ID>' \
  -F 'creative={"creative_id":"<CREATIVE_ID>"}' \
  -F 'status=PAUSED' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/ads

Creative Limits

There are limits on the creative's text, image size, image aspect ratio and other aspects of the creative. See the Ads Guide.

Read

In the Ads API, each field you want to retrieve needs to be asked for explicitly, except for id. Each object's Reference has a section for reading back the object and lists what fields are readable. For the creative, it's the same fields as specified when creating the object, and id:

use FacebookAds\Object\AdCreative;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdCreativeFields;

$creative = new AdCreative(<CREATIVE_ID>);
$creative->read(array(
  AdCreativeFields::NAME,
  AdCreativeFields::OBJECT_STORY_ID,
));

from facebookads.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative

creative = AdCreative(<CREATIVE_ID>)
creative.remote_read(
    fields=[AdCreative.Field.name, AdCreative.Field.object_story_id]
)

AdCreative adCreative2 = new AdCreative(<CREATIVE_ID>, context).get()
  .requestNameField()
  .requestObjectStoryIdField()
  .execute();

curl -G \
  -d 'fields=name,object_story_id' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/<CREATIVE_ID>

Placements

A placement is where your ad is shown on Facebook, such as on News Feed on desktop, News Feed on a mobile device or on the right column. See Ads Product Guide.

This example has a page post ad. The available placements are Mobile News Feed, Desktop News Feed and Right column of Facebook. In the API, see Placement Options. If you choose desktopfeed and rightcolumn as the page_type, the ad runs on Desktop News Feed and Right column placements. Any ad created below this ad set has only the desktop placement.

use FacebookAds\Object\AdSet;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdSetFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\TargetingFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Targeting;
use FacebookAds\Object\Values\AdSetBillingEventValues;
use FacebookAds\Object\Values\AdSetOptimizationGoalValues;

$adset = new AdSet(null, 'act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>');
$adset->setData(array(
  AdSetFields::NAME => 'Desktop Ad Set',
  AdSetFields::CAMPAIGN_ID => <CAMPAIGN_ID>,
  AdSetFields::DAILY_BUDGET => 10000,
  AdSetFields::TARGETING => (new Targeting())->setData(array(
    TargetingFields::PUBLISHER_PLATFORMS => array(
      'facebook',
      'audience_network',
    ),
    TargetingFields::GEO_LOCATIONS => array(
      'countries' => array('BR'),
    ),
  )),
  AdSetFields::OPTIMIZATION_GOAL =>
    AdSetOptimizationGoalValues::POST_ENGAGEMENT,
  AdSetFields::BILLING_EVENT => AdSetBillingEventValues::POST_ENGAGEMENT,
  AdSetFields::BID_AMOUNT => 1500,
));

$adset->create(array(
  AdSet::STATUS_PARAM_NAME => AdSet::STATUS_PAUSED,
));

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebookads.adobjects.adset import AdSet
from facebookads.adobjects.targeting import Targeting

ad_account = AdAccount(fbid='act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')

params = {
    AdSet.Field.name: 'Desktop Ad Set',
    AdSet.Field.campaign_id: <CAMPAIGN_ID>,
    AdSet.Field.daily_budget: 10000,
    AdSet.Field.targeting: {
        Targeting.Field.publisher_platforms: ['facebook', 'audience_network'],
        Targeting.Field.facebook_positions: ['feed'],
        Targeting.Field.geo_locations: {
            'countries': ['BR'],
        },
    },
    AdSet.Field.optimization_goal: AdSet.OptimizationGoal.post_engagement,
    AdSet.Field.billing_event: AdSet.BillingEvent.post_engagement,
    AdSet.Field.bid_amount: 1500,
    AdSet.Field.status: AdSet.Status.active,
}
adset = ad_account.create_ad_set(params=params)

