Video is king of everything these days. People find it easier to gain useful information from watching a video than reading a text. Even the human brain is designed to understand and retain visual information better than abstract information (and that is exactly what text is). For this reason, more and more of your competitors are investing in Facebook™ video ads. And that is exactly what you should also do.
How Do People Consume Facebook™ Video Ads?
Before you pour the entire advertising budget into these ads, it is good to know how effective they are. Yes, video is king – but an ad is still an ad. Meaning that people will watch it if they are really interested in what you want to show them. Otherwise, they will skip it if they can.
This graph posted by Facebook™ Business shows you exactly how things stand:
As you can see, the attention rate for newsfeed ads is dropping in a steady slope. For ads they can op to skip, it’s even worse – the abandon rate drops sharply after a few seconds.
These graphs should tell you one thing: you’d better hurry up and share the juiciest part of your message during the first few seconds. Again, according to Facebook™, you have the average viewer’s attention for 8.25 seconds.
So, what can you do to make people watch your entire Facebook™ video ads and take the action you want them to?
Here are some best practices updated for 2019:
1. Keep It Short
And we mean, really short. The average length of your Facebook™ video ads should be between 15 and 30 seconds for the desktop version. For mobiles, you should make them even shorter. How short? According to Facebook™ COO Sheryl Sandberg, 6-second video ads for mobile have “higher brand metrics across the board”.
Now, this is top level expert advice, and we cannot go anywhere higher in the hierarchy of authority to persuade you.
2. Get Your Message Across During the First Few Seconds
You have exactly 6 seconds for unskippable ads and we’ll use this as the standard amount you have for all your Facebook™ video ads. During these seconds, you should give viewers your biggest argument for continuing to watch. Share your biggest brand value. Create the mouth-watering offer.
What comes next will enforce and repeat your core message. But give your best during the first 6 seconds.
3. Rediscover the Long Lost Art of the Mute Film
We don’t mean to say that you should not have audio for your Facebook™ video ads. Just don’t count on it to get your message across to the viewers. Statistics show that 85% of Facebook™ users play videos with muted sounds.
Make the images speak for themselves – and add captions for good measure.
4. Use a Customised Thumbnail
Facebook™ received some backlash for auto-playable videos on its mobile platform from users who found their data plans drained. This is why now they can opt out from the auto-play feature, and most of them take advantage of it.
So, how do you grab these people’s attention if your ad doesn’t start playing? Simple – with a customised thumbnail that includes your number one message and persuasive point. Don’t let Facebook™ generate this thumbnail for you; make an effort and make it look worth clicking.
5. Optimise Your Video Titles and Description
Research of thousands Facebook™ video ads showed that people are most likely to click on ads titled:
Things to know
What you need
To know about.
As for the numbers of things people need/want to know, the winners are (in order): 7, 5, and 10. Thus, whenever possible optimise your titles and descriptions to contain these magic numbers and words. (Just don’t make catchy titles that don’t match the content – that’s a big no-no).
Last, but not least, make sure that the tone of voice in your video matches the copy your write for it.