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.

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="<PAGE_ID>_<POST_ID>"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdAccount = bizSdk.AdAccount;
const AdCreative = bizSdk.AdCreative;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
];
params = {
  'name' : 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id' : '<pageID>_<postID>',
};
const adcreatives = (new AdAccount(id)).createAdCreative(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('adcreatives api call complete.', adcreatives);


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 = '<AD_ACCOUNT_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
)->exportAllData(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


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

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

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

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
adcreatives = 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:


curl -X POST \
  -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/v4.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/ads


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdAccount = bizSdk.AdAccount;
const Ad = bizSdk.Ad;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
];
params = {
  'name' : 'My Ad',
  'adset_id' : '<adSetID>',
  'creative' : {'creative_id':'<adCreativeID>'},
  'status' : 'PAUSED',
};
const ads = (new AdAccount(id)).createAd(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('ads api call complete.', ads);


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

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

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

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

$fields = array(
);
$params = array(
  'name' => 'My Ad',
  'adset_id' => '<adSetID>',
  'creative' => array('creative_id' => '<adCreativeID>'),
  'status' => 'PAUSED',
);
echo json_encode((new AdAccount($id))->createAd(
  $fields,
  $params
)->exportAllData(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


from facebook_business.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebook_business.adobjects.ad import Ad
from facebook_business.api import FacebookAdsApi

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

fields = [
]
params = {
  'name': 'My Ad',
  'adset_id': '<adSetID>',
  'creative': {'creative_id':'<adCreativeID>'},
  'status': 'PAUSED',
}
print AdAccount(id).create_ad(
  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 = \"<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdAccount(id, context).createAd()
      .setName(\"My Ad\")
      .setAdsetId(<adSetID>L)
      .setCreative(
          new AdCreative()
            .setFieldId(\"<adCreativeID>\")
        )
      .setStatus(Ad.EnumStatus.VALUE_PAUSED)
      .execute();

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
ads = ad_account.ads.create({
    name: 'My Ad',
    adset_id: '<adSetID>',
    creative: {'creative_id':'<adCreativeID>'},
    status: 'PAUSED',
})

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.


curl -X GET \
  -d 'fields="name,object_story_id"' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/<CREATIVE_ID>/


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdCreative = bizSdk.AdCreative;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
  'name',
  'object_story_id',
];
params = {
};
const sample_code = (new AdCreative(id)).get(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('sample_code api call complete.', sample_code);


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

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

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

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

$fields = array(
  'name',
  'object_story_id',
);
$params = array(
);
echo json_encode((new AdCreative($id))->getSelf(
  $fields,
  $params
)->exportAllData(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


from facebook_business.adobjects.adcreative import AdCreative
from facebook_business.api import FacebookAdsApi

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

fields = [
  'name',
  'object_story_id',
]
params = {
}
print AdCreative(id).get(
  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 = \"<AD_CREATIVE_ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdCreative(id, context).get()
      .requestNameField()
      .requestObjectStoryIdField()
      .execute();

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_creative = FacebookAds::AdCreative.get(id ,'name,object_story_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.

We encourage you to run ads across the full range of available placements. Facebook’s ad auction is designed to deliver ad impressions to the placement most likely to drive campaign results at the lowest possible cost.

The easiest way to take advantage of this optimization is to leave this field blank. You can also select specific placements in an ad set’s target_spec.

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

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

adset.remote_create(params={
    'status': AdSet.Status.paused,
})

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

Effective Placements

The easiest way to take advantage of this optimization is to leave this field blank. You can also select specific placements in an ad set’s target_spec.

With the effective placements, you can now determine which placements your ad will deliver based on your ad set's billing_event, optimization_goal and promoted_object as well as your ad campaign's buying_type and objective. All parameters for /ad_campaign_placement include:

Ad account_id and access token
billing_event, such as IMPRESSIONS
Buying Type, such as AUCTION
Objective, such as POST_ENGAGEMENT
Optimization Goal, which is optional, such as POST_ENGAGEMENT
Promoted Object, such as PIXEL_ID

All parameters except for promoted_object and optimization_goal are required. If you do provide targeting, you can use Marketing API to determine the effective placement based on the ones permitted for your settings, see Effective Placement with Targeting. For example:

curl -G \
-d 'account_id=<ACCOUNT_ID>' \
-d 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
-d 'buying_type=AUCTION' \
-d 'objective=PAGE_LIKES' \
-d 'optimization_goal=IMPRESSIONS' \
https://graph.facebook.com/<VERSION>/ad_campaign_placement?access_token=<TOKEN>

