Social Media Ads Examples: 25 Real Ads and What to Copy

Last reviewed: October 2026

The best social media ads examples share one trait: the creative looks like it belongs on the platform. Wolt, Lenovo, TANP and Arla Foods all published results showing that native, creator-style or employee-voiced ads beat their own polished or business-as-usual versions, and the gains came from the creative, not a bigger budget.

Below are 25 real ads across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit and X. Nine come with published results. The rest are strong creative examples with no published numbers, labeled that way. Each ends with the move to copy.

Social media ads examples at a glance

This table lists all 25 social media ad examples by platform, format, the creative move behind each one, and whether a result was published. Rows marked “Not published” are useful for creative ideas only. Rows with numbers link to the original case study, so you can read the test design before borrowing the lesson.

Facebook ad examples (and Instagram)

The strongest Facebook ad examples in 2026 use short vertical video, a single offer and a direct path to a conversation or checkout. Meta reports that sound-on video with key elements inside the Reels safe zone delivered a 34.5% lower cost per result than image ads. Simple image ads still work when the offer is the hook.

That figure comes from Meta’s own Reels ads page. Treat platform claims as a direction to test, not a forecast.

Baan Talay Seafood: Reels that open a chat

• Platform and format: Facebook and Instagram Reels ads combined with Click to Messenger campaigns.
• Result: Meta reports the owner saw ROAS rise from 12x to 25x after combining the two (Meta, Reels ads).
• Why it works: the video sells, and the chat removes the form.
• What to copy: if your buyers ask questions before they buy, send the ad to Messenger or WhatsApp instead of a website.

Face Doctor Piedade: Reels routed to WhatsApp

• Platform and format: Reels ads with WhatsApp as the destination.
• Result: Meta reports the clinic generated over 1,000 leads monthly after switching to Reels ads with WhatsApp routing (Meta, Reels ads).
• What to copy: consult-driven firms can test “message us” as the CTA before building a long lead form.

Creative-only Facebook and Instagram examples

These ads appear in roundups by Zapier and WebFX. No results were published, so borrow the idea, then test it.

• AllTrails (Facebook image): a stripped-down design with the old price crossed out, the new price in bold and a plain “Get offer” button. Copy: when the price is the news, make the price the creative.
• HelloFresh (Facebook image): a bright food photo with a free meals and free shipping offer and a “Get Offer” CTA. Copy: color and contrast stop the scroll before the copy is read.
• Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative (Facebook image): a Thanksgiving turkey shortage message with limited quantities. Copy: tie the ad to a real seasonal moment and a real constraint.
• Notion (Instagram image): leads with “$12,000 of Free Notion” in large type over product screenshots. Copy: put a dollar value on your free offer instead of saying “free trial.”
• Aday (Instagram video): a phone slides into a pants pocket, solving a pain point women already know. Copy: open on the problem, not the spec sheet.
• Apple #ShotOniPhone (Instagram): customer photos repurposed as ads. Copy: a branded hashtag turns customers into a creative pipeline.
• Loewe (Instagram film): Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy joke about mispronouncing the brand. Copy: turn a known quirk into entertainment.
• Ruggable (Instagram image): rugs styled editorially in a co-branded Architectural Digest campaign. Copy: let a respected partner’s look carry your product.
• BJ’s Restaurants (Instagram Stories): a full-screen ad for free Pizookie day. Copy: Stories suit one bold, time-bound offer. More in our breakdown of Instagram Story ads examples.

TikTok ad examples

The clearest TikTok ad examples with published results use Spark Ads, which promote existing organic or creator posts instead of separate ad creative. Two Japanese brands, TANP and Guardner, each ran a two-week test against a standard in-feed campaign and reported higher conversion rates and lower cost per action from Spark Ads.

TANP: Spark Ads for app installs

• Who: one of Japan’s largest online gift retailers.
• Creative: a mix of seasonal gift recommendations, gift unboxings, product introductions and day-in-the-life vlogs.
• Setup: app install objective, with existing users excluded through Custom Audiences.
• Result: 67% higher conversion rate and 39% lower cost per action than a non-Spark in-feed campaign over the same two weeks, with over 308,000 impressions (TikTok, TANP success story).
• What to copy: run several creative styles at once. Unboxing and vlog formats feel like content, not ads.

Guardner: boosting the posts that already worked

• Who: a lifestyle brand in Fukuoka, Japan, launching three belt products.
• Creative: its best-performing organic videos, promoted as Spark Ads.
• Setup: TikTok Pixel for conversion tracking, and anyone who converted in the past 180 days excluded.
• Result: 21% higher conversion rate, 13% lower cost per action and 26.9% more impressions than a non-Spark campaign in the same two-week window (TikTok, Guardner success story).
• What to copy: let organic posting act as your creative test. Pay to promote the winners.