AdSet adSet = new AdAccount(act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>, context).createAdSet()
  .setName("Desktop Ad Set")
  .setCampaignId(<CAMPAIGN_ID>)
  .setDailyBudget(10000L)
  .setTargeting(
    new Targeting()
      .setFieldGeoLocations(
        new TargetingGeoLocation()
          .setFieldCountries(Arrays.asList("BR"))
      )
      .setFieldPublisherPlatforms(Arrays.asList("facebook", "audience_network"))
  )
  .setOptimizationGoal(AdSet.EnumOptimizationGoal.VALUE_POST_ENGAGEMENT)
  .setBillingEvent(AdSet.EnumBillingEvent.VALUE_POST_ENGAGEMENT)
  .setBidAmount(1500L)
  .setStatus(AdSet.EnumStatus.VALUE_PAUSED)
  .execute();
String ad_set_id = adSet.getId();

curl \
  -F 'name=Desktop Ad Set' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'daily_budget=10000' \
  -F 'targeting={ 
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["BR"]}, 
    "publisher_platforms": ["facebook","audience_network"] 
  }' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=POST_ENGAGEMENT' \
  -F 'billing_event=POST_ENGAGEMENT' \
  -F 'bid_amount=1500' \
  -F 'status=PAUSED' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Preview an Ad

You preview an ad in one of two ways—with ad preview API or the ad preview plugin.

There are three ways to generate a preview with the API:

By ad ID
By ad creative ID
By supplying a creative spec

Following the reference docs for the preview API, the minimum required API call is:

use FacebookAds\Object\AdAccount;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdPreviewFields;

$account = new AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>');
$account->getGeneratePreviews(array(), array(
  AdPreviewFields::CREATIVE => <CREATIVE_SPEC>,
  AdPreviewFields::AD_FORMAT => '<FORMAT>',
));

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount

account = AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')
params = {
    'creative': <CREATIVE_SPEC>,
    'ad_format': '<FORMAT>',
}
account.get_generate_previews(params=params)

APINodeList<AdPreview> adPreviews = new AdAccount(act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>, context).getGeneratePreviews()
  .setCreative(<CREATIVE_SPEC>)
  .setAdFormat(<FORMAT>)
  .execute();

curl -G \
  -d 'creative=<CREATIVE_SPEC>' \
  -d 'ad_format=<FORMAT>' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews

The creative spec is an array of each field and value required to create the ad creative.

Currently, our ad creative call looks like:

curl -X POST \
  -F "name=Sample+Promoted+Post" \
  -F "object_story_id=%7Bpage-id%7D_%7Bi-ent-post-id%7D" \
  -F "access_tokens={ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.12/act_{ad-account-id}/adcreatives

const adsSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-ads-sdk');
const AdAccount = adsSdk.AdAccount;
const AdCreative = adsSdk.AdCreative;

let access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>';
let app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>';
let app_id = '<APP_ID>';
let id = '<ID>';
const api = adsSdk.FacebookAdsApi.init(access_token);
const showDebugingInfo = true; // Setting this to true shows more debugging info.
if (showDebugingInfo) {
  api.setDebug(true);
}

const fields = [
];
const params = {
  'name' : 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id' : '<pageID>_<postID>',
};
(new AdAccount(id)).createAdCreative(
  fields,
  params
)
.then((result) => {
  adcreatives_id = result.id;
  console.log(adcreatives_id);
})
.catch((error) => {
  console.log(error);
});

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use FacebookAds\Object\AdAccount;
use FacebookAds\Object\AdCreative;
use FacebookAds\Api;
use FacebookAds\Logger\CurlLogger;

$access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>';
$app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>';
$app_id = '<APP_ID>';
$id = '<ID>';

$api = Api::init($app_id, $app_secret, $access_token);
$api->setLogger(new CurlLogger());

$fields = array(
);
$params = array(
  'name' => 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id' => '<pageID>_<postID>',
);
echo json_encode((new AdAccount($id))->createAdCreative(
  $fields,
  $params
)->getResponse()->getContent(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebookads.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative
from facebookads.api import FacebookAdsApi

access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>'
app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>'
app_id = '<APP_ID>'
id = '<ID>'
FacebookAdsApi.init(access_token=access_token)

fields = [
]
params = {
  'name': 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id': '<pageID>_<postID>',
}
print AdAccount(id).create_ad_creative(
  fields=fields,
  params=params,
)

import com.facebook.ads.sdk.*;
import java.io.File;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class SAMPLE_CODE_EXAMPLE {
  public static void main (String args[]) throws APIException {

    String access_token = \"<ACCESS_TOKEN>\";
    String app_secret = \"<APP_SECRET>\";
    String app_id = \"<APP_ID>\";
    String id = \"<ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdAccount(id, context).createAdCreative()
      .setName(\"Sample Promoted Post\")
      .setObjectStoryId(\"<pageID>_<postID>\")
      .execute();
  }
}

access_token = '<ACCESS_TOKEN>'
app_secret = '<APP_SECRET>'
app_id = '<APP_ID>'
id = '<ID>'

