Top 5 Creative Facebook Carousel Ad Examples

Facebook and Instagram made it quick and easy to create sharp and dynamic professional ads. In a few steps, you have a snazzy new ad ready to publish. 

So if you can simply upload one image, drop in your ad copy, and slap on a call to action button, then why bother going round and round with a carousel design? 

Well, if getting more traffic to your website is your goal, it’s been found that it’s worth the extra effort. 

Kinetic Social (a social marketing tech agency) revealed that carousel ads generated a significant increase in traffic to the advertised business’s websites. Over three months, click-throughs to the website increased tenfold.

A study found that a Wendy’s Instagram ad had a six-point increase in memory retention compared to the single-image ad. This shows that carousel ads are 20% more likely to be remembered by Instagram users (and the same likely applies to Facebook users as well).

So get comfortable, as we make the rounds through some Facebook carousel ad examples! 

What are Facebook Carousel Ads?

Facebook carousel ads are brochure/catalog meets PowerPoint presentation. 

What we once had to condense to a single static graphic now expands to several panels the user interacts with by flipping through the carousel contents. A carousel ad contains between two and 10 visuals.

In the above Facebook carousel ad example, the post moves by user manipulation. If the first panel is compelling enough, they continue to make their way through it to see more.

Each slide is about one specific item or concept, but all on deck work together to present one theme. Ideally, each slide should build upon the last one within the series. 

Check out this master guide on Facebook carousel ads to put together a complete strategy step by step! 

Top Marketing Benefits of Carousel Ads

The most significant benefit of carousel ads is extended customization. You don’t have to choose just one item to feature. You aren’t limited to communicating a dynamic message in one square image. Because of an extended Facebook carousel ad size and features, you accomplish much more in a single ad.

With static ads or single video ads, the audience is in a mostly passive role. They just view and read what’s in front of them. However, with carousel ad features, the user is invited to play an interactive part with controls that self-guide through the experience you crafted for them. 

By studying Facebook carousel ad examples, we identify how this multipurpose feature beautifully executes specific purposes. Let’s look into what carousel ads can do!

1. Highlight A Specific Product

Not sure which features consumers would be most interested in? No problem.

With multiple images, you present different features or aspects of your product. In some cases, one long image is split into individual panels to review the product’s makeup from end to end.

This setup is ideal for a product that has a complex design or many notable features. It’s like a product demonstration.

2. Showcase How to Use a Product

If the user experience is a significant part of your selling strategy, providing a step by step demonstration familiarizes consumers with the product’s usage.

Say a business is introducing a brand new yet novel product on the market. At first sight, they have a hard time making sense of what it does.

A “how-to” showcase allows an advertiser to explain a modern marvel to curious consumers. If they know what it is and what it does, then they have the information needed to determine if it’s a product they want.

This can apply to any situation where you intuitively know that educating your audience on how the product or service works would warm them up to it.

3. Tell a Story

Stories are eternally compelling. Stories are told in a series of images. 

Carousel ads are a way of telling a short story about your brand or its promise to transform the user. 

For example, nonprofits can effectively convey their mission through storytelling. A series of frames explains what they have done or plan to achieve.

Transformation messaging is a potent way to stress to your audience what your product or service ultimately does to improve their situation. The fitness and wellness industry uses this messaging frequently with before and after images.

Never underestimate the power of storytelling. If your product or service is about transformation and changing lives, this narrative can be told in a carousel ad.

4. Showcase Multiple Products 

Carousel ads allow consumers to window shop while scrolling through social media. 

Before with a static image, you would just pick out the most popular item you have, and hope they would like it enough to visit your website and view more inventory.

Facebook carousel ads are like a shopping mall store window where you can display several of your top picks in one scene. It says to social media users, “we have something for everyone!”

5. Preview an Article

When we shop for books online, it’s always nice to have a preview to flip through to compare products. A carousel ad works similarly.

When a product is a publication, presenting a series of attractive aspects of the article builds interest.

The use of subheaders introduces tasty parts of the publication in bite-sized pieces.

