Brian Meert August 31, 2020 Video has become the premier way to engage potential customers online, squeezing a ton of information into one minute (or less) and conveying more about your brand than you could with any other type of creative content. While video marketing is undeniably compelling, as more marketers catch on to the trend, the landscape becomes all the more competitive – and it’s harder for your ads to be seen. In this article, we’re going to cover seven tips for creating engaging video ads that will connect with your audience on Facebook.
1. Show the Product or Service in Use
You can use videos to show any product or service in use, but this is an especially good method if users are hesitant to make a purchase because they’re worried it will be too complicated. For example, if you’re selling computer software, your video can show how simple the signup process is and walk the viewer through using the software’s dashboard. If you sell hiking backpacks, your video can show the best way to pack the backpack so every piece of gear can fit in. The more you learn about your customers’ concerns and questions, the more videos you can create to appeal to them and put their minds at ease.
- Maxiglide / Facebook Ad Library
2. Stick to Short Videos
Video ads can take a lot of time and effort to produce, so it’s tempting to make longer videos so they’re worth everything you put into them. This isn’t going to impress your viewers, though, and if your video is on the long side, they may not bother watching at all. Regular video ads should be 30 seconds, tops, and Stories ads should be even shorter, at 15 seconds or less. A little later, we’ll talk about where to place important information, too, so it’s sure to be seen.
3. Make the Video Understandable without Sound
Some users will watch your Facebook video ad with the sound on, so you do need some type of sound to be present. However, a huge portion of people will watch with the sound off, which means they have to understand the video even when it’s muted. This is why it’s important to add captions to get across the main ideas. You don’t have to transcribe the words verbatim – you just need enough so that the viewer can understand the point of your ad and what they should do next. Also, keep in mind that since many videos will be viewed without sound, they have to be interesting to watch on mute, too – if it’s not interesting enough to view, it won’t matter how clear your captions are.
- Now This / Facebook Ad Library
4. Know Where to Place Pertinent Information
You have to create your Facebook video ads assuming the entire ad won’t be viewed. No, that’s not ideal, but it happens often, so prepare for it. You should front-load the video ad with the most important part of your message – get it across within the first three seconds. Then, place your CTA in the middle of the video instead of the end. You can put a CTA in the middle and the end if you want, but no matter what, it should be in the middle of the video, before the viewer has decided to stop watching. (This is another reason why shorter videos are better than longer videos.)
- Maxiglide / Facebook Ad Library
5. Think Outside the Box
If you don’t have the tools or know-how to produce video for your ads, you can still create great-looking Facebook videos to advertise your products and services. You can use a video creation tool to string together images, text, and short easy-to-make videos into one longer video. It can take some time to make a video like this look harmonious, though, so make sure that the branding and aesthetic are relatively the same across each element. That way, you’ll create a cohesive video that looks seamless even as it flips through the different pieces of content.
6. Create Some Vertical Videos
For your Facebook video ads that will be placed in Stories or on mobile, create vertical videos instead of square or horizontal ones. You’ll have more space to work with, and when the video is viewed, it will take up the entire mobile screen. Even though users can turn their screen sideways to watch your video, most won’t, which means it will be seen in a much smaller area than you intended if you don’t choose the right orientation.
7. Take Time When Writing Your Ad Title
When it comes to video ads, you need to give people a reason to click – the thumbnail alone may not be enough to get people watching. When writing the title, you should make it both engaging and keyword-optimized. That way, people will know what they’ll see (and why they should click), and Facebook’s algorithm will be better able to target your video ad to relevant viewers.
When writing the ad title, certain phrases will perform better than others. For example, if you include “to know about” in the title, your video may get more views than “things to do.” There are a lot of studies that you can refer to when deciding which phrases to use, but what may be better (and easier) is to run a few different ads where you split test different phrasing. Keep track of which ads perform better, and then aim to use those phrases in future video ads.
Wrapping Up
It can take a lot of planning and work to create Facebook video ads, but since so many consumers prefer video over any other type of content, it’s well worth it. Once you’ve found a video style that works for you – whether that’s filming 30-second videos with rich storytelling or stringing together images and text to create a short, fast-paced video – it’ll be easier to continue creating video ads that engage your audience once you get the hang of it.
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