FacebookAds.configure do |config|
  config.access_token = access_token
  config.app_secret = app_secret
end

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
ad_account.adcreatives.create(
    name: 'Sample Promoted Post',
    object_story_id: '<pageID>_<postID>',
)

Take object_story_id and use it in the preview API call:

use FacebookAds\Object\AdAccount;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdPreviewFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdCreativeFields;

$account = new AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>');
$account->getGeneratePreviews(array(), array(
  AdPreviewFields::CREATIVE => array(
    AdCreativeFields::OBJECT_STORY_ID => <POST_ID>,
  ),
  AdPreviewFields::AD_FORMAT => '<FORMAT>',
));

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebookads.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative

account = AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')
params = {
    'creative': {
        AdCreative.Field.object_story_id: '<POST_ID>',
    },
    'ad_format': '<FORMAT>',
}
account.get_generate_previews(params=params)

APINodeList<AdPreview> adPreviews = new AdAccount(act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>, context).getGeneratePreviews()
  .setCreative(
    new AdCreative()
      .setFieldObjectStoryId(<OBJECT_STORY_ID>)
  )
  .setAdFormat(<FORMAT>)
  .execute();

curl -G \
  -d 'creative={"object_story_id":"<POST_ID>"}' \
  -d 'ad_format=<FORMAT>' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews

The available values for ad_format differ a bit from page_types. But, in this scenario, Desktop News Feed and Right column of Facebook are selected. This requires you to make two API calls to generate the previews for each placement:

use FacebookAds\Object\AdAccount;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdPreviewFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdCreativeFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Values\AdPreviewAdFormatValues;

$account = new AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>');
$account->getGeneratePreviews(array(), array(
  AdPreviewFields::CREATIVE => array(
    AdCreativeFields::OBJECT_STORY_ID => <POST_ID>,
  ),
  AdPreviewFields::AD_FORMAT => AdPreviewAdFormatValues::DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD,
));

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebookads.adobjects.adpreview import AdPreview
from facebookads.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative

account = AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')
params = {
    'creative': {
        AdCreative.Field.object_story_id: '<POST_ID>',
    },
    'ad_format': AdPreview.AdFormat.desktop_feed_standard,
}
account.get_generate_previews(params=params)

APINodeList<AdPreview> adPreviews = new AdAccount(act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>, context).getGeneratePreviews()
  .setCreative(
    new AdCreative()
      .setFieldObjectStoryId(<OBJECT_STORY_ID>)
  )
  .setAdFormat(AdPreview.EnumAdFormat.VALUE_DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD)
  .execute();

curl -G \
  -d 'creative={"object_story_id":"<POST_ID>"}' \
  -d 'ad_format=DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews

use FacebookAds\Object\AdAccount;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdPreviewFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdCreativeFields;
use FacebookAds\Object\Values\AdPreviewAdFormatValues;

$account = new AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>');
$account->getGeneratePreviews(array(), array(
  AdPreviewFields::CREATIVE => array(
    AdCreativeFields::OBJECT_STORY_ID => <POST_ID>,
  ),
  AdPreviewFields::AD_FORMAT => AdPreviewAdFormatValues::RIGHT_COLUMN_STANDARD,
));

from facebookads.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebookads.adobjects.adpreview import AdPreview
from facebookads.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative

account = AdAccount('act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>')
params = {
    'creative': {
        AdCreative.Field.object_story_id: '<POST_ID>',
    },
    'ad_format': AdPreview.AdFormat.right_column_standard,
}
account.get_generate_previews(params=params)

APINodeList<AdPreview> adPreviews = new AdAccount(act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>, context).getGeneratePreviews()
  .setCreative(
    new AdCreative()
      .setFieldObjectStoryId(<OBJECT_STORY_ID>)
  )
  .setAdFormat(AdPreview.EnumAdFormat.VALUE_RIGHT_COLUMN_STANDARD)
  .execute();

curl -G \
  -d 'creative={"object_story_id":"<POST_ID>"}' \
  -d 'ad_format=RIGHT_COLUMN_STANDARD' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews

The response is an iFrame that's valid for 24 hrs.

Copy Ads

You can also copy an existing ad, asset or campaign. It helps you quickly duplicate a campaign to change configurations or create test groups to extract performance knowledge. For more details, see: