The ads previews, that we show in Smarlty.io for Facebook are not generated by us, but by Facebook themselves. This is true both when you click on the ad name (or the pencil icon near it) and when editing it, be it during initial creation or after.
Sometimes due to some (hopefully temporary) issues in previews or limitations, such as when working with URL tags or using Image Templates in Collection ads, the only way to see an accurate preview is to send it to your mobile device. Here's how you can do it in 4 quick and easy steps:
- Open the published ad in the Smartly.io campaign view by clicking its name or the pencil icon:
- In the pop-up window, click "Facebook Ad Preview":
- Copy the URL of the page that is opened:
- Send the URL to a device, where you want to preview the ad.
- Open the link on the device. It's better to open it while you have Facebook application installed. If you do not have it, it's better to login to Facebook in respective browser before following the link.
- You will see a page like below. Portion of it may fail to load due to lack of permissions or regional restrictions, but you can ignore that. What you need is "Show in feed" button. Click it.
- Now you need to search respective placements (feed, stories, Facebook or Instagram). This particular ad was setup for feed both in Facebook and Instagram:
While there are other ways to preview, like preview from Ads Manager, the approach above does is a bit more universal due to not requiring you to have access to Ads Manager with your personal account and, potentially, being a bit more straightforward. On the other hand, Ads Manager can provide you with more control over the share.