How to make the most out of facebook ads in 2019

Despite recent bad press, Facebook continues to dominate the world of social media. In fact, as of Q2 2018, there were more than 2.23 billion active Facebook users – a year-on-year growth of 11%.

However, when you look at how internet advertising revenue has grown ($69.4bn/£54.51bn in 2017, up from $36.6/£28.75bn in 2012) compared to the decline in newspaper advertising ($18.4bn/£14.45bn in 2017, down from $22.8bn/£17.91bn in 2012), some might see how it would benefit the newspapers if the biggest thief of their advertising revenue was to fail. And they don’t come much bigger than Facebook. 

So love it or loathe it, Facebook looks here to stay. But it is always changing and to stay ahead of the competition you need to keep up with change and adapt. 

So here are six of the latest methods for you to use in your ads. And, yes I do mean ads and not posts. 

1. USE VIDEO 

This one is huge. Video gets more engagement on Facebook than anything else. Using video for your marketing is so important and Facebook is encouraging greater use of video. There are a few reasons why video is such a valuable tool in your marketing. 

The first one is simple: people love watching videos and they respond well to them. Video not only lets you get across more information than a text ad could ever do, but a user doesn’t have to scroll down to finish a story either. 

Videos are more eye-catching in the news feed. It’s human nature to pay attention to movement and you can’t help but be drawn to moving pictures when scrolling down through static articles and posts in a news feed. 

Your video will get users to stop scrolling which straight away gives you an edge. You can tell a story very easily when using a video and you don’t always need to use sound. 

In fact, you might be better off not using any sound at all, particularly as 85% of videos are watched without the user listening to the sound. Closed captions are very useful here and many video editing software packages (such as iMovie or Screenflow) allow you to insert them. Facebook also has the facility to insert captions when a video is uploaded. 

If you can keep the video short, even better. People switch off quickly so try to get your messages across in less than 15 seconds. At a push, no more than 30 seconds. 

Don’t entirely overlook text. You need to attract the viewer to the video, so using a short headline will help. 

2. USE AUTOMATED DESIGNS 

A great addition is the Dynamic Ads feature that takes a lot of the effort out of video ad design. You can upload your own product catalogues and create templates, before Facebook uses its magic to produce multiple ads for you that will automatically match the product with its respective description, price and technical details. 

These ads get used a lot when doing retargeting campaigns, so the people that see them are those that have already looked at some of your website. 

This means that there is a much higher chance of people clicking on the ad and converting into a customer. This is a big time saver, particularly if you have a lot of different products or services to offer, you no longer need to manually produce ads for every single one. 

3. PROVIDE VALUE 

Too many small businesses focus on what’s happening in their world. I regularly drive past a local dentist surgery which has a big sign outside announcing, “New dentist started” and all I think is, “So what?” Would that make me want to get some work done on my teeth? The point I’m trying to make here is that you need to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. You might think that offering 20% off your treatments is going to get the clients flying in. However, not if you were already 20% more expensive than your competitors.

When you offer value, you are giving patients a reason to engage with you. Explain what problems you are going to solve for them and what it is about your service that makes it a no-brainer to choose you over your competitor, even if you are 20% more expensive. People only choose on price when they can’t see any difference in the offer. 

You can demonstrate value when designing your ads in a number of ways, such as: 

• Clearly explaining the features and benefits of your product and service in both the headline and main text – stating what is unique about your proposition will also help 
• A visual demonstration of the treatment or product in action will show how easy it is to use or the benefits and/ or results of using it 
• Using customer testimonials or having some sort of social proof that your service works and gives the results you say it will 

4. USE STORYTELLING

Using short stories to get your message across in your ads is an incredibly powerful way to communicate. Storytelling gives you exceptional results as it combines the logical appeal of the product or service with the emotional sides, which people relate to. 

You can set a scene for storytelling just with a single image and by using your own descriptions to enhance the story. Using carousel ads can help here too as you can set a different scene with each image. 

Of course, video ads are probably the best medium for storytelling and, as previously mentioned, get incredible levels of engagement.

When telling your story, don’t mix several emotions or messages into one story. You only have a short amount of space so just go for one effect, otherwise you risk confusing the user and losing them.

5. USE DIFFERENT AD FORMATS

Facebook has introduced a number of different ad formats. While this can feel a little overwhelming, the variety of formats does increase the scope for creativity. You now have shopping and product focused ads called collection ads, carousel ads, story ads and canvas ads. The diversity with which you are now able to stand out to your audience will help you get noticed, as long as you use the placements and formats correctly. 

6. USE THE VERTICAL

People spend less time on their desktops and more time looking at their smartphones and this has an impact on how ads should now be designed.

If you are creating videos that mean the user has to turn their phone sideways to watch it, then you may just lose that viewer. So although you don’t need to optimise all of your content for the vertical format, make sure you at least do so for your video ads. 

THERE’S MORE TO FACEBOOK ADS THAN YOU MIGHT THINK…

Strong performing Facebook campaigns depend on a number of factors; your offer, your bids, your copy, where you choose to place the ads and your target audience can all impact the outcome.

Get all of those right and you still need to make sure that the design is strong enough to get people to pay attention to your message.

The key is keep focussed on your message and who it is you are aiming your message at when you are putting together your Facebook ads. And make sure you keep testing to see which of these design strategies work best for your audiences. 

Jemma Edwards is owner of deliveringdemand.com, helping aesthetics professionals and cosmetic surgeons get more patients and grow their practice.