What to Keep in Mind When Creating Facebook Video Ads
Creating a Facebook video ad campaign for yourself or a client? Here are five of the most important insights to keep in mind.
While their public relations department may be working hard to curtail negative PR for “fake news,” and the public persona may be taking a hit, make no mistake: Facebook still reigns supreme among social media platforms, and it is continuing to grow every day. Facebook’s advertising platform has become one of the most advanced and sophisticated apps for digital marketers — and video is a huge part of its future.
For videographers who want to learn more about creating better digital marketing content, and digital marketers who want to learn more about creating stronger video content for their Facebook audiences, here are five tips to keep in mind when creating Facebook video ads.
1. Mobile-Friendly Content
Image via UfaBizPhoto.
As of 2018, a reported 75 percent of users are viewing Facebook on a mobile device. And as you’d expect for these users, mobile-friendly video content is more important now than ever. Facebook knows this better than anyone and expects 78 percent of all mobile data to be video by 2021. For content creators, this means a couple of things:
- Vertical video.
- Newsfeed-friendly
- Quick information.
- Muted until clicked.
- GIFs over video.
While they definitely want you dumping money into your ad campaigns, at the end of the day, Facebook also wants your video ads to do well. For more tips on creating mobile-friendly content, they have a whole page dedicated to successful video campaigns, which you can look through here.
2. Keep it Short
According to Facebook’s own records, “People don’t spend long interacting with mobile content. 47% of a video’s value is delivered in the first 3 seconds.” This can obviously create problems for video content marketers if they want to use multi-channel or cross-platform videos. However, for savvy Facebook video editors, it means more opportunities to create Facebook-exclusive content, which keeps these rules in mind.
3. Community-Focused Content
If anything, Facebook has made a major push to get the social media platform back to its community-focused roots. You’ve seen their rebranding ad campaigns with the unfortunate messaging of “the best part of Facebook isn’t on Facebook.” But it’s important to note that this messaging is top-down, and it changed their newsfeed algorithm. You can read more about these changes here, but it means that community-focused content is the way of the future — for now.
4. Strive for Authenticity
Image via Chaay_Tee.
By the same token, Facebook’s messaging has also branched into its advertising partners and the brands who use their ad platform. Authenticity trumps everything, and it is the best way to see results from your campaigns. If you’re looking for some practical specs and more general advice on creating authentic video content, you can check out more in Facebook’s mobile studio.
5. Encourage Engagement
Finally, if you really want to get the most ROI out of your video content ad campaigns, encourage engagement at every level — directly in your videos, in your social posts, and in your ad campaigns. Engagement used to only mean views or likes, but now it definitely means comments, tags, and shares. If your call to action is strong and encourages the right forms of engagement and sharing, you’ll be ahead of your competition.
For full Facebook video specs, stats, and advice, check out Facebook’s video page here.
Cover image by Dean Drobot.
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