Learn/New ads
Product ads for a Shopify store: the catalog ad and the made ad
Meta can build ads from your store’s products on its own. Those ads remind people of what they saw. To make someone want a product they have never seen, you still need an ad that shows it being used.
The short answerA Shopify store runs two kinds of product ad. The catalog ad is built by Meta from the store’s synced products and shown to people who looked at them or might like them. The made ad shows one product being used, to people who have never seen it. Sync the catalog through Shopify’s Facebook and Instagram channel, keep its photos clean, then make the ads that introduce each product.
- Shopify’s Facebook and Instagram channel syncs your products to a Meta catalog for free.1
- Catalog photos need at least 500 × 500 px and no text over the product.3
- Give the catalog several reasons to buy, then leave it to learn before editing.4
- Catalog ads remind; made ads introduce. A store that runs only one is missing half its job.
On this page
Most store owners meet product ads as one thing: the carousel of their own products that follows a visitor around Facebook after they leave the store. That is the catalog ad, and it is useful. But it can only show people what they already looked at, in the photos the store already has. The ads that bring someone new are made, one product at a time, around what it is like to use it.
- A Shopify store that is not password protected, with the products you want to advertise.
- Clean photos of each product, ideally several per product.
- A Meta ad account, and the claims each product is allowed to make.
Step 1Sync the catalog
Install Shopify’s Facebook and Instagram sales channel. It is free on every Shopify plan, subject to the store being eligible, and it keeps a catalog of your products on Meta in step with the store.1 That catalog is what Meta’s catalog ads draw from; they were called dynamic product ads before, and you create them in Meta Ads Manager.2
Most sync problems come from the store, not from Meta. A store still behind a password cannot connect at all, a product with no photo or no price is left out, and a product whose variants share one photo shows that one photo for every colour. Fix each at the store and let the channel carry the fix across, so the store stays the one place where a product is true.
Step 2Make the catalog photos fit for the ad
A catalog ad is only as good as the store’s photos, because it shows them as they are. Meta sets the minimums and recommends a little more.
| What Meta asks for | Value |
|---|---|
| Smallest image | 500 × 500 px |
| Recommended for square placements | 1024 × 1024 px |
| File | JPEG or PNG, up to 8 MB |
| Over the product | No text, promo codes or watermarks |
Meta’s product image specifications for catalogs, read 2 Nov 2026.
A clean product on a plain background is what the catalog wants. The price, the offer and the brand’s words belong in the made ads, where they can be laid out for each shape.
Step 3Give the catalog several reasons to buy
Different people buy the same product for different reasons: the price, the shipping, the reviews, what it is made of. Meta’s guidance for catalog creative is to give it several descriptions with different reasons, and then to leave it for up to 15 days to learn which works for whom before editing.4
| Reason | Description it becomes |
|---|---|
| Price | Under $40, free returns |
| Proof | Rated by 2,000 customers |
| Material | Merino wool, machine washable |
Example. Example descriptions for one product. Use only what your product can claim.
The best reasons are already written down by your customers. Read the reviews, the questions people ask before they buy, and the notes support hears most often. The reason that comes up again and again is usually the one to lead with, in the customer’s words rather than the brand’s.
Step 4Make the ad that introduces the product
Now the ads the catalog cannot make: the product in someone’s hand, on someone’s face, in someone’s kitchen. These are for people who have never visited the store, so they have a second or two to show what the product is and why it matters.
One product can have several introductions, each for a different person: the gift buyer, the person replacing an old one, the person who has never heard of the category. Each gets its own made ad with its own opening, and the catalog ad follows up with whoever clicked.
For what other stores in your category run, see the ad library’s pages by kind of product, such as beauty and skincare or fashion. To put your real product into a new ad without it changing shape, see how to get your real product into a generated ad.
Step 5Lay each made ad out for every placement, and tag it
A made ad runs in the feed and in Stories and Reels, and each shape needs its own layout, with the product and the price kept clear of the screen’s edges.
| Placement | Shape | Image size Meta lists |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook and Instagram feed | 4:5 | 1440 × 1800 px |
| Stories and Reels | 9:16 | 1440 × 2560 px |
Before it runs, add URL parameters in Ads Manager so every visit the ad sends carries the ad’s name or id. Shopify keeps that on each order, so later you can see which ad an order came through, not only which ads Meta says worked. All the sizes, with their safe areas, are in Facebook ad sizes.
Common mistakes
- Running only catalog ads.They remind people who already looked; nobody new meets the product.
- Putting the offer on the catalog photo.Meta asks for clean product images, and the offer gets cropped anyway.
- Editing the catalog descriptions every few days.Meta asks for time to learn which reason works.
- Leaving ads untagged.Without it, an order cannot be traced to the ad that brought it.
eonik makes the ad that introduces a product with the real product kept exact, then lays it out for the feed, Stories and Reels at once. Making ads on your Mac is free.
Get eonik for Mac →Questions
What are product ads on Facebook?
Ads that show a store’s products. Catalog ads, once called dynamic product ads, are built by Meta from the store’s catalog; made ads are designed around one product. Most stores need both.2
Do I need Shopify’s Facebook and Instagram channel?
For catalog ads, it is the simplest way: it syncs the store’s products to a Meta catalog and keeps prices and stock in step, free on Shopify plans.1
What size should product photos be for catalog ads?
At least 500 × 500 px, with 1024 × 1024 px recommended for square placements, as JPEG or PNG up to 8 MB.3
Catalog ads or made ads: which first?
Sync the catalog first, because it costs little and catches people who already looked. Then make one introducing ad for the product you most want new people to meet.
How can a small ecommerce brand create more product video ads without organizing expensive shoots?
Start from the product photos you already have. They can carry the product while the scene around it is generated, and the made ad is then cut, captioned and laid out in every size. Check every frame against the photos before it goes out. A shoot is still worth it for the hero film; each version should not need one.
Sources
- Facebook & Instagram by Meta, Shopify Help Center. The free sales channel that syncs a store’s products to a catalog on Facebook and Instagram.Checked 2 Nov 2026
- Advantage+ catalog ads, Shopify Help Center. Formerly dynamic product ads: the synced catalog is used for catalog ads created in Meta Ads Manager.Checked 2 Nov 2026
- Product image specifications for catalogues, Meta Business Help Center. At least 500 × 500 px, 1024 × 1024 px recommended for square placements, JPEG or PNG up to 8 MB, no overlaid text.Checked 2 Nov 2026
- Best practices for Advantage+ creative for catalog, Meta Business Help Center. Several descriptions with different reasons to buy; wait up to 15 days before editing.Checked 2 Nov 2026
- Image ad specs, Facebook Feed, Meta Ads Guide. 4:5, 1440 × 1800.Checked 27 Oct 2026
- Image ad specs, Instagram Stories, Meta Ads Guide. 9:16, 1440 × 2560, the 14% / 35% / 6% safe zone.Checked 27 Oct 2026