Facebook and Instagram Ad Copy

Saskia opens the placement preview on her phone and frowns. In her document, "Fresh flavor starts here" sat above a line explaining the herb tray. The preview shows lush basil, the headline and nothing else, so a stranger would have to guess what's for sale.

Saskia, Sillspindle Window Garden and all its product details are invented. The kit contains one narrow windowsill tray and four empty, removable pots. Seeds and live plants aren't included.

What should primary text and headlines do?

Give each field its own job inside one promise. The primary text sets up the situation and explains the offer. The headline names the product or gives a reason to look closer, while the creative shows what the words would otherwise have to explain.

Saskia replaces the vague opening with "An herb tray for narrow windowsills." Her headline becomes "Check your windowsill fit," which only works if the destination shows the measurements straight away. For the image, she asks for the tray and all four empty pots beside a ruler.

Copyhackers' 2019 Facebook Ads workbook separates message planning from ad anatomy and landing-page work. I read that as an order of work: settle the argument before you spread it across fields. Its screenshots are old, so check your own account for how the fields display today.

Saskia's Feed ad writing sheet

Primary text

An herb tray for narrow windowsills: one tray with four empty, removable pots. Check the dimensions against your sill. Seeds and live plants aren't included.

It names the product and its physical benefit, and keeps the exclusion that affects the purchase in view.

Headline

Check your windowsill fit

The destination must show the tray's measurements where visitors can find them immediately.

Creative note

Show the tray and all four empty pots beside a ruler, then lift one pot out.

It shows size and construction. A staged crop shouldn't make the kit look bigger than it is.

Make the first visible thought complete

People may see only part of the primary text. Hide the rest of Saskia's draft, and "An herb tray for narrow windowsills" still identifies the product. Try that with "We have spent the past year thinking about the spaces where life happens" and the tray disappears.

A considered purchase may need more explaining, and you can add it for people who tap to expand. Long-form versus short-form copy covers when that extra space helps.

The basil could suggest the kit comes with seeds or plants. Saskia removes it from the approved photograph and lays out the box contents. If a later version shows planted herbs, "Seeds and live plants not included" must remain visible in that frame.

Pair a claim with the right demonstration

The tray is four inches wide from front to back. Saskia shows that measurement beside the ruler and asks buyers to compare it with the usable depth of their sill.

If Saskia wanted to lead with the removable pots, she'd show one being lifted out for watering. Pick the demonstration after you've decided which product question the ad answers.

A kitchen photograph can still belong in the campaign. Saskia keeps the pots empty and leaves room around the tray so the crop can't cut off the ruler. She checks the photograph against the same contents list as the studio shot.

The brass-tray image below would fail Saskia's brief: it shows wiping, with no readable measurement or removable pots. Her approved creative needs the actual kit and the detail her copy asks buyers to judge.

Don't paste a paragraph onto the image and then repeat it in the primary text. A short overlay can name the benefit while the primary text explains the conditions. Read the whole ad aloud, overlays included, and cut any repeated sales pitch that adds no information.

If Saskia tests the ruler image against a pot-removal video, she's comparing two arguments as well as two pictures. She should log it as a size-led against care-led test and give the opening words none of the credit.

Adapt the message for the surface

Saskia saves her Feed preview, then opens each other placement she's selected. In every one she checks which text appears beside the creative and what the interface covers.

Don't assume a headline shows everywhere you've entered one. Build the vertical version so the frame explains the product by itself, and note anything important that gets lost in the change of shape.

Check current dimensions and display behaviour in the live Ads Guide, then compare them with the previews Saskia saved for each placement.

Adapt Saskia's windowsill offer

1. Feed draft

   Image: one tray and four empty pots beside a ruler. Opening: An herb tray for narrow windowsills. Contents line: Seeds and live plants not included.

2. Story draft

   Show the tray and four empty pots in a vertical frame. On-screen copy: "Tray + four empty pots; seeds and live plants not included." Keep it clear of the placement interface.

3. Reel draft

   Show the empty kit on the sill, then lift one pot out. Say and caption: "One tray with four empty pots; seeds and live plants not included." Close with "Check your windowsill fit" and review the finished clip with the placement interface showing.

Write to a situation without diagnosing the viewer

"A compact tray for apartment kitchens" describes a use Saskia can show. "Your sad apartment is killing your plants" invents an accusation and its cause, which is a clumsy way to greet a stranger. Describe the task and the product, and leave the viewer's private life alone.

For sensitive categories such as health or financial services, get the current platform rules and a proper review before you write about personal circumstances. If an ad is rejected, find out why before you start swapping synonyms.

The FTC's advertising guidance looks at the impression the words and pictures create together. "Grow herbs in any room" is a claim about growing conditions, however cheerfully it's meant, and a tray alone can't deliver it. Saskia replaces it with the invitation to check the tray dimensions.

If they expect plants, revise the picture or make the exclusion easier to see.

Check the impression made by the picture

Saskia asks a colleague to look at the ad without the product brief. What would they expect to find in the box? She records their answer before showing them the contents list.

A colleague describes the expected contents before seeing the brief.

If the colleague names anything outside the contents list, Saskia marks the frame that suggested it. She checks that frame again before approving the set.

Keep creator material honest

Saskia's next draft uses a paid presenter to show a pot lifting out. Before handing over the script, she checks every first-person line. "I've grown basil in this for years" stays only if it's true for that presenter and Sillspindle can support what it implies.

The FTC's guidance for influencers asks for a clear disclosure of any material relationship, placed with the endorsement. In a video, the disclosure belongs in the video itself, and the FTC notes that viewers are more likely to notice one made in both audio and on screen.

I'd pin this FTC advice above Saskia's creator brief: "Don't assume that a platform's disclosure tool is good enough." The FTC suggests using the tool alongside a good disclosure of your own, so Saskia marks space for hers in the storyboard, clear of the platform controls.

If you adapt a real customer's story, keep its conditions attached. A south-facing window might be why it worked. The lesson on testimonials and proof covers collecting and editing that material.

Review combinations, then review the destination

Saskia puts the approved text next to the creative filename on her review sheet. She adds the destination and the selected placements, so whoever builds the campaign can reproduce what she checked.

Then she looks at any enabled variations, such as automatic crops or text changes. One of those combinations could drop the line she restored after that first preview.

Before Sillspindle's tray ad runs

• The product and its main benefit are clear before anyone expands the primary text.
• Every selected placement has been previewed with its real crop and interface.
• Every offer describes one tray and four empty pots, with seeds and live plants excluded.
• Captions, disclosures and dimensions are readable on a phone.
• The destination puts the tray dimensions beside the complete kit contents.
• Any enabled creative variants keep the approved claim and terms intact.

After launch, compare what people do with what the ad invited. For a fit-check ad, look at what visitors do on the dimensions page and at the questions they send. A strong click rate followed by confused questions can mean the creative hides a limitation.

Ad testing principles explain how to plan a comparison without mistaking delivery differences for copy effects.

Inspect each selected placement

Use one offer to make a placement sheet; the Advertising collection covers other campaign decisions. Put the copy alongside the production notes, then open the destination as if you'd followed the ad. Mark any gap between what you expected and what the page explains.

Save the reviewed previews with a date, so the production team can see which versions you approved.

Saskia lays the four empty pots beside the tray and ruler. In the revised phone preview, each item is visible; she checks the contents line against the same pieces on her desk.