Meta's ad system has changed a lot in the last couple of years. Targeting has become broader and more automated, and the algorithm now relies on your creative to work out who should see each ad. That makes creative the biggest lever most advertisers still control.
This guide covers what you actually need to produce: the sizes that cover every placement, the formats and when to use them, what Meta recommends, how to decide what each ad should say, and how to test and refresh creative without starting from scratch every month.
The short version: make every idea in two shapes, 4:5 for feeds and 9:16 for Stories and Reels, give Meta several genuinely different versions to work with, and judge them by cost per result rather than likes.
The creative assets you need
Meta runs ads in Facebook and Instagram feeds, Stories, Reels, and a long list of smaller placements. You don't need a separate asset for each one. Two shapes cover almost all of it.
| Placement | Shape | Recommended size | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feeds | 4:5 vertical, or 1:1 square | 1440 × 1800 pixels (4:5) | 4:5 fills more of a phone screen, which is where most people scroll |
| Stories and Reels | 9:16 full screen | 1440 × 2560 pixels | Keep text and logos away from the top and bottom, where the profile name and buttons sit |
| Carousel | 1:1 or 4:5, the same on every card | 1080 × 1080 pixels or larger | 2 to 10 cards, each with its own headline and link |
| Right column and smaller placements | 1:1 square | 1080 × 1080 pixels | Shown small, so leave text out of the image |
Meta updates its sizes and limits from time to time, so check the Meta Ads Guide before a big production run.
For copy, Meta shows roughly the first 125 characters of primary text before cutting it off with "See more," and headlines work best at around 40 characters. Put the point up front, because that's often all anyone reads.
The formats, and when to use each
- Single image. The fastest to make and test. Good for a clear offer, a strong product shot, or a simple message.
- Video. Best for showing how something works or telling a short story. Most people watch without sound, so add captions and get to the point in the first few seconds.
- Carousel. Several images or videos in one swipeable ad. Use it to show a range of products, walk through steps, or line up a few reasons to buy.
- Catalog ads. These used to be called dynamic ads. They pull products from your catalog and show people the items they've viewed or are likely to want. If you sell more than a handful of products online, you'll want these running.
- Collection. A cover image or video with products underneath that opens into a full-screen mobile page. Useful when people like to browse, but more work to build.
- Creator and customer content. Video from real customers or creators often outperforms polished brand work because it looks like everything else in the feed. Partnership ads let you run it through a creator's account, with their name shown alongside yours.
What Meta recommends
Most of Meta's current advice comes down to giving the system more to work with. A few things are worth knowing.
- Advantage+ creative. Available for single image, single video, carousel, catalog, and existing post ads. It automatically creates variations of your ad and shows each person the version they're most likely to respond to. Check which enhancements are switched on before you publish. Some, like small brightness adjustments, are harmless for most brands. Others, like generated backgrounds or rewritten text, may not fit your brand guidelines.
- Several versions of your text. You can add more than one primary text and headline to an ad, and Meta mixes and matches them. It's the easiest way to test messaging without building new ads.
- A different asset for each placement. One ad can use your 9:16 version in Stories and Reels and your 4:5 version in feeds, so nothing gets awkwardly cropped.
- Variety over volume. Because the system uses your creative to decide who sees an ad, ten near-identical ads behave like one. Different ideas, different people on camera, and different formats reach different audiences.
Deciding what each ad should say
Most creative problems are message problems. Before anyone opens a design tool, decide the angle: the one reason this person should care. A few angles that work reliably:
- The problem. Name a frustration your customer already feels, then show the fix.
- Proof. Reviews, ratings, before and after, or a customer explaining it in their own words.
- The offer. A price, a discount, free shipping, or a free trial. Be specific.
- A demonstration. Show the product doing its job, ideally in the first three seconds.
- A comparison. Your product against the old way of doing things, or against the alternative they're considering.
- The people behind it. A founder or team member explaining why the product exists.
Test angles against each other before you test colors and button text. The gap between two angles is usually far bigger than the gap between two versions of the same ad.
Matching creative to where people are
Someone seeing your brand for the first time needs a different ad from someone who left a full cart yesterday.
- People who don't know you yet. Lead with the problem or a demonstration. Video and Reels do most of the work here, and the goal is to be remembered, not to close the sale.
- People who know you. Give them proof, comparisons, and more detail. Carousels and longer videos have room for it.
- People close to buying. Show the offer, a reminder, or catalog ads featuring what they looked at. Keep it short and make the next step obvious.
On a modest budget, you don't need a campaign for every stage. One campaign aimed at new customers, with a mix of angles, and one retargeting campaign is enough for most accounts.
Testing and refreshing creative
- Test one idea at a time. If two ads differ in angle, format, and offer, you won't know which change made the difference.
- Decide what counts as winning before you start. For most accounts that's cost per purchase or cost per lead. Click-through rate helps you diagnose problems, but it isn't the goal.
- Give it enough time and spend. A test needs enough results to mean something. Meta's own learning phase is built around roughly 50 results a week, which is a useful guide to how much data a fair test needs.
- Watch for fatigue. When frequency climbs and cost per result creeps up over a week or two, people have seen the ad enough. Refresh the creative before you touch the targeting.
- Build on what wins. Put more budget behind the winners, switch off the losers, and make the next round of tests variations on the winning angle.
To see what competitors are running, search for them in the Meta Ad Library. Ads that have been live for months are usually the ones that are working.
Finally, name everything consistently, so you can see which angles and formats win across the whole account. Our guide to Meta Ads naming conventions shows how.
Most creative problems are message problems. Decide the angle before anyone opens a design tool.
The bottom line: make each idea in 4:5 and 9:16, give Meta a range of genuinely different angles, and judge them on cost per result. If you'd like a second opinion on your creative or your account, we're happy to take a look.