Canvas: Facebook’s new Immersive ad Experience for Mobile

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By Vlad Vidaeff

The good old days of Facebook are long over.  The days where Facebook’s algorithm made it easy for brands to reach consumers with a significant reach are long gone.  Facebook’s current algorithm makes it essential to use Facebook advertising for successful advertising campaigns on the social network.  This blog will discuss Canvas, the recent full-screen ad experience built for mobile.

The importance of mobile continues to rise at a rapid rate as consumers are increasingly using mobile to surf the web compared to desktop.  The most popular app on mobile to no one’s surprise, is Facebook.  However, given the short window you have to grab a consumer’s attention on mobile, advertisers have found it difficult to tell compelling brand stories.  Canvas is the newest offering from Facebook that has been built to address this issue.  In the past, typical Facebook ads would encourage you to click a link that brings you to the advertiser’s website.  However, the website that opens after someone clicks on an ad is often not optimal for mobile and slow to load.  This creates a frustrating experience for consumers that limits the potential effectiveness of the ad.  To compound the problem, the average website in 2015 is three times the size as the average website four years ago.  This is where Canvas steps in.

If you’re familiar with Instant Articles, Canvas has been dubbed Instant Ads.  Unlike traditional Facebook ads, Canvas gives advertisers an immersive way to reach consumers without ever leaving Facebook.  When consumers click a Canvas ad, they are brought to a full-screen rich media page inside of Facebook.  Since the user never leaves Facebook, the ad loads as much as 10 times faster than the standard mobile web, eliminating the frustration of typical ad formats.  In Canvas, advertisers can mix still images, video, and call-to-action buttons to create effective brand and product experiences on mobile.  Several big-name companies have capitalized on this ad format including Burberry, Wendy’s, and Coca-Cola.

If using Canvas sounds challenging, Facebook’s has instituted a process that makes it a breeze and comparable to the typical ad-building procedure.  For a step-by-step tutorial, click here or here for a good guide.  Canvas is a welcome addition to the advertising arsenal as it creates experiences that can lead to more favorable first impressions, click-throughs to websites, and most importantly, conversions.  Have you tried Canvas to paint your own brand picture?

Tiffany

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