This article will be a complete step by step breakdown of catalog ads including definitions. A majority of this process will be based on how Meta (Facebook/Instagram) operates with catalog ads, but the understanding of catalog ads can be translated across other channels as well.
This article will not discuss how Marpipe enriched creative interacts with Meta on catalog ads
What is a catalog?
A catalog is a digital container within Meta Commerce Manager where a user can upload products they want to advertise on Facebook and Instagram. Catalogs can be viewed as the hub of the entire catalog ad process.
Items are uploaded to and stored in your catalog within in Commerce Manager. The catalog will also store product triggered events from a connected Pixel such as View Content, Add to Cart, and Purchase.
Within your catalog, you can create product sets, which are groups of products designated by you based on selected traits (color, brand, size, best sellers, new arrivals, etc). All Products counts as a product set as well.
How do I upload products to my catalog?
Products can be uploaded in one of two ways: manually or automatically.
Manual Upload
Products can be uploaded one at a time by manually adding in their information to the catalog - their ID, product title, image, quantity, availability, etc. This can be time consuming if you have more than just a few dozen products you'd like to upload and manage.
Automatic Upload
The faster method would be to set up a spreadsheet of all of your products and connect it to your catalog. This is what's known as a product feed or data feed. Think of it as a file that literally feeds product information into your catalog for you. Any time you add a new product or update an existing product, the catalog will pull in the spreadsheet and update/add/remove any products that have been changed/included/removed.
FAQs
How quickly will products update in the catalog after I update my spreadsheet?
This is based on the sync schedule you set with your catalog. By default the catalog will sync with your product feed every hour from the time of initial upload. So if your initial upload was at 12:31pm EST, your catalog will sync next around 1:31pm EST.
Can I force the catalog to update my products outside of a scheduled sync?
Yes. If you want your products to update sooner than your next scheduled sync, you can manually request the product feed through your catalog.
Can't I just connect my store directly to Meta?
Yes, you can just directly connect your store to Meta so products will automatically upload that way. It will be the basic amount of data that's needed to upload the product (id, title, image, size, material, description, availability). You'll need to be conscious of what items are imported and removed from your catalog based on what you have available in your store.
Creating Product Sets
Product sets allow you to group products together based on similar defined traits such as color, brand, size, material, or custom traits. These traits are called upon using filters. For example, you may have 2000 products in your catalog. By using the following filters:
Color is blue or green and size is Medium
You can narrow your product set down to just the 50 Medium size products that come in blue/green
FAQs
Why are product sets important? Can I just not add certain products to my catalog?
Ideally you want all products to exist in your catalog because there are events that likely occur across all products including view content (people do still look at out of stock products on your website). If you remove products from your catalog that are still active, just out of stock, your catalog misses out on crucial data that can be stored for future use when those items go back in stock.
Product sets allow you to advertise exactly what you want on a specific ad without removing items completely from your catalog.
How Catalog Ads Work
Now that the groundwork is laid above, how do catalog ads work?
When you link your ad to your catalog, Meta will deliver a unique version of that ad to each user in your audience based on their interests and preferences. A single ad cannot show all 2000+ products in your catalog, so Meta will use the product events that are stored in the catalog to decide which products to send to each user.
Remember: Meta will choose which products will be of interest to each person based on the product events that are stored in the catalog. Because of this, you are not connecting your product feed to the ad, but rather the catalog itself.
The more products the ad is allowed to deliver, the more uniquely catered the ad will be to individual users. Because each person has individual preferences, items you see in your version of the ad are likely not the same items someone else sees.
This is where product sets come into play
Sometimes you don't want your ad to show certain products ever, regardless of who it's delivered to. Defining your product set on the ad will tell Meta "Send whatever products will be of interest to each person, as long as it's from the list products in this particular set." This is how you can set up ads particularly for best sellers, new arrivals, etc. without removing products from your catalog.
FAQs
What images will be used to represent the products?
By default, your ad will use the first available image to represent the product in an ad. This is normally classified as the main/primary image that you've set for the product in your store.
Can multiple images be used to represent the same product in one ad?
No. Meta will only use the primary image to represent a product in your ad. This is why it's important to put your best foot forward on that product image!
Can I show multiple different colors of the same product in one ad?
This is primarily based on your store setup. Meta will only show one variant to represent that product in your ad. If colors are set up as variants of that product, Meta will not show multiple colors of that product. If each color is set up as individual products, then Meta can show multiple colors in one ad.