One idea, three shapes
Feeds favour 4:5, which Meta recommends at 1440x1800 and which fills more of a phone screen than a square, with 1:1 as the shape that works everywhere. Stories and Reels want 9:16 at 1440x2560, with the bands at the top and bottom kept free of text for the interface. Carousels take two to ten cards. Supplying each shape yourself, and assigning it per placement, stops Meta from cropping a square into a vertical frame or letterboxing a landscape film. Compose each ratio rather than cropping one master: a product that sits well in 1:1 often ends up tiny in 9:16 unless the scene is rebuilt around it.
Copy that works before 'See more'
Meta recommends about 125 characters of primary text, 40 for the headline and 25 for the description. Primary text can be longer, but it truncates, so the offer and the reason to believe belong in the first line. Translation breaks this quietly. German and Finnish typically run longer than English, so a translated line pushes the offer below the fold. Write each market's copy to the length rather than translating and trimming. The headline beneath the image should add something the picture does not already say, such as the price, the range or the deadline.
Decide what the system may change
Meta's automated creative enhancements can adjust brightness, expand images to fit placements, generate new backgrounds, animate stills, add music and rewrite text. Each can be switched on or off, and new options arrive regularly, sometimes switched on by default. Decide before launch what is allowed on brand assets: cropping and brightness may be harmless, while a generated background can put a product in an unapproved setting and rewritten text can turn a careful claim into a non-compliant one. Where variation is wanted, the studio generates it under the brand hub, with approved claims enforced, so every version tested is one legal has seen.
Labels, politics and purpose campaigns
Meta applies an 'AI info' label to ads created or significantly edited with its own generative tools, especially those showing photorealistic people, and reads C2PA and IPTC metadata to spot other tools. The label sits beside the ad marker, which Meta is changing from 'Sponsored' to 'Ad', or in the ad's menu. Ads about social issues, elections or politics must disclose photorealistic digital alteration. In the EU, Meta stopped accepting political, electoral and social issue ads on 6 October 2025, citing the EU's regulation on political advertising. Brand purpose campaigns on topics such as climate or health can be classed as social issue ads, so check before planning an EU flight.
Updated 25 September 2026