In order to run dynamic campaigns, a feed is always needed. However, you might be in a situation where you still don’t have one. Fortunately, that is not an obstacle to getting started exploring Social Dynamic ads in Bannerwise.
In this article, we will show you how to manually create a simple CSV working feed from scratch using Google Spreadsheets. After all, if you’re reading this article it’s because ad personalization matters to you and you understand its relevance.
STEP 1: Create your first feed.
The list below contains a catalogue template per business type with the required and optional attributes pre-filled. You can use these templates to create your product feed. Simply select the one you need and open it in Google Spreadsheet.
Facebook:
Pinterest:
Snapchat:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION❗❗
There are two types of attributes you can use in your feed:
Required: These must always be present in the feed. If any required attributes are missing, products might not be uploaded to your catalogue. When using the templates shared above, don’t remove or edit any required attributes.
Optional: You use optional fields to share additional product information. You can see an “#Optional” tag in the templates for those fields that are optional. It means that you can safely remove them from the feed if they are not relevant. Some examples of commonly used optional product fields are:
sale_price: Display the original price vs. the sale price.
additional_image_link: Display multiple images of the same product.
custom_label_0: Can be use to show product rating or amount of reviews.
For example, you can see in the image below that attributes "price", "destination_city" and "URL" contain the “#Optional” tag whereas "description" or "item_group_id" does not.
In Bannerwise, the information added in the optional attributes can also be used to set up dynamic rules and conditions and have more relevant layouts in your ads. You can, for example, set up rules like:
If “sale_price” “exists”
If “discount” “>20%”
If “availability” “is less than or equals 5”
STEP 2: Enrich your data feed.
Once you’ve decided the attributes you’ll use in your feed, it’s time to manually fill in all the data. You can find all the information you need on the web page where products are advertised. Remember that each line in the document refers to one product.
Find below some best practices when filling in your product data for the most used required attributes. On top of that, we also mention what attributes are often displayed in the ad design:
Title: Use a specific, relevant title for the item. Often displayed in ad design.
Description: This should be short and relevant. Include special features of the item such as material, color… Keep the description as plain text, don’t include any links to it. Not displayed in ad design.
Price: Simply add the price of the item as a number and use the full stop as a decimal point. Don’t use currency symbols ($, € or £). Instead, use the currency codes. You can always customize the look of price elements by using price formatting in Bannerwise so, don’t worry about that now. Often displayed in ad design.
Image_link: Use an image URL that shows the item complete. This is the main image of your item. Use either PNG or JPEG formats and 1080x1080 pixels. Make sure the link is not broken. Use images that are the same size and same scale ratio to ensure your design is consistent for all the items in your feed. Make sure that your images have the same background or that the background is transparent. Always displayed in ad design.
Link: It should always redirect to the specific product in the business’s website. Make sure the URL is not broken. Automatically added to the ads to be clickable.
STEP 3: Create a working CSV URL.
When you’re done completing your data feed, you have to create a working CSV URL of your spreadsheet that will be used as source feed in Bannerwise. The URL will make it possible to pull the product data of the spreadsheet into your creatives in Bannerwise to let you build your ad design and set up dynamic rules and conditions, if desired. To know how to get your url working, follow the steps in this article.
Keep the CSV URL close by. You will need it in the next step.
At this point you might be thinking that this process is quite time consuming and laborious. We totally get it! Automating these tasks is possible so, don’t worry! At the end of this article you can read what tools you can use to automate and speed up your feed setup.
💡 Good to know: You can set up a schedule in Bannerwise to keep up to date with the content of your ads with the content of your feed. This will let you manage and update product content directly from your feed (spreadsheet) without making any manual updates in the ads in Bannerwise. You can set up the schedule like this. Note that this sync only takes place once your ad set is published in Bannerwise and you’ve added the URL generated in Bannerwise in your catalog (Facebook, Snapchat, or Pinterest).
STEP 4: Upload your feed in Bannerwise.
The first step to building Social Dynamic Ads in Bannerwise is to upload a working feed. Fortunately, you just created one. This article will show you the steps to upload yours in Bannerwise.
As mentioned earlier, setting up and maintaining up to date a feed is a lot of manual work and working this way is not a solution for the long term. Content management Systems usually have the functionality of exporting catalogues. Generating your feed using these platforms is a good starting point to run this type of campaign.
Once you upload the feed in Bannerwise you’re basically ready to start building your Social Dynamic Ads. You can continue reading the articles below to complete the flow to build and publish your ads:
We hope the information in this article was useful to achieve your goal. If there is anything else we can help you with and you couldn't find it in our help center, don't hesitate to contact us by chat. We are always ready to help you.