Advertising through social media channels is a must have for every marketing campaign worth its salt: it allows us to reach out to the exact demographic at the right moment.
Yet, coming up with brilliant social media ads demands the same level of precision one would use for making tasty macarons. You can’t throw together ingredients (or copy and paste images in our case) in a bowl, toss it in the oven and pray for the best results.
This is especially key when it comes to the social media network all marketers want to master: Facebook. A winning Facebook ad is a balancing game between precise guidelines for text and image, and trying to stand out from others who also want your audience’s attention (including their own friends and family).
How do you do it? With a lot of creativity, and keeping some important considerations in mind that can help you get those much needed clicks. You need to bring your own creativity to the table (sorry, we won’t give you our secret recipe), but we do have some practical advice for you.
Whether you’ve already written some Facebook ads for your next campaign or are in the process of doing so, reflect on your content with these questions before offering it up to the F shaped god. It’ll save you time and earn you money.
1. Is your offer exciting enough for your buyer persona?
You need to answer this first question before you open your Ad account. It may look like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised about how few marketers stop and think if what they’re trying to promote will appeal to their audience.
For example, if you’re running a promo on your products or services, is your 5% off going to motivate your customers to rush in and shop? Will that webinar you’re conducting next week give your audience the tools they need to build the life they want? Is that event that you want to promote going to infect your target customers with a significant case of FOMO?
If your answer isn’t a resounding YES!, then go back to the drawing board and give it the tweaks it needs to earn its clicks.
By the way, even if you get the rest of these questions right, if your first answer is weak, all your efforts will go down the toilet, so don’t skip it!
2. How clickable is your copy?
On Facebook, your offer isn’t what makes or breaks your sale, it’s the way your copy presents it.
The way you describe it, the use of magnet words and even selecting the right emoji are components that will make or break your ad efforts.
Doing this in 90 characters or less is quite the challenge! So, how do you overcome it?
According to Kissmetrics, the key is to consider the psychology behind ads when writing copy. This concept may sound old school, but it has survived the different eras of advertising for a reason. Persuasion is about getting your audience to perform the action you want, without imposing it. It’s about making them feel something (intrigue, agreement with you, FOMO, etc.) and how that feeling will drive them towards you.
If your offer passed our first question, building persuasion will be much easier than you think.
Write a good list of possible copy for your ads, and discard the ones that are too salesy or as exciting as going to a fancy buffet with a cold. If you have a reasonable budget, you could A-B test your two best samples and get closer to the trick to make your audience tick.
3. Is the image playing by the rules?
Image is everything, and if yours looks like crap, your audience will believe the same about your content.
It can be tempting to use the main image of your blog post or webinar, but this is a big no-no because:
- The image may not follow Facebook’s norms about text in ad images.
- The image ratio may not be appropriate for Facebook ads, thus it may look weird in different devices.
The two previous points can hinder your ad’s approval. But, there’s also this one:
- Maybe your image isn’t related to your copy or attractive enough for your target audience.
Instead, invest some time in designing a couple of images specifically for your Facebook ads. Go beyond cropping the main image of your post to please ad reviewers, and try out different graphics for the same post.. Social Media Examiner has a few tips focused on images for Facebook ads you could try out for your next campaign.
No matter which image you choose, remember to make sure it follows the current guidelines for Facebook ad images. If it’s been a while since you last checked Facebook’s image ad rules, don’t forget to give them a quick review before opening Photoshop. As of January 2018, they recommend the following:
- JPG or PNG images
- Less than 20% of text, up to 125 characters.
- Image size for ads with link: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.91:1
4. Is the website description coherent with the other elements of your ad?
Alright! You have a fantastic offer, an ad copy your mom would be proud to showcase on her fridge, and an image that deserves a spot at the MOMA (and complies with FB rules).
Now, is your link up to par with these things?
Don’t treat your link as an afterthought. What works for a meta description may not be adequate for a standalone Facebook ad. Different audiences have different needs, after all.
Your link description is an extra opportunity to flex your persuasive muscles and give your audience a last call to action before they decide to click on your ad or leave you hanging. Make sure to use those 30 characters to your audience’s benefit, and they’ll thank you with clicks.
5. Are you giving it enough time to run?
You uploaded your ad, it looks beautiful and ready for the world to ooh and aah over it. Now, here’s the thing: will they have time to do it?
We’d all like to have unlimited budgets to run our ads 24/7 with ultimate reach. But let’s get real; that’s too expensive and impractical for our CPC efforts. So, instead, consider the timing of your ad and whether there will be enough time to reach a critical mass of consumers.
This is especially crucial when it comes to ads relating to upcoming events or a short-lived promo. Remember that you have lots of competition to win your audience’s attention, from your own industry rivals to their own parents and friends. Not everyone will be playing the infinite scroll game 24/7 to get to your ad. The more time you give it, the better, while making sure it makes sense within the overall timeline of your campaign and your budget.
So, did you ad pass our Facebook Ad test? If the answer is yes, go ahead and post it. Otherwise, let our tips, and a fresh cup of coffee, inspire you to make the tweaks it needs to succeed.