What to put in a Facebook ad

The image does most of the work

People scroll fast, and the picture decides if they stop. Use a clear photo of what you sell, taken in good light: a plated biryani, a styled bridal look, students in your classroom. Real photos of your own shop usually beat stock images, because people can tell.

Keep text on the image short. A price or a three-word offer is enough. The phone number, the address and the list of services belong in the ad text or on your Page.

Headline, text and button

The headline sits under the image and should carry the offer in a few words, for example "Hair spa at ₹999 this week". The ad text above the image explains the rest in two or three sentences: what it is, who it suits, where you are and until when.

Showing a price helps more often than it hurts. It filters out people who were never going to buy and gives serious customers a reason to ask. If your price depends on the job, a starting price ("from ₹2,500") still works.

Choose the button that matches what you want. "Get quote" or "Sign up" suits a lead form, and "Send WhatsApp message" suits a chat ad. One button, one action.

Three examples

A salon in Pune, Baner area: a photo of a finished balayage, headline "Global colour from ₹2,499", text saying the offer runs till Sunday for new clients, booking on WhatsApp, 10 minutes from Baner Road. The button opens a chat.

A coaching class in Kota: a photo of a real classroom with students, headline "Free demo class, new NEET batch", text giving the batch start date, timing and the locality, and asking parents to leave a number for a call back about fees. A lead form collects name and phone.

A bakery in Indore: a photo of a two-tier birthday cake, headline "Custom cakes from ₹850 per kg", text saying orders need two days notice and delivery covers Vijay Nagar and nearby areas. WhatsApp works well here because customers want to send a reference photo.

What Meta rejects

Meta reviews every ad before it runs. Most rejections come from a short list of avoidable problems, and fixing the wording or image is usually enough to get approved on the next try.

Personal attributes catch many owners out. Meta does not allow ads that suggest you know something personal about the reader, so "Are you overweight?" or "Struggling with diabetes?" will be rejected. Write "Weight loss programme for working adults" instead.

• Claims that sound too good or cannot be backed up, like guaranteed results
• Lines that point at the reader’s health, finances or other personal traits
• Before and after photos for health, weight or skin treatments
• Credit, jobs and housing ads run without the special category declaration Meta requires
• Products Meta prohibits outright
• An ad that does not match the Page or brand it runs from
• Blurry, misleading or low-quality images

If someone else makes the ad

Ask to see the final image and text before it goes live, and check the price, dates and area. A wrong price in an ad costs you either money or goodwill. In our app the design is shown to you for approval first, and the ad only starts once you say yes.

Also check the ad on a phone screen, since that is where nearly everyone will see it. Text that looks fine on a laptop can be too small to read when the image shrinks to the width of a feed.

Questions