Jason Davis — June 7, 2017 
When creating Facebook ads, it’s easy to think it’s easy. Facebook even advertises their proprietary ad platform that way. If only it was that easy. Of most importance, ads on Facebook must be done a certain way, or money is wasted and time spent. Not my rules, see Facebook. The terms of service are straightforward.
The idea is to get you hooked by saying anyone can do it. Facebook does not do this to be a bait and switch. Instead, their overall goal is to help educate and train you on how you should be doing advertising. They do this because the end result is to show everyone that not just anyone can do it well.
So what do you need to know to get started on Facebook ads? Here are 5 quick tips.
1) Understand how the app works and people use it.
This is paramount. Without experiencing the app and using the technology, you are not thoroughly equipped to advertise. You won;t be aware of it’s limitations or what is possible. People can see how ads work as they are exposed to them daily. Over 5,000 posts (stories) are exposed to a single user once the open the app. Up to 15,000 per day are exposed to a single user per open of the app.
It’s crowded, so your stuff has to stand out and do it in less than 3 seconds. Yes, 3 seconds.
2) Understand Audience and what gets attention
Not everything is interesting. Sometime what you like, is not what I like. With that said, it’s important to identify what kinds of content work for brands on Facebook. By simply using the app, and keeping track of what makes you “click” something, you can start a base line. However, it’s a safer bet to just research online from marketing companies that have done the case studies or go to Facebook themselves.
What usually gets attention?
Animals.
Food.
Familiar or Friendly faces.
Popular events, or movies.
3) Effective Video Editing
This is key to getting attention. Creativity is useful, but again as in point #1, you have to understand how the technology is used. To get the attention you want you must plan. Brand placement in videos should be at the end, not at the beginning. The reason is your logo is already on the social channel.
Also, note how the news feed shows up as the user opens the app. Then notice how the user begins scrolling. This means your content has to immediately grab attention. Without an interesting colorful picture, or video, users will just pass by to the next post in their feed. This is before the 3 second rule listed above by the way.
4) Understand Views versus Time Viewed
Something that marketers forget is that an impression is not the same as time viewed. Hence the “timed viewed” metric. Having over 100 views to a video (whether paid or organic) is not the best measure. The most important metric is the amount of the video that was watched.
A video that is over 45 seconds is too long. Even in some cases 30 seconds. After the 3 second mark how long they stay engaged is key to a successful campaign. If they drop after 3 – 5 seconds, your video didn’t grab attention and should be rethought and re-edited.
5) Use many versions of your video
Don’t create 1 version of your video. Create at least 10. It seems like a lot, but this allows the social marketing team more to work with. Posting content can go 2 ways, it can be posted and gain massive attention, or go completely unnoticed. The latter would be terrible after all the effort.
Create 5 second, 10 second, 15 and increments of 5 until you reach your video’s length. Try different speeds, angles, and edits of the order of frames. And remember you are not Steven Spielberg, and that’s ok, so don’t fret over a intro or credit sequence. Why? Because it’s Facebook, they already know who you are if your social team made the ad right (see point #1 and #2 please).
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