Although Facebook isn’t the newest social media platform, it’s still considered the bread and butter of many businesses social media marketing.

A massive percentage of social media advertisers use Facebook ads, at around 93%, but that doesn’t mean all ads are created equal. In this blog post, we will walk through some pitfalls to avoid and details to keep in mind when planning your next Facebook ad campaign.

When planning a campaign, it is important to know that around 39% of Facebook users admit to following business pages for the chance to score a special offer. Using special offers in your ad campaign could help drive more traffic through your business page, convince more people to like your page and in turn increase traffic to your website, which is where we really want them to go. The special offers don’t need to be crazy, just enough so that people find your page worth following.

Using special offers on their own however won’t be enough. It has been found that only around 6% of a page’s likes are from organic sources. Using Facebook’s paid options could give your ads a much further reach. If you create engaging, interesting content it could also increase its reach through the people who engage with the post.

Be sure that your super amazing, engaging post that could lead to a special offer is mobile friendly! Facebook has reported that close to 50% of Facebook users only use the mobile app. This means if your ad looks unappealing on a phone, nearly 50% of people will only see the unappealing post and never see your amazing desktop optimised post. To optimise your posts for mobile, try using vertical instead of horizontal photos, ensure the linked to pages are ready for mobile users and keep the reading short!

Shorter posts also include ad titles. For the most effective ad titles, Facebook recommends using only 4 words, with a 15-word link description. Your Facebook Ad should only instil curiosity and not give away too much information. A shorter post has multiple advantages and has been found to get about 23% more interaction than that of longer posts, short and sweet seems to be the way to go on Facebook.  

If you have a longer post in mind, consider creating a video for it! Video posts get shared more often than any other post and can be a great way to get information out there in an easy to consume format.  

Video ads on Facebook are different from video posts. An ad video only has about three seconds to capture a users attention so try to pack as much dynamite into the first three seconds of your ad to really spark an interest. Build curiosity and give the user a reason to keep watching your ad!

If you feel that video is the way to go, whatever you do, do not turn on audio auto-play! 80% of users report that auto-playing sound annoys them. This makes sense since many people use Facebook in public, and do not appreciate a sudden loud noise being blurred from their phones. Instead use subtitles and visual cues, if you can spark interest users will turn on the videos audio.

Most users that browse on Facebook are likely to have their volume on low of silent, so how do you communicate with them? Closed Captions are available subtitles for videos and a great way to get users to stick around and watch your video. Facebook has reported that videos using closed captions have on average 12% longer viewing time!

Now, next time your business plans a Facebook ad campaign, you know what to look out for!