As people scroll, and scroll, and then scroll some more through their Facebook News Feed it’s a difficult task to break the pattern of GOT memes, political banter, and baby photos.
But every now and then, an ad campaign does and that’s something that we should all learn from as marketers.
Whatever your goals may be—higher click-through-rates, more brand impressions or higher brand recognition and recall, Facebook is still a leading channel to market your business. In fact, Statista reports the social platform still has 2.38 billion monthly active users in Q1 of 2019.
Anyone who proclaims that Facebook is dead is simply lying to you.
So, how do you break the mold, and get your Facebook ad creative noticed on a platform that boasts over 6 million active advertisers? We’ll cover the basics and then move into some creative facebook ad ideas.
Start with Facebook ad creative best practices
Understanding the basics of what to include vs. not including in your Facebook ad creative will help with visibility, and results of your campaigns. If you’re unfamiliar with the basics of Facebook ad creative, here’s your crash course:
Proper Sizing
With Facebook ads, size matters. To avoid pixelation or distortion you’ll want to make sure your image or video is sized appropriately to Facebook’s guidelines.
Image and video quality
You’ll also want to make sure that your images are high resolution and quality photos, illustrations, or graphics. Avoid dark text on dark backgrounds and light text on light backgrounds, and make sure that your ads are appealing to the eye. For video, the same applies—use only high-resolution video.
20% Text Rule
Ads on Facebook can only contain 20% text, meaning that you’ll need to choose the words you use wisely. Facebook provides a service called the Text Overlay Tool where you can check your image creative to ensure that you’re meeting the 20% rule. If your text ratio is too high, they’ll warn you of this.
5 Ideas to Make your Facebook Creative “Stop the Scroll”
Okay, so you’ve got the basics. Now what? What are some creative facebook ad ideas to really catch people’s attention? Here are five things to try along with Facebook ad creative examples for each.
1. Use GIFS
Our minds like movement—there are a few case studies out there about ‘gifs vs still images’ that show promising results in favor of using animated images. Creative platform, Crello, conducted an A/B test like this and found their animated ads attracted 1.5x more clicks than static image ads, and dropped the cost per click by 50%.
Image source: Crello
2. Use humor
There’s a reason why Kmart’s “I Ship My Pants” commercial stuck with us, even while the brand dwindles. People like to laugh. Injecting humor into your Facebook ads can be a great way to get noticed, and have a lasting brand impression on your audiences. Take, for example, the Slack ad below. A touch of humor and whimsy breaks the mold of what an ad for a business communication tool is expected to look like.
Image Source: Wordstream
3. Include a sense of FOMO in calls to action
Including a call to action within the ad video or creative is a great way to get attention. A deep discount, limited time offer or exclusive experience may lead the user away from their regularly scheduled scrolling and closer to a purchase decision.
Take for example, this Air Asia ad, it’s simple and to the point and best of all, leaves you with a sense of urgency. The fear of missing out on an opportunity to get a free seat is likely to entice clicks.
4. Try visual disruption
Think Kate Spade bags and baby goats, or those insanely terrifying TikTok ads.
Weird works, and the weirder the ad the more scroll-stopping it can be. One brand I’ve noticed mastering the art of visual disruption with creative facebook ad campaigns is video platform, Promo. Their campaigns are typically vivid, colorful, and just weird enough to stop me from scrolling past. Like this twerking Panda who is hilariously adorable:
5. Promote multiple products
Instead of featuring just one product, vary your ad types to include carousels with multiple products, or features of your services. Take Jasper’s Market’s carousel ad for example below; there are multiple products featured with inviting images and brand consistency.
Different doesn’t mean difficult…
It’s important to remember that while Facebook ads can turn into a huge production, they don’t always have to be. Simple ads with thought put into creative messaging, enticing visuals and stand-out strategies win out all the time over higher-production value ads.
Think simple, think different, and work with an ad agency that can help you break down the analytics of your social media channels to come up with creative ideas together.
