Capturing your target audience’s attention while they are scrolling through Facebook is a complex thing to do. You have minimal time to do so as most people view an ad for only 1-2 seconds, along with other pictures, posts, and news distract from your ad.
Tailoring your Facebook advertising by utilizing the most appropriate ad layout will help showcase your products/services in the best way. There are four types of ads that I will touch base on from a graphic design standpoint – static, animated, video, and carousel. While Facebook offers a variety of layouts, these are the most diverse set of ads and can help you compare which type of ad would be best for you. Quick note about Facebook ads before we dive in: The text to image ratio rule of 20% needs to be followed to allow for the ad to have optimal reach. Otherwise the ad will not be shown as much due the text volume on the ad.
1. Static Ads
The static ad is a single image with no motion. It can quickly communicate the product/service that you are offering. The image could be a beauty shot with minimal copy overlaid or a lifestyle image showing a relatable member of your target audience interacting with your product/service. An optimized static ad with the goal of gaining views from your target audience is to crop the image so it is square. This primes it to be more likely seen as this shape takes up more of the Facebook newsfeed space on both the desktop and mobile versions. It is also recommended that the quality of the image is a top priority and shows a compelling subject.
2. Animated Ads
The animated ad takes the static ad one step further by adding movement. This is accomplished by having the vector or text on screen take some sort of action. There are numerous effects that can be used, like a fade in or zippy motion, which makes this ad type great to quickly capture a customer’s attention.
3. Video Ads
The video ad is simply that, a video. Depending on the length of your message, you can choose to have a long format video or shorter video clip. Video ads are a perfect platform for sharing your brand story, showing a 360-degree view of your product, or educating the community of your services. Video ads also have the added benefit of sound so you can include voiceover or talent on screen to communicate product aspects with your target audience.
4. Carousel Ads
The carousel ad is an opportunity show details and various views of a single product or multiple products under one headline. The ad can showcase up to 10 photos for a single ad. This ad type is best if you want to show various angles of one product or showcase more than one promotion being offered. The perk of this ad is that you can have Facebook optimize the image order to show the product with the most engagements first. This will help target your audience more intently to match what they are looking for. You can always opt out of Facebook’s optimization if you are doing a carousel ad that needs to be in a specific order to tell a step-by-step story or other promotions.
Along with the multitude of targeting and campaign options available for advertisers, the key to driving high-quality traffic to your site is a strategically chosen ad format with targeted messaging. While there are other ad formats that could be utilized, the static, animated, video, and carousel ads are ideal for accomplishing brand awareness, engagement, reach, and click-throughs.
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