Every day, we get more evidence that Facebook ads make an impact. The clients that we work with see a massive increase in engagement and conversions from their target audience.
Not only that but using Facebook also means that companies have more opportunities to build relationships with customers and earn loyalty.
The only problem? Not all Facebook ads are made equal. There are a lot of campaigns out there that struggle to generate the right results. Sometimes, the problem is with the way you time your campaigns to reach your customers. Other times, there may be a problem with your budget.
However, the most common issue we noticed is in the ad creative.
It just doesn’t make the right impact.
So, how do you improve your Facebook ad creative?
It’s easier than you think.
Step 1: Get the Offer Right
The offer on your Facebook ad campaign can make or break your chances of a sale.
You need to make sure you’re offering customers something that they want. If your offer isn’t appealing to your audience, then it doesn’t matter how great your copy is or how frequently you run your ad – you’re still not going to convert.
So, how do you create a compelling offer?
Start by getting to know your audience. Using your buyer personas, figure out what matters most to the people who are going to be buying your products. Both of these ads are appealing in their own way, but they speak to different audiences:
Getting money off a purchase, as in Ad 1, is excellent. However, Ad 2 is more likely to push a conversion when you’re targeting your campaigns specifically at dog lovers.
When you’re trying to figure out what will make your audience eager to click on your campaigns, don’t just concentrate on logical ideas like “people want to save money.” Look at the user profiles that are informing your Facebook targeting strategy and go from there. What’s going to capture your customer’s attention on an emotional level? Is it more important for your customer to feel like they’re making the world a better place, or they’re saving money?
Being specific with your user personas and using in-depth targeting on Facebook will improve your chances of creating an offer that speaks to your customer. While deals and discounts can reduce some of the risk associated with buying something online, don’t forget to speak to the values that your customers hold dear too.
Step 2: Be Prepared to Experiment
No matter what you do, never assume you know best.
Just because a campaign seems to be going relatively well doesn’t mean that you can’t get better. No matter how long you’ve been advertising on Facebook now, remember that you can always increase the impact of your campaigns with the right insights and statistics.
Every time you launch a new campaign, take the time to create a couple of alternative ad designs – just in case. You might have one creative that uses emojis in the copy and one that uses a slightly different blend of colors on the image.
Test each option carefully, looking for insights into what kind of customers respond best to which specific factors. These two AdEspresso ads tested whether customers would respond better to a photo of a human being or an illustration:
They discovered that although illustrations worked well for some campaigns, the picture of a human being performed almost twice as well at prompting people to download something.
You won’t know what’s going to work best for your Facebook ad creative unless you’re willing to test your assumptions.
Step 3: Use Social Proof
If you want to take your Facebook ad creative to the next level – you need to convince your audience that you deserve their trust. People generally avoid buying from new companies because they’re scared. They don’t know your brand very well, so they’re worried that they’ll lose money if they invest in you.
To avoid missing opportunities, use the psychological phenomenon of “loss aversion“. In other words, show customers what they’re missing out on if they don’t buy from you.
Quotes from happy customers who love your products are a great way to generate trust and credibility for your brand. You can also use user-generated content on social media to prove that you’re not the only people who believe in your product.
Simultaneously, use your ad creative to get rid of any issues that might convince your customer not to buy. For instance, giving away freebies, getting rid of any postage fees, and providing money-off discounts are all great ways to encourage conversions. Pasta Evangelists takes advantage of multiple strategies to reduce risk in this ad creative:
Here’s another example from UrbanStems that bypasses the need for creative copy on an ad by using a direct quote from a customer. The company even signs the review with the first name and initial of the customer to add to the authenticity of the quote.
Step 4: Use Creative to Guide Your Audience
Telling your audience what to do can seem like a dangerous thing to do. However, it’s worth remembering that today’s audiences are overwhelmed by huge amounts of content online. Whenever a lead sees your ad on Facebook, they’re also being distracted by endless other images and messages.
Every ad campaign needs a CTA to be featured in the ad copy and video when necessary. It should also be reinforced with clickable buttons that push your audience to the next step.
You want to tell your users which action they need to take to get whatever you’re offering. For instance, every image in this LookFantastic carousel comes with a call-to-action “Shop Now” button:
Remember that when you do ad a CTA to your campaign, you need to ensure that it leads to a landing page that makes sense. Your ads and landing page copy must align perfectly! If your customer clicks on a button like the “Shop Now” option above for the Olaplex Holiday Hair Fix, they’ll expect to arrive on a page where they can buy that item.
Don’t make the mistake of sending your customer to your main product page or home page instead.
Step 5: Choose the Right Images
Ad creative for Facebook campaigns must be eye-catching. Fail to include the right visuals, and you risk your audience never even seeing your promotions. To boost your chances of conversions, start by grabbing the user’s attention with a beautiful picture.
Genuine photos of your products or images shared from other customers are always a good bet. No customer will be emotionally engaged by a stock image that they’ve seen dozens of times before. Make sure your images are unique. Here, Neon Beach uses an unboxing photo taken by a customer to showcase how high-quality their products really are.
The visuals you pick need to stand out from the crowd and send the correct message if you want them to earn you a click. However, make sure that you stick to the guidelines issued by Facebook for what your image size should be, how much written text it can include, and so on.
It’s also aware of how multiple images can work together as part of an entire composition. If you’re sharing a carousel as part of your campaign, every image should look like it belongs to the same set. Consistency is key for building brand awareness.
Step 6: Remember the Psychology of Color
Finally, one of the easiest ways to improve your ad creative’s quality on Facebook is to experiment with color psychology. Colors have a major impact on the way that we think and feel. Advertisers use this fact to their advantage when they’re building creative designs for Facebook.
Remember, around 90% of the snap judgments that people make about your products will come back to how they felt about the color. The colors that work best for your brand will depend on a handful of factors. However, most people agree that younger consumers are drawn to bright colors like orange, red, and yellow, while older people prefer purple, green, and blue.
Try to choose colors that work well with your branding, so everything seems tied together when you post an ad. Notice that Zaap Newcastle uses the same blue, white, and red in its Ad creative image in the logo on the Facebook page.
Like most Facebook advertising efforts, you’ll need to test your assumptions and do some experimentation to figure out what works best for your customers. Just make sure that you don’t jump too much between different colors, or you may confuse your audience.
Get Creative with Facebook Ads
Increasing the number of conversions you can get from your Facebook ads is one of the most valuable things you can do when building a social media presence. While various factors will impact how well your ads work, your creative content is one of the most essential elements.
If you need help making your ad creative stand out for all the right reasons, contact The Graygency today. We’ll lend you the creativity you need.
