Facebook video ads: how to create the best ads for your goals

Facebook video ads are a great way to increase brand awareness for your company or products. The best Facebook ads have an objective, tell a story, focus on one clear goal per ad and use creative ways of showing the problem and solution.

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In this article, we will go over the elements that make up a successful Facebook video ad. If you are looking to get started with these types of advertisements, follow the steps below.

How to create the best Facebook video ads for your goals

Keep the following points in mind when creating a Facebook video ad:

Start with a clear goal

The first step for a successful Facebook video ad is to have a clear goal set in place. Before you start filming or creating a video ad, write down the best practices that will achieve your objective and then carefully plan out how you will demonstrate them in your video ads. 

For example, if one of your goals is to have viewers watch your video ad to the end, then you might want to focus on telling a story that will keep their attention until the end. 

Do not try and do too much or else it will make it challenging for people watching your ad.

If your Facebook video ad is promoting a product, make sure you explain all the benefits (rather than focusing too much on the features) of the product. Make sure to tell them how it will improve their lives and what results they can get from using such a product.

Whether that be saving time or increasing efficiency, show viewers exactly why they should buy your product through your Facebook ads.

Use a call-to-action at the end of your ads

Knowing what action you want your viewers to take is a great place to start off from.

While it might seem like starting from the end, knowing what call-to-action (CTA) you will give at the end of the video and alluding to it throughout your ad can be key.

A CTA is one of the terms mentioned in the complete guide to video marketing. This is a great way to guide the people watching your video ad to the action that you want them to take next. Whether that's signing up for your email list or buying a product, make sure to tell them what you want them to do.

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Use video to tell a story

It is a good idea to use a story in your Facebook video ad. This could be the story of how your company started, why you decided to create your product or any other relevant information that will help get people interested. It often works best if it's something that has happened recently. 

For example, if you just attended an industry conference and have some new knowledge on a topic, you could create a video of yourself sharing the information with viewers.

Telling a great story can grab viewers’ attention and keep them hooked wanting to know more - check out these video storytelling tips if you’d like to get better at this skill.

In addition to a great story, keep in mind that Facebook videos autoplay on mute. Make sure to include captions so people can read along while watching your ad. This will increase their ability to understand what is going on in the video and if they enable their sound, it will also keep them more engaged when reading text at the same time as listening to your ad. 

Doing all you can to boost your video engagement on social media will result in more people visiting your website as well as potentially paying less for your advertising.

Show the problem AND the solution

We recommend using your video ads to show both the problem and how your product or service will solve that problem. This makes it very clear for people viewing your ad why they should care about what you are advertising.

If you can have a real customer testimonial, this is a great way to show the value of your product or services and also the value of your customer support service. You could even interview someone who has used your product for a while.

Be creative

Don't be afraid to get creative with your advertising. A common strategy is creating a "how-to" tutorial. 

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This is where you would show people how to do something and it works very well because people will watch the whole thing for more information on how they can achieve their goals. Another creative technique is to use whiteboard animation where you have someone draw out your ideas on a whiteboard or blackboard. This is an excellent way of showing viewers exactly what you are trying to say.

When coming up with content for your Facebook video ad, try not to waste any time. Focus on telling your target audience what you want to say and then move on. You will be surprised at how much better your ad will do if it does not contain excess information that can be cut out.

Make it short and sweet

People do not have very long attention spans and it is difficult for them to pay attention to what you are saying if your message is spread out over a long period.

While you can definitely have long videos, you could also try and test what works best for you in terms of video ad length. This means that you can also use this opportunity to create shorter versions of the videos that are around 1 minute in length.

If you choose this option, remember to still include subtitles so people can understand everything that is happening without sound.

Make sure all images and music are royalty-free

If you decide to post an image or song in your Facebook video ad, make sure it's royalty-free. Royalty-free music sites and royalty-free image sites are good places to look if you want to add a little bit of that extra flare into your video ad.

You must ensure that all of the images and music that you choose to use in your Facebook video ad are royalty-free. This will ensure that there will be no copyright issues with Facebook later on.

