Table of contents
Facebook launched them in 2016, but their enormous potential has so far been mostly harnessed by large brands.
We’re talking about Facebook Canvas, the mobile and tablet-oriented ad format that goes beyond traditional ads by offering a true immersive experience.
What is Facebook Canvas?
Canvases appear on Facebook’s Home in the post-link format (with a preview and caption), but when clicked by the user, it opens up a full-screen view that allows navigation in a kind of mini-site or landing page.
It’s possible to interact with various multimedia content, such as photos, carousels, videos, animations, buttons, product catalogs, or panoramic images (which are viewable thanks to the device’s internal accelerometer, by tilting the screen).
Canvases are characterized by:
- high loading speed (up to 10 times faster than external links)
- engaging navigation
This allows capturing the user’s attention and presenting the company (or brand) in an original and effective way.
Responding to current trends in social media usage, Facebook specifically designed Canvases for mobile consumption (they are not displayed on desktop devices).
The percentage of users accessing the internet via smartphones in Italy increased by 44% from 2016 to 2017:
Source: “Digital in 2017: Italy”, We Are Social and Hootsuite, 2017.
Furthermore, 90% of Italian Facebook users access the platform via mobile devices:
Source: “Digital in 2017: Italy”, We Are Social and Hootsuite, 2017.
The Potential of Facebook Canvas
If well studied and carefully executed, Canvases can offer enormous opportunities not only to large brands but also to smaller businesses. Thanks to several advantages over traditional ads, Facebook Canvases are an effective tool to acquire new customers and increase brand awareness:
- engaging and interactive navigation allows users to have a comprehensive experience;
- it’s possible to reach a large number of users even with a small budget,
- it can be used for other activities external to Facebook: through a provided URL, the Canvas can be utilized as a mini-site, even for commercial purposes;
- Canvases can also be integrated with other tools (such as Instagram Stories).
Examples of Facebook Canvas Usage
1. Informative Canvas
Facebook Canvases provide a great showcase for companies, enabling them to effectively and engagingly present their services to users. We used Facebook Canvases to present our projects and the working method of our web agency in Vicenza:
2. Intriguing Canvas
Facebook Canvases generate curiosity: with the 360-degree experience they offer users, they are the perfect tool for teasers, invitations to industry fairs, and launches of new product lines.
That’s why we chose this format to promote the launch of Prodotti Stella’s All Natural line:
Facebook Canvas and Instagram Stories
Starting from September 2017, Facebook Canvases can be integrated with ads within Instagram Stories. This integration allows reaching users from two social platforms through a single tool, representing a significant opportunity to further amplify visibility.
We utilized this integration for the launch of a new product line, achieving excellent results in terms of reach and total views:
- Reach: 102.143
- Impressions: 105.109
Based on the results obtained so far, Canvases have proven to be an effective tool to increase the awareness and brand visibility of companies of all types and sizes. We just need to see if Facebook will choose to enrich them further by proposing additional integrations.
Table of contents
