In today’s digital world, Facebook advertising can be described as a marketer’s best friend or worst enemy if not properly developed or maintained. If you are correctly targeting the right audiences, have the correct landing page, and provide a compelling ad with strong copy, images, videos, and a CTA, you are on the right track. However, with Facebook continuously introducing new features to their advertising network, it can be difficult to stay on top of the new trends. In this article, we will focus on 5 things that you must do when you are using Facebook ads for your business.

#1: Use Video Content to promote your products

This cannot be emphasized enough. Video dominates Facebook.  Video is currently the top performing type of content on Facebook with people watching over 100 million hours of video each day on Facebook.  That is crazy!!

In the example below from socialtumblr.com,  Jasper’s Market uses an attractive video that’s sure to make all the foodie’s mouth’s water. What stands out beyond the video is that Jasper’s Market asks an initial question to pique the interest of their target audience potentially looking for something new to cook. This not only serves as the answer for the target audience, but it also encourages a click-through beyond the video to the website to potentially look for more cooking ideas.

 

#2 Take Advantage of Emojis in Your Ad Copy

Let’s admit it, emojis makes reading much more fun. People respond to images more than text so why not try emojis in your ads? As of May 2017, it has been noted that emojis increase open rates in push notifications by 85%. Still think emojis are silly?

In the example below from wordstream.com, Talulah’s Toys gets the thumbs up emoji for their ad, keeping it short and sweet while highlighting the benefits of the dog toys. Formatting the ad by listing the benefits also makes it much easier to read and gets right to the point of the advertisement. With a strong headline in the ad offering, an incentive, and a compelling CTA, Talulah’s Toys is on the right track for further increasing potential inquiries and purchases through their online marketing efforts.

#3 Reinforce Brand Authority

This Slack ad from business2community.com describes all of the benefits of downloading the software in a fun and clever way to attract its target audience.

Slack’s combination of a trending compelling image with the pink unicorn united with a strong ad copy and headline makes for a dominate Facebook ad.  At first glance, you are instantly drawn to the person on the pink unicorn. Once the initial impression occurs, Slack uses a compelling statistic that would make anyone want to check out their offer. Lastly, Slack uses its headline and description to further describe why Slack will make work life less stressful.

#4 Prompt Purchases With a Discount

Who doesn’t love saving money? One of the strongest incentives a company can offer its consumers are discounts on their products. It prompts the user to check the product with little risk.

Take this Groupon ad from business2community.com for example. Groupon uses an effective header in the ad highlighting the 40% off and limited time to encourage urgency to buy. They go on by highlighting the benefits of the suit in the description focusing on why the consumer would need this suit around Christmas time. Lastly, Groupon uses a strong CTA once again encouraging urgency to by using a Shop Now button.

There is one thing I would change in this ad to further push the sale, and that is to add a 40% off text somewhere in the image. Although Facebook is not a fan of text in their visual ads, the additional mention of the sale further entices the target audience to click-through to check out the sale. It’s also an easier way to grab the attention of the consumer as they are scrolling before they read the headline.

#5 Take Advantage of Holidays and Highlight Promotions

If you’re a business that sells products that are popular around holidays, Facebook ads are a great method to drive online sales.

   

In the above example from adespresso.com, Pro Flowers understands the importance of Valentine’s Day and knows that people shop last minute for their special someone. By highlighting the urgency that Valentine’s Day is approaching in the text, Pro Flowers encourages its customer audience to act as soon as possible. Also by including the Deal of the Day in the image and in the headline, they can create a strong first and second impression on the ad stating that the buyers must purchase today to get the deal. Combining the urgency to buy for the holiday with the discount the product benefits in the description, and a strong CTA to Shop Now, Pro Flowers has developed an ad that’s sure to get clicks as Valentine’s Day approaches.

Conclusion

Facebook ads provide great opportunities to promote your products online. Combining the correct image or video with compelling copy is key to increasing your click-through rate and conversions. Make sure your images or videos display people using or wearing your product so you do not bore your audience. If you offer a non-tangible product, highlight the benefits of why your target audience needs your product.  In the description of your ads, keep it short and focus primarily on benefits. What can your product offer that competitors cannot, or why will the product make the consumers’ lives easier? Be sure to add some creativity in the copy as well with relevant emojis. Finally, use the correct CTA to promote urgency to click-through. Your images or videos combined with your text should make your CTA irresistible. Be sure to try out these tips and let us know if you see the changes in your Facebook Ad Campaigns.