Brief Guide to Facebook Video Ads

With Facebook having become one of the biggest communication medium in the world, advertising on this social platform is crucial for any business. And Facebook video ads offer an incredible opportunity for businesses to reach out to billions of people worldwide in a highly targeted manner, in a way that is normally impossible to do on TV adverts. If you are planning to use Facebook video ads for your company’s upcoming promotions, then this post will give you a brief idea of how to use them in a very effective way.

Setting Up Your First Facebook Video Ad

Setting up your first Facebook video ad is a pretty simple affair; just follow the instructions given below:

• First, log into your Facebook account and navigate to the ads manager at www.facebook.com/ads/manager/creation   
• Now, select the option ‘Video Views’ from the ‘Consideration’ section and click the ‘Continue’ button
• You will now be required to set up the target audience of your ad. As such, you need to have a deep knowledge about the nature of your audience – where they are primarily from, the interests they have, how will your product or service helps them, and so on.
• Once your target audience is set, you will now have to decide on a budget for the video ad. If you do not have any set budget, we suggest that you start with a comfortable amount so that you can test the effectiveness of the video advert and modify it as it suits your needs. You can generally set a budget depending on either the ‘video views’ option of the ‘daily unique reach’ option. In a ‘daily unique reach’ option, you can set the budget depending on how many unique views you want the videos to generate on a daily basis.  Alternatively, the ‘video views’ option will charge you a flat rate per person who watches your 10-second video. Choose a budget option you think is suitable for you and click the ‘Continue’ button.
• You will be taken to a new page where you can upload the video ad. Make sure that the video is either in MP4 or MOV format and is at a resolution of minimum 720p. Next, choose a thumbnail that will give the viewer a good idea of what to expect from the video. If you can’t generate a good thumbnail from the video, you can upload a custom image and use it as a thumbnail instead.
• Next, you need to set a Call To Action (CTA) button. This will depend on what you are trying to achieve from your ad. If you wish to redirect the viewers to your shopping cart, then you can use the ‘Shop Now’ button. If you are aiming to get the audience join your newsletter, you can use the ‘Sign Up’ button. If you want the viewers to contact you for more information, you can use the ‘Send Message’ CTA button. In addition to these, there are other buttons like ‘Contact Us’, ‘Apply Now’, ‘See Menu’, ‘View Instagram Profile’, and so on.
• After you have set the CTA button, just preview the ad and make sure that it is displayed exactly as you want. Remember to check both the Desktop News Feed and the Mobile News Feed of the ad. When you are happy with everything, click on the ‘Place Order’ button. That’s it. You have now successfully set up a video ad on Facebook. Once Facebook reviews your ad and approves it, the video campaign will begin.  

Tips To Help Your Create The Optimal Facebook Video Ads

When preparing video ads for Facebook, you can increase their effectiveness if you keep in mind the following tips.

Use Short Ads: Ensure that you don’t create video ads that are too long. As per various studies, a 30-second video ad is seen as optimal on Facebook. Anything more will generally tend to bore viewers and they might skip the ad altogether. Plus, the first five seconds of an ad is very important. If you do not generate interest in the customer within these five seconds, chances are that they will skip the ad. So, if you can grab the viewer’s attention in the first five seconds, you can be pretty sure that they will watch the ad in full.

Captions: Sometimes, the viewers will have their audio switched off when they use the mobile phones. As such, even if they view your ad, the dialogue and message of the ad won’t get to them. This is why it is very important that youuse captions in your Facebook ads. Doing so will ensure that the viewers will be able to at least read the dialogues when they have the audio turned off. This can greatly increase the impact of your ad.

Video Development: Make sure that you hire an excellent video development service to create your ads. As long as they have many years of experience in creating impactful ads, they should be able to replicate it for you and develop Facebook adverts that attract and engages the audience. They will also have the knowledge to know how to create ads in a manner so that it goes viral. Plus, the output quality of such video development services will also make your advert look professional.

Evoke Emotions: A video ad has tremendous potential of generating huge interest in the minds of the audience. And the biggest reason for this is the emotional reaction you can trigger through such ads. If you can make a viewer feel a heightened sense of emotion, whether it be joy, peace, sadness, or anything else after seeing your ad, you can be more than sure that the viewer will seek to know more about the product or service.
Aspect Ratio: Finally, you should also take into account the aspect ratio of your video ad. Typically, ads with an aspect ratio of 16:9 will have the most inventory available on Facebook. As such, it is highly recommended that you stick to this aspect ratio. In addition, the reverse aspect ratio of 9:16 is also highly suitable for Facebook ads. Talk with your video development team to decide which aspect ratio will create the most impact for your ad.