We’ve mentioned on here before how Facebook ads can be extremely effective in attracting new business as a creative agency or freelancer. The challenge presents itself however in that there are many things to consider when putting together an ad: where your ad appears, sizing, images, style, composition, colours, fonts, what will make your brand or product stand out etc.
Here are some tips on how to create an effective ad that will hopefully drive more traffic and thus business to your site.
Image over text
Facebook is a social media platform and the king of them really. For this reason, visuals will tend to perform far better than text. A lot of users will disregard your post as soon as they realize it’s an ad and text tends to communicate this more than a strong image. What text does stand should be promotional rather than informative so that viewers can see that they will get something out of clicking.
K.I.S.S your Typography
Keep It Simple Stupid! When it comes to typography try to keep it as minimal as possible. Flamboyant, decorative fonts may attract some attention but can distract from the central message.
Stand out on Social Media
Traffic on social media increases by the week. There is so much content out there it is hard to make your mark. To help get your ads seen in the first place, let alone read, you can use visual techniques to attract attention. Bold colours, great lighting and high image quality are a priority.
Micro-Target
Facebook luckily offers the option to micro-target niche audiences. This is especially helpful early on in your branding when you are trying to attract a niche audience that is likely to be loyal in following your agency. This strategy is even more effective when based on actual user data. Split tests in particular can help you optimize your Facebook ads for all the elements. You can create different ads for different market segments, a more efficient approach than using the same generic ad for both.
Know which format to choose
Videos, images and reels are all great visual means to attract attention but depending on your goals one may work better than another. For example, if advertising a product, a carousel of images may be the best option as it is showcasing a products’ features. For an album cover, of course, a singular image followed by a music video teaser may be the way to go.
Design for your ad objective
Your entire Facebook ad design should be built around your end goal and Facebook thankfully gives you the option to do this. For example, do you want more link clicks or followers or subscribers? Let Facebook know and they will help design your ad tailored to this goal.
Make sure your ad aligns with your branding
Sure, your ad may be great but if a viewer clicks on your link and feels that the vibe of your site doesn’t align with what attracted them to the ad, they might leave feeling disappointed. The colours, logo and format should relate to what is already available about you online.
Prioritise mobile (stories and social posts) over desktop
As users are on their mobile more, ads need to be designed for mobile-first. Facebook has even reported that “mobile-shot Stories ads have a 63% chance of outperforming studio-ads for purchase, app install and checkout objects.” Furthermore, the nature of Stories is to engage with the users more with things such as swipe up links, surveys, Q&As and other interactive features.
