Stale Facebook Creative? Use These Ad Formats More

With nearly 2.5 billion monthly users, advertising on Facebook is a no-brainer. Your audience is there.

As it has grown, so has its business tools. Facebook Advertising offers dozens of routes to take. This means that your business no longer needs to stay beholden to static, old-school Image ads. 

So what underutilized Facebook ad types should you be trying?

Facebook Ad Types: Slideshow

Think of the slideshow as static, old-school image ads with a little more flair. If you’ve traditionally relied on static image ads, incorporating a slideshow ad is an easy transition that can be incorporated into your paid program. Slideshow ads use 5x less data than videos, according to Facebook, making them an ideal option if you need to reach an audience with slower connections.  A few creative reminders when building a slideshow ad: 

• Focus on cohesiveness. With a slideshow, you’re achieving many of the experiential benefits of video without a high production cost. But don’t forget that your images need to flow well – especially if they have text accompanying them. 
• Take advantage of the features: Add a text overlay, utilize the caption space, incorporate music. Focus on an immersive experience with all of the tools you have available.

Facebook Ad Type: Carousel

Carousel ads are a great way to utilize multiple static images in a suite-style format, while encouraging users to interact. While most commonly used for products, there are other storytelling capabilities. Try out this ad type for:

• E-Commerce: Showcase a range of products – or highlight benefits and features of one product or service. Utilize the CTA buttons to encourage a next step for audiences.
• Storytelling: Because there are multiple panels, the interactive format encourages viewers to swipe through. 
  • Explain a step-by-step process
  • Tell a story that develops across each graphic

Once you’ve incorporated carousel ads and the storytelling arc is in full swing, look to incorporate videos into your carousel.

Facebook Ad Type: Offers

Offer ads are a quick way to grab a consumer’s attention and encourage them to act. These customizable, mobile-only ads are excellent for both brick-and-mortar locations as well as e-commerce promotion. 

Offer ads are a great strategy for bringing in new customers as well as increasing awareness among existing customers. Although — technically — you would be selling your product/service at a discounted price, offer ads are a great way to create sales and turn these buyers into repeat customers with tailored offers. 

“The idea is to get new customers in the door in order to drive repeat purchases over time,” says Emily Vaeth, a paid media manager at Silverback Strategies. “Offers also increase the potential for social media engagement.” 

A few optimization tips to make sure your offer ads are operating at their best:

• Connect all of the dots. Make sure your campaign objective is aligned with what you want to achieve, your discount code is valid and your website experience will work appropriately so visitors can redeem their offer. 
• Set limits and expirations. This encourages your readers to act quickly! 

When it comes to strictly sales-focused campaigns, like an offer ad, it’s important to have a close line of communication between paid media and creative teams. We know the power of quality creative assets in paid media, but optimizations by our paid team members make sure creative is seen by the right people. 

Facebook Ad Type: Video

Video ads may feel daunting. We’re essentially opening Pandora’s box because of the variations in length, specs, and placement. Let’s explore the different video placements and what they’re best used to achieve:

• In-Feed Videos: Whether it be Facebook or Instagram, we’re talking about quality videos that will greet your audience as they scroll. It’s important to quickly grab attention.
• Stories: Both Facebook and Instagram offer stories. This is where speed matters immensely. You want to showcase your brand and land your message very quickly with succinct narratives. This is where “a picture is worth 1,000 words” comes into play. Your graphics and text must work in tandem rather than duplicate each other. 

Looking for creative inspiration? Facebook’s Creative Shop showcases creative ads across different formats, platforms, and industries. 

We talked about the need to stop the scroll. When you decide to incorporate video ads into your strategy, here are a few best practices to keep in mind for mobile specifically:

• Design for sound-off. But delight with sound-on. Viewers will not likely have sound on immediately, so they shouldn’t miss a beat with a muted video. 
• Showcase your brand early and often. It’s hard to capture attention, so don’t waste a second of it with a complicated story arc that takes too long to resonate. Showcase your brand and product in the first three seconds.

Enhance Your Creative Performance

Platform updates and new creative tools are all attempts to get the creative side of the business closer to the performance side. It’s a process that we recognize at Silverback Strategies because we’ve gone through this process ourselves. Silverback’s team of experts can help you supercharge your paid media campaigns with performance creative, actionable insights, meaningful experimentation and new platform exploration. Find out how. Contact us today.