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| Photo credit: SingleGrain |
Video occupies an enormous space and is arguably the most engaging type of content on Facebook. Facebook receives 8 billion video views, amounting to 100 million hours watched per day. A study also found that Facebook native videos have up to 86% higher reach than those from Youtube and Vimeo. Video ads present a tremendous opportunity to get your brand noticed by a highly targeted audience, and can drive engagement and conversion more than any other forms of promotion. Find out how to master Facebook video ads through these 7 tips!
- Know Your Purpose
- Promote a new product?
- Provide helpful tips and instructions?
- Spark conversations?
- Inspire your audience towards a lifestyle that only your business can provide?
- Choose the Right Audience
- Create Funnel-Specific Content
- Say It Loud...With Text!
- Keep It Short and Sweet
- Testing is Key
Before jumping into how to create the perfect Facebook ad, you need to know why you are creating it! This may seem obvious, but without a clear goal in mind, you can easily get lost in an endless sea of possibilities when it comes to producing video ads. First, you must define the ultimate message that you want to deliver to your audience. Do you want to:
Example: Always is well-known for its #LikeAGirl video campaign, which aims to empower women and reinforces the brand’s image as a trusted ally of gender equality. This video ad focuses on the gender bias in emojis, showing young girls discussing the lack of female representation in the colorful symbols that we use every day. This is effective on Facebook precisely because it is one of the platforms where we use emojis most often, which immediately resonates with viewers. The positive message and powerful content also prompts sharing, which sparks conversation, inspires viewers, and boosts the brand’s image.
After you have determined why you are creating your Facebook video ad, you must think about who your ad is for! Facebook’s powerful Custom Audience targeting tool allows you to identify the right audience for your ad based on location, demographic, interests and likes, and other Facebook activities such as purchase history. You can also manually upload a data set containing information like names and email addresses. With your targeted audience in mind, you can determine the best visual language for your video ad as well as plan an effective ad campaign.
Example: UprightGo is a posture-correcting device that can be attached to your back that will buzz whenever you are slouching to remind you to straighten up. The product is aimed primarily at adults who are working long hours at their desk, and the video perfectly showcases this. Viewers can easily find themselves relating to this problem, prompting them to find out more about the product. The video also seems to have a high production value even though it was probably simple to film and edit, which increases the perceived value of the product.
Your marketing and sales funnel is just as important as ad targeting when building custom audiences. You need to make sure your content reaches your audience at the right time, and in the right way. The best practice is to develop different video content for different phases in the funnel that can also be combined with other types of ads. Next, use sequential retargeting to walk customers down your funnel. This is a tool that allows you to arrange up to 50 ads in a certain order to be shown to an audience. It creates a better experience for your audience and helps prevent ad-fatigue.
Example: FRÉ, a skincare brand aimed at women who work out, uses an effective 3-phase video campaign to expand global brand awareness and win new customers. The awareness phase shows short video ads to active, brand-conscious females with an interest in skincare and sports. The consideration phase follows with further ads that introduce the brand philosophy and showcase more products to people who have watched 50% or more of the awareness ad videos while first-phase ads continue to run in the background. In the final conversion phase, FRÉ shows new carousel and photo ads to people who have watched 25% or more of the consideration videos to prompt purchase from the website. This ad campaign has resulted in almost half a million video views and a 19% conversion rate.
As AdEspresso eloquently put, you must think about how to fully communicate your message even without sound, just like a silent film. In 2016, 85% of Facebook video was watched without sound. People are constantly watching on the go, or in an environment where sound can be disruptive to those around them. Don’t rely on voiceover or dialogues to convey your message. If you must have them, use closed captions to make sure your message gets across with sound on or off. On the other hand, you can find creative ways to entice your viewers to turn the sound on, such as with exciting images or editing. Remember, actions speak louder than words!
Example: Nespresso creates a great short ad that combine video with static text. The result is simple, straightforward, and can be understood by viewers in just 2 seconds. Facebook’s autoplay feature allows the ad to promptly capture attention as people scroll through their newsfeeds. The actor has a friendly, trustworthy face and wears a funny costume. His image is sure to stick in the audience’s minds long after they’ve viewed the ad, which is great for brand awareness.
If sound is no longer a viable option for communicating, text is a great way to emphasize important points in your message. Just as with static ads, dynamic texts can be extremely effective in capturing people’s attention. Think carefully about your fonts, colours, and transitional effects to visually captivate wandering eyes, preventing them from scrolling past your ad and keep them engaged until the end.
Example: Privacy Pop is trying to sell a novelty item with their Facebook ad, so the key objective is to introduce people to their product and what it could do. Energetic and fast editing coupled with bold text effectively convey the many advantages their Bed Tent can deliver to potential customers, while images of kids having fun with their product entice the viewers to experience that joy themselves. Viewers can immediately understand the product and the message of the ad without sound.
Marketers and business owners can easily be deterred by the pressure to produce high-quality video ads. This should not be the case! Nowadays, people’s attention spans are short, sometimes even shorter than that of a goldfish (about 8 seconds). Get your branding in immediately in the first few seconds of your video, followed by the most fascinating sequence in your story. Your video ad can be shot on a smartphone and edited simply on your laptop - but with an engaging narrative and effective delivery, it is sure to stand out on someone’s newsfeed.
Example: Promo.com’s simple but quirky ad is an excellent way to showcase their services as a Video Creation Platform for businesses and agencies. The goal of this ad is to get sign-ups for a trial. The humorous little boy in running gear is sure to bring a smile to your face, and the clever wordplay helps to round out the message. According to AdEspresso, the ad earned 2.2 million views, 4,200 reactions, 594 comments, and 509 shares, resulting in a 42% increase in CTR. The key takeaway is to align your content with the social media mindset. People come to Facebook to relax and be distracted, and a funny kid “running his business” is a brilliant way to serve it to them!
A/B testing, or split testing, is the most effective way to experiment with different elements of your campaign to find out what works the best. Subtle changes to your colour scheme, delivery, music and more could bring about very different results. Tools such as Neil Patel’s calculator can help verify your findings by inputting overall page visits and conversions. Be patient when evaluating your results to get the most accurate impression of your ad, and stick to one variable at a time when testing.
Example: ThirdLove, a startup lingerie company, deploys targeted Facebook video ads after you complete an online fit questionnaire. The company uses A/B testing ad messaging on different concepts, such as fit, style, and value-oriented offers to see what its target audience responded to best. This can be done through short and basic videos that can lead to a longer ad with higher production values. Facebook reports that ThirdLove’s video campaign resulted in a 25% decrease in cost per user acquisition, a 20% decrease in cost per click, and a 27% increase in clickthrough rate.
The Final Verdict
Video ads may seem overwhelming to set up and run, but they are one of the most effective ways to increase engagement on Facebook. They capture attention and can be spread quickly throughout the platform via sharing among users. Moreover, 65% of the 8 million daily video views on Facebook are on mobile, which means making videos is even more important than ever!
Get the camera rolling and showcase your business with Facebook video ads today! Speak with an UpOnline representative to learn more.