Use A/B split testing

A/B Split testing is a great way to see which Facebook ads work best for you and your goals. 

A/B testing is where you use two different versions of an ad and split test which one does better than the other. For example, we could create two ads: Ad A and Ad B. We would send people to both Ad A and Ad B at equal rates, and then look at which one did better in terms of views, click-throughs, etc. Then we would know that this is the ad that performs better than the other one.

If you think about it, this strategy can be used with just about anything if you put your mind to it. You can try different video lengths, formats or messages and compare results at the end. This is a great way to get the most out of your ads.

Avoid selling at all costs

Instead of selling, make people curious about your product or service and then give them a link that will take them to your website. You can create curiosity by asking an interesting question that people will want the answer to, you can use testimonials to make it seem like other people think your product is great or you can do both.

A great social media manager should be able to understand the elements that make people curious to know more. This will make it easier to understand what works best with your audience and do more of it. 

If you find yourself having trouble understanding how these ads work, simply quiz your target audience about what they’re going through. You can also check out topical forums and see what recurring problems are being discussed. 

Whatever you do, understanding what makes people curious, as well as the pain points that they have about your industry, is crucial to having successful Facebook video ads.

Choosing Facebook videos ads over other advertising

Whether you are working in niche sectors like beauty, real estate, fashion, etc, advertising on Facebook can work for your business. For example, many realtors, real estate coaches, and investors used these types of ads as a lead generation strategy during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Here are some great reasons why you should choose Facebook video ads:

Videos give people a reason to keep coming back

Another great reason to use video ads is that they give people a reason to keep coming back. 

A lot of businesses today spend hours updating their website, social media profiles and email campaigns with new content every day. If you're someone who has a hard time doing this, then using videos as a form of marketing can help you achieve your goals without having to work as much. 

There's nothing more rewarding than seeing the number of views on your video rise and people following your call-to-action.

When it comes to social media, here is a list of 5 tips to follow to create social media ads that work. Keep these tips in mind and use them when creating your video advertisements.

Videos get shared more

If people love your Facebook video ad they will share it with their friends on social media. This means more exposure for your brand which can lead to more people buying your product, signing up to your email list, etc.

When you're creating an ad make sure to keep an eye out for funny parts of your content that people might want to repost to all of their followers. It would be a good idea to recap such moments in the end so that people watching it have something fun to share with all of their friends.

Higher click-through rates (CTR)

Facebook ads have higher click-through rates than other forms of Facebook ads that you might be using. A click-through rate is a percentage that shows how many people clicked on your ad out of the total number of people who saw it. If 10,000 people see an ad and 100 people click on it, then the ad has a 1% click-through rate. In this case, the higher CTR the better your video ad is performing.

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Videos tell your story instead of just showing it

Instead of showing people a picture or an image to try and tell them how great your product is, show them a high-quality video that tells the story for you. This reduces the possibility of people not reading a text ad or seeing your image and increases the chance of someone clicking on the video ad so they can further explore what it is about. 

Videos lead directly to other forms of marketing

One of the best ways to use Facebook video ads is by linking them to another form of marketing. For example, if you have a webinar coming up soon, try linking your Facebook ad so that people can find out more about what your webinar will be all about, including any products or services that they might find of us. 

The right webinar software can even allow you to do a live Q&A session with your Facebook attendees in real-time. You can then do paid Facebook advertising to promote this Q&A session (and potentially more live sessions) or just push more of your target audience to watch after the webinar is over. This is a great way of further interacting with your customers.

Video can also elevate your email marketing campaign by creating more clickable links in the emails that you send out. You can use videos that show how your product or service works while at the same time adding a link to the video as a call to action in your email marketing.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, Facebook video ads are awesome. And, to be honest, they are probably the best thing that ever happened to Facebook since its inception as a social networking platform.

Unlike before, when you had to rely on an influencer or someone else's post for promoting your business across Facebook, now you can reach your audience directly by uploading videos and sharing them through Facebook ads.

Take advantage of this opportunity and give your business a boost with video ads.