The call returns:

{
   "effective_device_platforms": [
      "mobile",
      "desktop"
   ],
   "effective_facebook_positions": [
      "feed",
      "right_hand_column"
   ],
   "effective_publisher_platforms": [
      "facebook"
   ],
   "recommendations": [
      {
         "title": "Placement Not Supported By Objective",
         "message": "Ads with PAGE_LIKES objective do not support facebook.instant_article, facebook.instream_video, facebook.suggested_video, facebook.marketplace, audience_network.classic, audience_network.instream_video, audience_network.rewarded_video, instagram.stream, instagram.story, messenger.messenger_home.",
         "code": 1815609,
         "importance": "LOW",
         "confidence": "HIGH",
         "blame_field": "targeting"
      },
      {
         "title": "Device Platform Not Supported By Objective",
         "message": "Ads with PAGE_LIKES objective do not support connected_tv.",
         "code": 1815610,
         "importance": "LOW",
         "confidence": "HIGH",
         "blame_field": "targeting"
      }
   ],     
   }
}

You can use the code field from this result in a call to /ad-recommendation to see a detailed reason. For example, you can get this information:

[{“code”: 1815610, “summary”: “Device Platform Not Supported By Objective”},]

For more information, see Ad Recommendation, Reference and Effective Placement with Targeting.

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:


curl -X GET \
  -d 'creative="<CREATIVE_SPEC>"' \
  -d 'ad_format="<AD_FORMAT>"' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdAccount = bizSdk.AdAccount;
const AdPreview = bizSdk.AdPreview;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
];
params = {
  'creative' : '<adCreativeSpec>',
  'ad_format' : '<adFormat>',
};
const generatepreviewss = (new AdAccount(id)).getGeneratePreviews(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('generatepreviewss api call complete.', generatepreviewss);


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

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

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

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

$fields = array(
);
$params = array(
  'creative' => '<adCreativeSpec>',
  'ad_format' => '<adFormat>',
);
echo json_encode((new AdAccount($id))->getGeneratePreviews(
  $fields,
  $params
)->getResponse()->getContent(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


from facebook_business.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebook_business.adobjects.adpreview import AdPreview
from facebook_business.api import FacebookAdsApi

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

fields = [
]
params = {
  'creative': '<adCreativeSpec>',
  'ad_format': '<adFormat>',
}
print AdAccount(id).get_generate_previews(
  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 = \"<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdAccount(id, context).getGeneratePreviews()
      .setCreative(
          new AdCreative()
        )
      .setAdFormat(AdPreview.EnumAdFormat.VALUE_<ADFORMAT>)
      .execute();

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
generatepreviewss = ad_account.generatepreviews({
    fields: {  },
    creative: '<adCreativeSpec>',
    ad_format: '<adFormat>',
})

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

Currently, our ad creative call looks like this:


curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="Sample Promoted Post"' \
  -F 'object_story_id="<PAGE_ID>_<POST_ID>"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdAccount = bizSdk.AdAccount;
const AdCreative = bizSdk.AdCreative;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
];
params = {
  'name' : 'Sample Promoted Post',
  'object_story_id' : '<pageID>_<postID>',
};
const adcreatives = (new AdAccount(id)).createAdCreative(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('adcreatives api call complete.', adcreatives);


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 = '<AD_ACCOUNT_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
)->exportAllData(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


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

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

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

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
adcreatives = 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:


curl -X GET \
  -d 'creative={
       "object_story_id": "<PAGE_ID>_<POST_ID>"
     }' \
  -d 'ad_format="DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD"' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdAccount = bizSdk.AdAccount;
const AdPreview = bizSdk.AdPreview;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
];
params = {
  'creative' : {'object_story_id':'<pageID>_<postID>'},
  'ad_format' : 'DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD',
};
const generatepreviewss = (new AdAccount(id)).getGeneratePreviews(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('generatepreviewss api call complete.', generatepreviewss);


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

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

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

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

$fields = array(
);
$params = array(
  'creative' => array('object_story_id' => '<pageID>_<postID>'),
  'ad_format' => 'DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD',
);
echo json_encode((new AdAccount($id))->getGeneratePreviews(
  $fields,
  $params
)->getResponse()->getContent(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


from facebook_business.adobjects.adaccount import AdAccount
from facebook_business.adobjects.adpreview import AdPreview
from facebook_business.api import FacebookAdsApi