6. List Benefits

A great product or service aspires to meet several of your prospect’s needs.  

With carousel ads, you no longer need to choose which benefit is the most important. You may use up to 10 slides to individually highlight each benefit of your product or service.

5 Creative Facebook Carousel Ad Examples

One of the best ways to become an expert at creating a stunning Facebook ad is to browse through what others are publishing. 

What’s more, spying on your competitors gives you an idea of what the audience is already hearing from your industry and prevents you from parroting their campaigns. Creating a fresh approach helps you stand out.

We’ll evaluate some slick Facebook carousel ad examples below.

1. Airbnb

How much passive income would a homeowner make when becoming a short term rental host? This ad conversationally invites the audience to find out.

What may have been ignored in the caption space at the top is shouted in the graphic’s copy below. It invites users to try the Airbnb tool that calculates a home’s income-generating potential.

What Makes This Facebook Ad So Great?

It demonstrates the power of forwarding motion in messaging. This loop of slides is inviting a geo-targeted audience to find out how much moola they can make by having occasional guests in their home.

Yes, a static image would convey the same invitation for a calculation, but it wouldn’t be in a conversational style like this one. We think this one does a better job of engaging the audience and building curiosity.

2. Square

As mentioned earlier, sometimes it’s not always obvious at first glance what a product does.

What does that little plastic square do? And how exactly do you use your phone for payment transactions? “How to” ads clear up the mystery surrounding revolutionary technology.

What Makes This Facebook Ad So Great?

Strange new gadgets naturally raise questions. This carousel deck clearly demonstrates the what and how of the Square reader.

It shows that it reads both stripe and chip. It also nudges them to try the reader for free with a call to action.

3. Whole Foods

Did you know that there’s more to pumpkin than just pie? This Whole Foods ad inspires you to explore the many possibilities of cooking with pumpkin. 

This is an example of an ad that lists benefits.

What Makes This Facebook Ad So Great?

This ad invites you to be festive and try new autumn comfort foods. It also establishes Whole Foods as a source for gourmet recipes that livens up a menu rotation.

One static ad may be able to showcase how versatile pumpkin is as an ingredient, but we think this one makes more impact.

4. Guardian Weekly

Below is an example of media previews. Guardian Weekly uses a carousel ad campaign to grow readership by offering an inexpensive trial.

What Makes This Facebook Ad So Great?

This is an example of an ad that builds on itself. We start out with the proposition – a six-issue trial offer for only $6. This is attached to an image of a stack of magazines.

This pairs nicely with opened magazines that show headline examples of the topics they cover. The final slide restates the call to action. 

This ad gives a feel of browsing a retail newsstand in a way a static image wouldn’t be able to.

5. Udemy 

So what’s new at Udemy? This ad shows Facebook users all the cool new things they can learn for just $11.99! 

This is an example of how a carousel ad displays more than one product. It shows that there is a special course for every niche. 

What Makes This Facebook Ad So Great?

Each slide has a header, feature image, and star rating that creates a mini-course catalog. 

Udemy knows their prospects are lifelong learners, so they invite them to explore a diverse collection of new subjects! 

A static ad might list trending courses, but that’s risks looking boring and lazy. Plus the motion of the ad encourages browsing which is ultimately what Udemy wants users to do – continue browsing courses at their website.

The more time you spend on the app, the more likely you are to run into Facebook carousel ad examples. Next time you see one, ask yourself what it’s doing and how it’s doing it.

Paying attention to Facebook ad trends teaches you digital ad tricks.

Ready to Make Your Own Carousel Ad?

Are you motivated to level up to other brands in your industry with a powerful carousel ad?

Thanks to Facebook and Instagram, difficulty in creating competitive digital ads is a thing of the past. All the tools you need to create a polished carousel ad is at your fingertips with a business account.

But before you jump in and start building, you’ll need to pin down a specific robust purpose. What exactly will you do with this expanded space and how many frames does it require? It’s also helpful to familiarize yourself with fundamental advertising rules.