LinkedIn ad examples

The best LinkedIn ad examples put a real person or real expertise in the feed. Lenovo’s executive-voiced Thought Leader Ads drove 6x the engagement rate of its historical Sponsored Content benchmarks, and Tilt Metrics cut cost per lead by 52% by letting prospects read a guide inside the feed instead of on a landing page.

Lenovo: Thought Leader Ads from executives

• Creative: the pilot promoted a post by Lenovo’s ESG Executive Director about its latest ESG report. Lenovo then extended the program to 30+ Thought Leader Ads across tech, sales and HR leaders.
• Result: single image and video Thought Leader Ads had engagement rates 6x higher than Lenovo’s historical Sponsored Content benchmarks. Leaders gained an average of 285 followers per ad, and members who first saw a Thought Leader Ad had a 63% higher CTR on mid-funnel content (LinkedIn, Lenovo case study, July 2024).
• What to copy: promote what your partners already post. Then retarget the people who engaged.

Tilt Metrics: Document Ads instead of gated eBooks

• Creative: customer guides and eBooks shown as Document Ads, opening on compelling content rather than a cover page. Same audience and structure as the Single Image Ads they replaced.
• Result: 52% lower cost per lead, 44% lower cost per click and 64% higher click-through rate versus Single Image Ads (LinkedIn, Tilt Metrics case study).
• What to copy: put the first pages of your guide in the feed and gate the rest with a Lead Gen Form.

Creative-only LinkedIn examples

• Minnow (Lead Gen Form): side-by-side photos of messy delivery bags and its pickup pod, with a quote form attached (Zapier). Copy: before and after in a single frame.
• Google (recruiting): an ad that speaks to personal fulfillment, not only career growth (Zapier). Copy: break the expected tone of the feed.
• Canada Post (Sponsored InMail): a webinar invite for businesses expanding in Canada, with supporting statistics and a registration CTA (WebFX). Copy: invite people to something useful, not a sales call.

YouTube Shorts ad examples

YouTube Shorts ads work when they are built for Shorts, not cut down from a TV spot. Wolt tested three branding timings in Denmark and found that showing its driver as a character at four seconds reached 75% more unique users with the brand message. Arla Foods saw ad recall lift triple in one test.

Wolt: early branding, relatable humor

• Test design: a Video View Campaign in Denmark with three arms. Branding at 4 seconds, branding at 9 seconds with the same humor, and branding at 12 seconds with quirkier humor.
• Result: the early branding arm exposed 75% more unique users to the brand message and delivered a 5.86% consideration lift. Relatable humor produced an 18% boost in ad recall, and the delayed branding arm had a 15% lower cost per view than the early version (Think with Google, July 2026).
• What to copy: make the brand part of the story early, not a logo at the end, and test timing.

Arla Foods and Starbucks Chilled Coffee: native Shorts

• Test design: A/B tests with Google Brand Lift Studies comparing long-form, non-skippable ads alone against the same setup with native Shorts added. Brands included Cocio in Denmark, Apetina in Norway and Starbucks Chilled Coffee across several markets.
• Result: in one campaign, ad recall lift rose from 3% to 9% when native Shorts were added, and the tests produced double the awareness lift of business-as-usual campaigns (Think with Google, September 2025).
• What to copy: fast, vertical, creator-style edits with popular audio. Measure recall or lift, not only views.

Pinterest, Reddit and X ad examples

On Pinterest, Reddit and X, the best social media ads match how people already use the platform. Pinterest users plan purchases, so craft and inspiration imagery fits. Reddit users distrust polish, so hand-drawn, plain-spoken ads fit. On X, promoted posts and follow ads ride live conversation.

Nena & Co.: Pinterest carousel ads with a story

• Creative: carousel and standard Pins showing the Guatemalan women who make the brand’s handbags, plus the sustainability story behind them.
• Result: Pinterest reports an 8x return on ad spend (Pinterest, Nena & Co. success story).
• What to copy: show who makes the product and how.

Creative-only Reddit and X examples

• Reddit (its own ad): a hand-drawn circle diagram with casual copy that reads like a user post (Zapier). Copy: write the way the community talks.
• Superads (Reddit): a screenshot of a ROAS chart that plateaus, then climbs, marked up by hand (Zapier). Copy: a chart can make a claim feel provable.
• Amazon Prime Video (X promoted account): a follow ad aimed at existing Prime Video users (WebFX). Copy: use cheap follow ads to build an owned audience you can reach later.
• Shady Rays (X promoted post): a photo post listing the product’s features and benefits (WebFX). Copy: on a text-first platform, the copy has to sell on its own.

What the best social media ads have in common

Across the nine examples with published results, the winning ads share five traits: they look native to the feed, they put a person or a story up front, they show the brand early, they carry one clear action, and they were tested against a baseline. None of the published wins came from simply spending more.