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

fields = [
]
params = {
  'creative': {'object_story_id':'<pageID>_<postID>'},
  'ad_format': 'DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD',
}
print AdAccount(id).get_generate_previews(
  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 = \"<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdAccount(id, context).getGeneratePreviews()
      .setCreative(
          new AdCreative()
            .setFieldObjectStoryId(\"<pageID>_<postID>\")
        )
      .setAdFormat(AdPreview.EnumAdFormat.VALUE_DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD)
      .execute();

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
generatepreviewss = ad_account.generatepreviews({
    fields: {  },
    creative: {'object_story_id':'<pageID>_<postID>'},
    ad_format: 'DESKTOP_FEED_STANDARD',
})

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:

Creating Page Like Ads

In July 2018, we deprecated the ability to create a Page Like ad without a page post. If you want to create this type of ad, you should specifically create a post. For example:


curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="Creative"' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>",
       "link_data": {
         "image_hash": "<IMAGE_HASH>",
         "link": "https://facebook.com/<PAGE_ID>",
         "message": "Creative message",
         "call_to_action": {
           "type": "LIKE_PAGE",
           "value": {
             "page": "<PAGE_ID>"
           }
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives


'use strict';
const bizSdk = require('facebook-nodejs-business-sdk');
const AdAccount = bizSdk.AdAccount;
const AdCreative = bizSdk.AdCreative;

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

const logApiCallResult = (apiCallName, data) => {
  console.log(apiCallName);
  if (showDebugingInfo) {
    console.log('Data:' + JSON.stringify(data));
  }
};

let fields, params;
fields = [
];
params = {
  'name' : 'Creative',
  'object_story_spec' : {'page_id':'<pageID>','link_data':{'image_hash':'<imageHash>','link':'https:\/\/facebook.com\/<pageID>','message':'Creative message','call_to_action':{'type':'LIKE_PAGE','value':{'page':'<pageID>'}}}},
};
const adcreatives = (new AdAccount(id)).createAdCreative(
  fields,
  params
);
logApiCallResult('adcreatives api call complete.', adcreatives);


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 = '<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>';

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

$fields = array(
);
$params = array(
  'name' => 'Creative',
  'object_story_spec' => array('page_id' => '<pageID>','link_data' => array('image_hash' => '<imageHash>','link' => 'https:\/\/facebook.com\/<pageID>','message' => 'Creative message','call_to_action' => array('type' => 'LIKE_PAGE','value' => array('page' => '<pageID>')))),
);
echo json_encode((new AdAccount($id))->createAdCreative(
  $fields,
  $params
)->exportAllData(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);


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

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

fields = [
]
params = {
  'name': 'Creative',
  'object_story_spec': {'page_id':'<pageID>','link_data':{'image_hash':'<imageHash>','link':'https:\/\/facebook.com\/<pageID>','message':'Creative message','call_to_action':{'type':'LIKE_PAGE','value':{'page':'<pageID>'}}}},
}
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 = \"<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>\";
    APIContext context = new APIContext(access_token).enableDebug(true);

    new AdAccount(id, context).createAdCreative()
      .setName(\"Creative\")
      .setObjectStorySpec(
          new AdCreativeObjectStorySpec()
            .setFieldLinkData(
              new AdCreativeLinkData()
                .setFieldCallToAction(
                  new AdCreativeLinkDataCallToAction()
                    .setFieldType(AdCreativeLinkDataCallToAction.EnumType.VALUE_LIKE_PAGE)
                    .setFieldValue(
                      new AdCreativeLinkDataCallToActionValue()
                        .setFieldPage(\"<pageID>\")
                    )
                )
                .setFieldImageHash(\"<imageHash>\")
                .setFieldLink(\"https://facebook.com/<pageID>\")
                .setFieldMessage(\"Creative message\")
            )
            .setFieldPageId(\"<pageID>\")
        )
      .execute();

  }
}


require 'facebook_ads'

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

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

ad_account = FacebookAds::AdAccount.get(id)
adcreatives = ad_account.adcreatives.create({
    name: 'Creative',
    object_story_spec: {'page_id':'<pageID>','link_data':{'image_hash':'<imageHash>','link':'https:\/\/facebook.com\/<pageID>','message':'Creative message','call_to_action':{'type':'LIKE_PAGE','value':{'page':'<pageID>'}}}},
})