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Facebook receives 8 billion video views daily, making it the perfect place to get your video ads seen. Facebook video ads have become one of the most effective formats a marketer can use to become more competitive on the platform instantly.
However, not just any video ad will work. Whether you’re creating an ad to get more sign-ups or to convert more viewers, paying attention to the details can significantly improve the impact of your campaigns.
In this article, you’ll discover six ways to create the best Facebook video ads possible and drive insane conversions for your brand.
Facebook’s requirements for video ads
Before we jump into the tips, let’s look at the five specifications for Facebook video ads. Make sure that your Facebook account is verified before you check the requirements below.
When creating your video ad, ensure you’re following all the requirements unless you want your ads to look strange and unattractive. Or worse, if you want Facebook to reject your ad altogether.
Further, there are various ad types, such as in-feed ads, stories ads, etc., and each comes with its own set of specifications.
- Facebook supports various file types for video as placements, such as MP4, MOV, or GIF.
- The recommended video length is one second 241 minutes for in-feed ads.
- The aspect ratio of 16:9 (horizontal) to 9:16 (landscape) is supported for in-feed ads. However, you may get black bars on either side of the video. So, Facebook recommends a ratio of 4:5. This varies according to video placement.
- The maximum file size is 4 GB for all video placements.
- The minimum resolution is 1080 X 1080 for all video placements.
6 ways to improve your Facebook ads for increased conversions
Create ads that work without sound
Let’s face it; no one likes it when a video ad starts loudly as they’re scrolling through Facebook. Facebook found that 80% of the people react negatively—both to the platform and the advertiser—when video ads start auto-playing with sound on.
That means your audience is more likely to view video ads for longer if optimized for silent viewing. And, that’s exactly how your Facebook video ads should communicate the brand message across your target audience.
Facebook video ads that are viewed, understood, and enjoyed without sound have higher chances of capturing your audience’s attention, leading to more likes and conversions. Pop-ups and Facebook ads are going to be super effective since people find them less annoying as they are targeted.
Here’s how you can make sure your video ads are effective with sound off:
Add closed captioning
People tend to scroll Facebook in public areas where it is hard to hear or at places like schools and libraries where turning the sound on isn’t an option. Not only that, many of your prospects might be hard of hearing or deaf.
Avoiding these factors hinders their video ad experience and makes you lose the opportunity to convert such an audience.
Fortunately, Facebook allows you to easily add captions to your video ads, plus the option to enable automated captions.
Check out this video by Amazon, for example.
Deliver your message visually
This timely video ad by Talkspace is the perfect example. Here, it visually explains what it looks like to talk to a mental health care professional remotely. The ad is quick and uses little text to communicate its message to the audience.
Using animated commercials is also great to deliver the message effectively using visual effects.
The show, don’t tell
People respond better when you provide strong visuals that support your message instead of outright telling them what’s going on. So, make sure to create video ads where you can get the message across completely through images, without any audio or captions.
Grab attention in the first few seconds
The first three seconds of a video ad are nothing short of golden moments. So, make them count. If you can’t grab the attention of your audience in this period, there’s a high chance they’ll leave without watching the rest of your ad.
With today’s short attention spans, it’s crucial to get your message out as soon as possible in the video ad, or people will hit the back button a few seconds in before even knowing what your ad is about.
For example, using a landing page builder is going to help you improve conversions. Also, use eye-catching visuals that make the users continue watching the ad, followed by a compelling call-to-action.
Think mobile-first
Since smartphone users are increasing day by day, it’s unsurprising that 98% of users access Facebook via any mobile phone. As such, make sure your Facebook video ads are optimized for these skinny screens.
Mobile-first ads are more memorable and watched for longer than those that aren’t optimized for smartphones. This means your ad has a high chance of achieving your campaign goals.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Use vertical videos as it gets maximum engagement on Facebook. It fills more screen space than landscape videos. The bigger your video appears, the harder it is to ignore.
