In this episode, podcast host and AdvertiseMint CEO, Brian Meert, is joined by Anna Barnes, director of video at AdvertiseMint, to discuss video best practices for Facebook ads.
At AdvertiseMint, Barnes creates videos for clients and optimizes their existing creatives for Facebook’s platform. During her time in this position, she noticed several strategies that have and have not worked on Facebook.
According to Barnes, a traditional approach is one of the mistakes clients make. These are the clients who use the same creatives for traditional advertising (radio, television, billboard) for Facebook ads. Although this approach can work, the strategy is short-lived, as all creatives on Facebook have a lifespan.
“Everything that you put out has a timeline. It’s going to die within a certain period of time on Facebook, even if you create the most amazing video that has the biggest celebrities.”
Rather than using one long big-budget video for ads, Barnes instead creates numerous shorter videos that lasts for a longer period of time, combating ad fatigue, a phenomenon in which users ignore an ad because they have seen it too often. This method, which Facebook favors, gives audiences new videos to watch, improving campaign performance.
To create effective Facebook videos, Barnes recommends creating mobile-optimized, vertical video ads. Although the vertical format performs best on Facebook and Insagram, Barnes still recommends shooting for horizontal if, for example, the video will be placed on a website. Horizontal videos can then be cropped and reformatted to vertical for Facebook and Instagram.
Because users’ attention spans are shorter on social media—advertisers have 1.7 seconds to grab their attention—Barnes recommends front-loading videos, with the most important information appearing during the first few seconds. She also emphasizes the importance of a/b testing videos to find which version resonates with audiences.
To gain engagement on ads, Barnes creates videos that intrigue users. This, she says, is a better alternative to the now-banned engagement bait. She also hires actors who are charismatic.
“If you pick a boring person, nobody’s going to want to talk to them. Pick somebody who they would want to be friends with. More often than not, that’s what performs best on Facebook.”
Barnes also shares her tips on creating videos for the lean-forward and lean-back audience, designing for sound off, and allocating the right budget to the right creatives. To learn more, listen to the sixth episode of Duke of Digital.
