Meta is continually improving its PPC platform. In recent years, this has included a focus on AI-driven technologies that speed-up the ad creation process, allow you to be more efficient, and take away much of the tedious manual work.
One such improvement is the implementation of dynamic creative ad sets. This was originally introduced in 2017 and since then it has allowed businesses to make the ad creation process easier and is also great for smaller businesses who don’t have the time and resources to devote to their social PPC.
In the below guide, I explain the premise of dynamic creative ad sets in Facebook ads, how they work, why they are beneficial, and how you can create them from your Ad dashboard.
Note – As of June 2024, Meta has discontinued the Dynamic Creative feature and recommends using the flexible ad format as a replacement.
What Are Dynamic Creative Ad Sets in Meta Ads?
The Dynamic Creative Ad feature in Facebook Ads allows you to add multiple versions of things like text, images, video, and headlines for your ads. An advanced AI algorithm then uses research and insight to create multiple, optimised ads using the assets you provided automatically.
As you will see below, this process is incredibly simple and you can create dynamic creative Ad sets in a few minutes once you have the information. Let’s look at an example.
Perhaps you created a dynamic creative ad set with the following assets:
- 3 headlines
- 2 body text
- 4 images
- 2 CTAs
- 3 videos
The AI could potentially spit out the following combinations:
- Headline 1, Body Text 2, Image 3, CTA 1
- Headline 1, Body Text 1, Image 2, CTA 2
- Headline 3, Body Text 2, Video 1, CTA 1
- Headline 2, Body Text 1, Image 1, CTA 2
- Headline 2, Body Text 2, Image 2, CTA 2
That’s just SOME of the variations – obviously in this scenario there are at least 10 different potential ads that could be generated. Hopefully, you can see the power of dynamic creative ad sets as a result. Just by inserting several asset variations, you get infinitely more ads for your campaigns.
Why Should You Use Dynamic Creative Ad Sets?
The benefits should already be clear but let’s delve a little deeper and explore why dynamic creative ad sets have been a game-changer:
- Reduced workload: Historically, if you want to create the 10+ different ad variations and test them like in the example above, the workload would have been ridiculous. You would have had to create each individual ad and add the assets. Depending on the detail and your experience level, this task could have taken hours. With the dynamic feature, you save a heap of time while still getting the same output – what may have taken 30-60 minutes, might now only take 5.
- Improved PPC efficiency: This ultimately makes your social media marketing and PPC more efficient. The employees responsible for your PPC will be able to concentrate on research and optimisation, instead of the ad creation part itself. Additionally, the AI processes are incredibly smart and use testing and data to give you the best dynamic variations.
- Fantastic optimisation: Your ads also become incredibly optimised because of the way you can add multiple assets and get multiple ad variations. The testing process becomes much quicker so you can see the end results quicker, make adjustments, and keep boosting your ad’s performance.
- They are great for retargeting: While dynamic creative ad sets work well for new customers, they also excel at retargeting. Firstly, you can incorporate retargeting features like creative audiences using your own customer data, website, or mobile app. Secondly, because you can easily try multiple ad variations with less effort, it means you can home in on retargeting and create ads that really drive engagement with existing customers.
Essentially, dynamic creative ad sets allow you to get more done and improve the quality and end results of your Facebook ad campaigns.
How to Set Up Dynamic Creative Ad Sets – A Comprehensive Guide
The actual process for creating dynamic creative ad sets is incredibly easy and I like how straightforward Facebook has made the process. I assume here that you already have some familiarity with creating ad sets and using Facebook Ads.
You can create a new ad set by completing the following nine steps:
- Open either the Power Editor or Quick Creation tool.
- Click “Create New Ad Set”.
- Click “Save To Draft”.
- Set the initial dynamic creative ad settings (budget, start/end date, scheduling info).
- Add any customer audiences you wish to utilise.
- Click “Create New Ad”.
- Add all the relevant input variations (Headlines, Images, Videos, Text, Descriptions, CTA).
- Click “View More Variations” to see the different dynamic Ads Facebook has created.
- Click “Review Draft Items” to check the final ads and publish them.
The more involved part is adding the different asset (an Ad asset is essentially a piece of content such as the headline, an image, or text) variations. This takes time and there are some key factors/rules to remember:
Firstly, you can include the following total variations of each asset in your dynamic creative ad sets:
| Headline | 5 |
| Image | 10 |
| Video | 10 |
| Text | 5 |
| Description | 5 |
| CTA | 5 |
Secondly, the TOTAL number of overall assets you can include in a dynamic ad set is 30. Therefore, you can’t include the maximum of each asset type. For example, if you added 5 headlines, 7 images, 8 videos, 5 text variations, 5 description variations, you wouldn’t be able to include any CTAs as their total reaches the maximum limit of 30.
If you want to add additional assets, simply click on the “+ Add” button which is located underneath the form field for each asset type.
Also, during the initial creation and settings phase, make sure you pay attention to the estimated daily results, budget, and scheduling. On the right-hand side, Facebook Ads shows an estimated preview of your dynamic creative ad set results. This includes the reach and post engagement – this can be a useful snippet for budgeting and to temper expectations.
Considerations When Using Dynamic Creative Ads
Although this feature has excellent potential and can save you time and money, you have to be cautious and it doesn’t mean care isn’t needed. When implementing dynamic creative ad sets in Facebook ads you must consider the following:
- Variation quality: This feature is not infallible. If you give it a pile of rubbish, you can be sure it will generate rubbish. Yes, you can add multiple variations of assets such as headlines and text, but for the best results they must be well-researched and high-quality! The higher-quality inputs you add to your dynamic creative ad sets, the higher-quality the ads will be. The time saved during the creation process should give you more time to spend generating the assets.
- Non-complimentary assets: Building on this, Facebook will put together whatever asset variants you throw at it during the creation process – regardless of if they match or not. This means you must be incredibly careful when creating asset lists. Make sure they match in terms of tone, meaning, purpose, voice, and target demographic. If you try to mix together vastly different assets, the resulting ads will be fragmented and could inadvertently reduce the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns.
- Non-complimentary landing pages: Similarly, you must pay attention to the end goal of your dynamic creative ad sets such as landing pages. Make sure that the asset variations you upload are relevant to the landing page. Otherwise, you could get customers clicking on your ads, thinking they are getting one thing, only to be presented with something completely different.
So, this feature can be effective, but you still have to think about the process and what you are doing. Don’t think of dynamic creative ad sets as a magic wand. Instead, think of them as a time-saving feature that can boost efficiency and end results, but still requires your input.
Get More Out of Your Facebook PPC Campaigns with Dynamic Creative Ads
I hope you have found this article on dynamic creative ad sets useful. It’s great that Facebook continues to implement features that make the ad creation process easier and allows you to concentrate on important things like the copy, keyword research, and customer research.
Please remember though, that dynamic creative ad sets are only as effective as the asset variations you give it to work with! If your inputs are poor, regardless of how many variations are created, the outputs will subsequently be poor.
Facebook ads and social media PPC are just two areas we specialise in. If you want to discuss the use of dynamic creative ad sets or your Meta Ads strategies, please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to assist.
