WELCOME, FACEBOOK CREATIVE HUB.

Anyone who works in a digital advertising agency will tell you that creating ad proofs for clients was a pain in the ass. Creating a proof often meant a mix of screen captures, photo editing, presentations and overall headaches. Then clients would make changes and the process would start again. Then they would make more changes and it would start yet again. But they were a necessary evil. In November 2016, Facebook did agency workers around the world a favor with the roll out of Creative Hub.

On the date of rollout, I was preparing for major back surgery so I just kind of put it aside and figured I would eventually check it out and then wait until it evolved into something amazing. It turns out I waited awhile to explore and I’m very sorry I did. If you are creating Facebook campaigns for clients and have not used Creative Hub, you need to finish reading this article, then login in to Facebook Ads and start playing. It has made my life so much easier and it will do the same for you.

As Facebook exclaims, the Creative Hub is “a new place to bring ideas to life.” To those who want to really understand what it is, the hub is a place where you can create ads, save them, generate dynamic links to send to clients and edit as necessary. Once you are happy with what you create, Facebook generates a magical link that you can send to a client that allows the client to preview an ad in the different formats (Feeds, Right Column, Mobile vs. Desktop, etc.). At Boxless, it has changed how we work with clients. It has made the proofing process seamless.

But Creative Hub is even more than that. It allows you to see the different types of ads that Facebook offers through the work of industry experts. More than proofing, Creative Hub is a source for inspiration. If you haven’t played with some of the newer ad types, Creative Hub allows you to scroll through samples by major brands and then create similar ads. So beyond proofing and inspiration, it is also a practice court for FB advertisement designers.

To access the Creative Hub, you can either head over to facebook.com/ads/creativehub or just select “Creative Hub” in the Plan section of the Ads Manager All Tools Menu. For me and Boxless, it has been a game changer. My only criticism is that Facebook now has to figure out how to allow you to import design from Creative Hub into the Ads Manager. Once they tackle that feat, I will be in love!

For more great content like this, check out my blog at www.boxlessmedia.com