Facebook collaborative ads are a way of connecting brands with retailers, with the prime goal of fostering efficient and performance-oriented partnerships that benefit both parties. They were originally named “Collaborative Performance Advertising Solutions (CPAS)”, but they were rebranded in 2019 into the shorter, more compact and straightforward “Collaborative Ads”.
They have since been used as a powerful tool for brands and online merchants to work together and grow their respective businesses faster and more reliably.
How Do Facebook Collaborative Ads Work?
The CPAS strategies are designed with online merchants in mind. If a brand uses online retailers and marketplaces to sell their products, then the Facebook collaborative ads are an effective way to reach their campaign targets, as they can be customized to cater to 3 different goals:
Goal #1 Awareness
Facebook collaborative ads can help brands reach a broader audience and build awareness about their brand and products. The goal here is to prospect large audiences through strategic promotional campaigns, collect that data, and further use it to devise a successful sales campaign.
Goal #2 Traffic
Facebook CPAS can be used effectively to drive traffic exclusively to the chosen retail partner’s website or mobile app and prevent the brand’s ads from competing with the partners. This will, in turn, benefit the brand as well, as these CPAS strategies can help lower their campaign costs.
Goal #3 Sales
Increasing sales is the end goal of any business, regardless of any other targets set in place. The Facebook collaborative ads once again prove to be a very welcome tool that brands can use to reach this goal.
Through the CPAS strategies Facebook has made available, brands can prospect new audiences, retarget customers, and drive up their sales.
The CPAS collaborative ads will show the brand’s products to people who have expressed an interest in similar product offerings from other sources. CPAS strategies also involve bringing the products back to the customers’ attention at set time intervals after they have initially shown an interest in them.
How To Get Started With Facebook Collaborative Ads
- If you are a brand looking to partner with a retailer, start by prospecting the market in your region to identify any potential partners. You can do this through the retailer directory or your Meta sales team. If you are a retailer, take the same route through your Meta sales team to check for eligible businesses in your region.
- To get the ad up and running, the retailer will present a catalog segment to the brand. They, in turn, will need to review it and agree to the terms and conditions laid out.
- It’s best to use a dedicated Facebook Collaborative Ads account for each separate retail partner
Setting Up A Facebook Collaborative Ads Campaign
- Go to Ads Manager and switch on the Collaborative Ads toggle
- Click on <Create>
- Start by selecting the ad objective from the Ads Manager:
- If you plan an awareness campaign optimized for reach and impressions, look for options like brand awareness or reach objectives.
- If your campaign focuses on traffic, select the Traffic objective for your ad.
- If your goal is a sales campaign optimized for conversion events or link clicks, select the Sales objective for your ad. If you are presented with multiple options, select either catalog sales or conversion objectives.
- Under the Conversion tab, choose the catalog segment your retail partner has shared with you. This is an optional step, so if your partner has not shared a catalog segment with you, you will not be able to monitor any sales or other conversion events on their website.
- Choose which audience you want your ads to reach.
- Opt for the placement of your liking.
- Under the Optimization and delivery tab, choose the appropriate option for your ad objective:
- For an Awareness campaign, select reach or impressions.
- For a Traffic campaign, choose from link clicks, daily unique reach, or impressions optimization.
- For a Sales campaign, choose either conversion events or link clicks.
- Select the format you wish to use for your ad.
- Under the Destination tab, make sure to only enter your retail partner’s destination link in the URL field provided, to ensure your ad doesn’t get automatically paused.
- For a traffic campaign, select whether you want the traffic destination or conversion location to be either the app or the website of your retail partner.
- Click Publish, and you are ready to go!
Tips to make the most out of your Facebook Collaborative Ads Campaigns
- Target broad audiences. The more people see your product pages on a retailer’s website or app, the broader the opportunity for retargeting and driving more sales. Which brings us to the next tip:
- Use retargeting. Retargeting will show ads to people who previously showed an interest in your products (viewed them on a retailer’s website or mobile app).
- Regularly review your catalog segment and keep it updated. Only retailers can make changes to the catalog segment, so contact your retail partner if you wish to add products.
- Use separate ad accounts. Keep a dedicated account for each retailer you partner with and only run Collaborative Ads on that account.
Final Words On Facebook Collaborative Ads
When used correctly, Facebook collab ads are a valuable and reliable tool that enables brands and retailers to work together to reach their goals. If you would like to get a taste of it and see for yourself the Facebook CPAS work their magic, contact us right here.
We will schedule a call to talk about all the ways in which we can help you keep up with the times and supercharge your Facebook ad campaigns.
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We look forward to hearing from you and learning all about your business!