1. Native beats polished. Arla, Wolt, TANP and Guardner all won with content that looked like what people already watch on that platform.
2. A face or voice carries trust. Lenovo’s executives and Nena & Co.’s artisans gave each ad a human source.
3. Brand early, inside the story. Wolt’s driver appeared at four seconds as a character, not as an end card.
4. One action, short path. Chat, WhatsApp, a Lead Gen Form or a document in the feed. Each removed a step. For wording ideas, see these call to action examples.
5. Tested, not assumed. Every result above compares against a control, a prior benchmark or a parallel campaign.

Many famous ads follow the same rules: one idea, turned into a repeatable format.

Social media ad specs by platform

Specs change often, so check the official pages before you produce. As of October 2026, Meta recommends 4:5 at 1,440 x 1,800 pixels for feed ads and 9:16 for Reels, TikTok recommends 9:16 vertical, and LinkedIn single image ads use 1,200 x 627 pixels. The table below summarizes each platform’s own guide.

How to find more social media ad examples

You can find thousands of live social media ad examples for free in the platforms’ own ad libraries. Meta’s Ad Library shows active ads from any Facebook or Instagram page, and TikTok’s Creative Center surfaces top-performing ads by industry. Building a small swipe file from these beats reading another listicle.

1. Pick ten brands, including a few outside your industry.
2. Search each in the Meta Ad Library. Ads that have run for months are often the ones that keep paying back, though that is a signal, not proof.
3. Browse TikTok Creative Center top ads filtered by your industry and objective.
4. Check the LinkedIn Ad Library for B2B and professional-service offers.
5. Log each ad in a sheet: platform, format, hook in the first line or three seconds, offer, CTA, and how long it has run.
6. Tag the pattern (before and after, founder on camera, price-led) so you brief creative by pattern.

Template: turn an example into your own ad

To adapt any ad example, copy the structure, not the surface. Write down the hook, proof, offer, call to action and format of the original, then fill each slot with your own facts. The worked example below adapts Lenovo’s executive-voice approach for a hypothetical accounting firm.

On Meta, the same slots could become a short Reel of a partner answering one client question, routed to a message. For the full setup, see our guide to Meta ads for accounting firms.

How to read social media ad case studies honestly

Most published social media ad results come from the platforms themselves, so treat them as evidence that a tactic can work, not proof it will work for you. Each one compares against that brand’s own baseline, covers a short window, and was chosen because it went well. Use them to pick tests.

• Selection bias: platforms publish wins, not failed tests.
• Different baselines: “6x engagement” is against Lenovo’s history, not an industry average. A 67% conversion lift is against TANP’s own in-feed ads.
• Short windows: the TikTok tests ran two weeks; fatigue can erode early gains.
• Metric mismatch: Wolt’s cheapest views and its best consideration lift came from different arms. Decide which metric matters before you call a winner.

In my experience, the firms that get the most from examples like these run one structured test per month and keep a written log of what they learned. If you want a second set of eyes on your paid advertising plan, you can book a consultation and we can map your next three tests together.

Frequently asked questions

What are good examples of social media ads?

Strong examples with published results include Wolt's YouTube Shorts ads, which put the brand in the story at four seconds, Lenovo's LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads with 6x the engagement of its benchmarks, and TANP's TikTok Spark Ads with a 67% higher conversion rate. Each looked native to its platform and was tested against a baseline.

What makes a social media ad effective?

Effective social media ads look native to the feed, put a person or story up front, show the brand early, ask for one clear action and are tested against a control. In the published case studies reviewed here, the gains came from creative and format choices, such as vertical video or creator-style edits, rather than from higher spend.

What is a good Facebook ad example for a service business?

Face Doctor Piedade, a clinic, ran Reels ads that routed people to WhatsApp and, according to Meta, generated over 1,000 leads a month. For consult-driven firms, a short video that opens a conversation can be a simpler path than a long lead form. Results vary, so test it against your current setup.

Which social media platform is best for B2B ads?

LinkedIn is usually the first choice for B2B and professional services because you can target by job and company. Formats that show expertise tend to do well: Lenovo's Thought Leader Ads and Tilt Metrics' Document Ads both beat their own benchmarks. Meta can also work for owner-led firms, so test both if budget allows.

Where can I find real social media ad examples for free?

Use the platforms' own libraries. The Meta Ad Library shows active Facebook and Instagram ads from any page, TikTok Creative Center lists top ads by industry and objective, and the LinkedIn Ad Library shows ads run by companies. Log the hook, offer, CTA and run time of each ad in a simple swipe file.

What size should social media ads be in 2026?

Meta recommends 4:5 at 1,440 x 1,800 pixels for feed image and video ads and 9:16 vertical for Reels. TikTok recommends 9:16 vertical at a minimum of 540 x 960 pixels. LinkedIn single image ads use 1,200 x 627 pixels. Check each platform's official ads guide before production, since specs change.

Are platform case studies reliable?

They are useful but selective. Platforms publish wins, each result compares against that brand's own baseline, and many tests run only a few weeks. Treat a case study as evidence that a tactic can work, then run your own controlled test before shifting budget.