- Speaking of video ad specs, Facebook recommends a 4:5 format.
- Further, use large and legible text wherever possible.
For example, Jane Goodall Institute decided to run two Facebook ads—one in landscape and the second one in vertical format. It spent $50 on both versions, but vertical videos proved to be a clear winner.
Keep it short and sweet
Let’s face it; nobody likes to watch a 5-minute long video ad. So, make sure your Facebook video ad is as short as possible. A good rule of thumb is to keep the length of video ads between 15-30 seconds. However, this is something you can test.
The main goal of video ads is to make your audience aware of your products and services. The shorter these ads are, the higher the chance they will be viewed till the end. Plus, Facebook will charge you less to run them.
Another great thing about short video ads is they automatically loop, which means you don’t have to hit the play button. This is an excellent way to bring in more views.
Check out this ad by Doritos. It is a 6-second video that tells you everything you need to know about their new flavor.
Include a compelling CTA
No matter how attractive or engaging your video ad is, it won’t provide effective results if viewers don’t know what action to take next.
This is where inserting a compelling call-to-action can help.
The CTA is something that prompts your viewers where to go and what to do next. For example, if the goal of your video ad is to promote your newsletter, you might want to achieve more subscribers. So, the CTA “Subscribe Now” would be relevant in that case.
Some examples of call-to-actions are buy now, call us, shop today, sign up, get a quote, book a meeting, send a WhatsApp message, and so on.
There are numerous ways to make your CTA compelling, such as:
- Use action words that encourage your viewers to get off the couch and do something to improve their lives. Examples are: convert more sales, rank higher on Google, and so on.
- Give your viewers a reason why they should take the required action. A good example would be, “Sign up today to schedule a 1:1 consultation call”. It tells your viewers what action to take (sign up today) and why they should take that action (1:1 consultation call).
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is an excellent tactic that makes people think they might lose a one-in-a-million opportunity if they didn’t hop on the bandwagon. One way is to mention the sale or promotion, which won’t last forever. For example, “Shop today, sale ends on Sunday”.
Pay attention to video quality and branding
The video quality has a bearing on the brand perception. Facebook videos usually take time to load hence it’s better to start the video with a blurred image before the high quality video feed kicks in once the whole video is loaded. The next factor to bear in mind is branding, an ad video needs to have a brand logo and brand colors, this ensures that users don’t scroll away from your video. Branding factors make a video recognisibe and make it easier to establish a connection.
Don’t forget to analyze campaign results
Advertising on Facebook becomes incredibly handy as it provides a plethora of information and metrics regarding the performance of your videos. Setting up a social media calendar to make sure your campaigns are consistent and so are your results. Proper analysis of the campaign results is vital too!
Facebook insights and ad manager helps you know what worked and what didn't so that you can take notes for your next video ad campaign. Plus, you can determine how much money you earned from these ads and how much you should spend in the future.
You can also track if you were able to achieve the sales objective and how successful the video campaigns have been in terms of reach, website visits, engagement, click-throughs, and other metrics.
In short, analyzing these results can help you determine if you're reaping a significantly positive ROI or just wasting your time and effort on strategies that aren't working for you.
Summing up
No matter how much people love videos, they don’t like being pitched to or get interrupted with salesy content all the time. The above six tips can help you end up with captivating Facebook video ads that stand out from the rest and get insane results. Besides these, you can also provide more value to your audience by selling digital downloads for free to help you with engagement and leads.
Most people prefer watching videos without sound, depending on the situation they are in. Further, the first three seconds of your video ad are crucial, and that’s why you need to get your message across as quickly as possible.
Don’t make your video ads too long unless you want your audience to scroll further without watching it till the end. Inserting an actionable CTA and showcasing your product or service in your video ad are excellent tactics to make them more compelling.
Finally, don’t forget to optimize your ads for mobile phones, analyze your results, and improve your campaigns accordingly.
