Video ads on Facebook have maintained their position as one of the most versatile means of an advertisement on social media today, and we have a good reason to say that. According to the stats, Facebook boasts over its 2.7 billion monthly active users, out of which 1.25 billion users watch videos just on Facebook Watch and Facebook’s Streaming Video service.  

By looking at these amazing numbers, you can quickly tell that if a marketer leverages this platform effectively, they can become more competitive and boost their brand’s engagement. 

But how do you create ever-engaging and scroll-stopping videos for your Facebook ads? Well, in this article, we’ll discuss just that. 

But to just give you a tidbit, since all video ads are about conversion rates, vertical videos boast the highest conversion rate. That is why you need to use vertical videos on social media – They’re really engaging and mobile-friendly!

Before we dig down deep into the details, let’s talk about what Facebook video ads are, their requirements, and why do you need them. All of these will give you a better understanding of the platform.

Now, let’s head into this.

What Are Facebook Video Ads?

Let’s keep it simple. Facebook video ads are a kind of paid ad-placements to feature your brand or services on your target audience’s feed. 

You can leverage it using two methods. Either you can boost your engagement on an existing video posted on your Facebook page, or you can build a video from scratch for your Facebook Video ad.

Let’s talk about video ad placements on Facebook.

Facebook Video Ad Placements 

If you’re a regular Facebook user, you can quickly tell that video ads on Facebook appear on your News Feed, but in fact, News Feed is only one of several Facebook ad Placements. Here are some Facebook ad placements where you can get your video ads featured.

• In-Stream Video Ads

These are the mini commercials you’re often faced with when watching videos on Facebook using hand-held devices like smartphones and tablets. These commercials appear after 60 seconds of watching a video.

• Facebook Stories Ads

These vertical, full-screen video ads often appear between two different organic stories in the stories tab. It is a great approach for showcasing limited time offers and promotions. One to note here is that videos that are longer than 15 seconds are split into two different story cards that would play one after the other. 

• In-Feed Video Ads

These are the common types of video ads that appear similar to the organic posts published by different users when you scroll through your feed.

• Facebook Video-Feeds Ads

Facebook Video-feeds ads appear between different organic videos posted by the users. You can access video feeds by tapping on an organic video posted on your feed.

• Facebook Marketplace Video Ads

These videos typically appear in the Facebook marketplace window between different posts when you’re scrolling through the Facebook marketplace window.

Alchemy Of A Facebook Video Ad

Each part of a Facebook video ad is meant to serve its dedicated purpose. Understanding its anatomy would help create video ads on Facebook that are far more engaging and play an essential role in converting your audience into consumers. 

1. Account Link

This is the link to your account that you can see on the top left corner above the primary text. You can easily distinguish a video-ad from an organic video by looking at the text “Sponsored” displayed below the account link.

1. Primary Text

The primary text is a text block that appears below the account link. You can also refer to it as a short description of the video or the brand itself. It is worth noting that if your primary text of the video would be longer than 125 characters, it’ll be abbreviated. The users would need to tap/click on the interactive “Read more” text to read the full description.

1. Video View

This is the main area of the Facebook ads as your video displays in it. Note that users can set up their videos depending upon whether they want to play them automatically or not until they click on the play button. They can also decide whether they want to play sounds automatically or not. 

1. Headline

Even though it may sound strange, the video’s headline appears below your ad’s video view. Note that if your headline consists of more than 40 characters, it’ll be abbreviated and not fully visible to the audience.

1. CTAs (Call To Action)

A CTA (Call To Action) is an interactive button on the lower right corner below the video view. CTAs are meant to encourage your viewers to respond or take action to your video. You can choose a CTA for your Facebook video ads from the pre-set list CTAs available on Facebook. 

Below mentioned are the requirements for Facebook Video Ads.

Requirements For Facebook Video Ads

Before you create a video for Facebook video ads, it is essential to go through Facebook’s requirements. Doing the contrary would make your videos look odd and irrelevant, or the worst – Facebook may disapprove of your ad.

Here are the requirements.

• Type Of File: We’d recommend using MOV, MP4, or a GIF since all formats support these types. However, Facebook still supports a variety of file types for each video ad placements.
• Aspect Ratios: For in-feed ads, even though aspect ratios 16:9 (horizontal) to 9:16 (Portrait) are supported, Facebook still recommends using aspect ratio 4:5 to keep you from getting black bars on either side of the video ad. 
• Video Length: Facebook supports the video length of up to 241 minutes for in-feed videos. However, this may vary depending upon the ad placement.
• File Size: The maximum supported file size for video ads in each placement is 4 GB. 
• Video Resolution: The minimum supported video resolution for video ads in each ad placement is 1080 x 1080 pixels. 

To find out the requirements for each ad placement, respectively, check out Facebook’s guide of video ads.

Now that you know what Facebook video ads are, here’s why you need to leverage them for your brand. 

Why You Need To Leverage Facebook Video Ads 

People Love Watching Videos

As we have mentioned above, 1.25 billion users on Facebook watch videos just on Facebook Watch and Facebook’s Streaming Video service. Now this means if you’re using Facebook video ads for your marketing, you’re providing your target audience the type of content they’re craving.

Moreover, since Facebook is focusing on becoming the biggest ad-supported platform, using Facebook video ads means that you’re as well aligned with the goals of Facebook.

Here are some amazing stats as well.

• According to a survey, more than 60% of people who use Facebook say that they regularly watch videos on Facebook.
• According to emarketer, 60% of people watch videos online on Facebook.

Since videos are such a popular form of content on Facebook, leveraging video ads on Facebook would become more competitive.

Videos Are Engaging

According to Hootsuite, the engagement rate on Facebook is nearly 6.15% – higher than the engagement rate of any other type of content published on Facebook.

Adding to that, people are likely to watch videos five times more than static content.

In simpler words, with people spending more time watching videos than any other content, they’ll likely engage with them more than any other type of content.

Video Ads Convert More

Let’s make it simple. The entire idea around your marketing efforts is to make revenue – which only happens if you manage to convert your audience into consumers. 

Perhaps the great advantage of Facebook video ads over its counterparts is its ability to convert effectively. 

According to a survey, more than 65% of marketers believe that video ads are way better than textual content and static images when it comes to conversions. 

Now you know why you need to use Facebook video ads for your branding, which brings us down to our final point – How to use videos for your Facebook video ads. Let’s dive into that.

How To Use Videos For Facebook Video Ads 

Try To Create Ads That Do Not Require Sound

According to Facebook, nearly 80% of people react negatively to videos that auto-play with sounds on. Therefore, you need to create videos that no require sounds to avoid negative reactions from the people.

Creating videos with no sounds might seem strange, but if you think about it, you’ll realize that people do not only watch videos in the comfort of their bed. Most people tend to watch videos while commuting or killing time in a restaurant or any other public place. Moreover, who’d want to plug in their headphones to watch your video? Most likely, no one.

Now, if you think that your video would barely make sense without sounds, here’s an easy approach to overcome that. Use Captions! 

According to Facebook, Video ads with captions are watched 12% longer than the ones without captions.

Get To The Point Quickly And Place Your Brand

Even though Facebook allows video ads up to a maximum length of 120 minutes, the first few seconds are critical as your brand gets nearly 74% of the ad’s value in the first 10 seconds. Make these seconds count, and try to place your brand in this time.

Every one out of three people claim that they stop scrolling when they see a logo or brand that they like or prefer. Make your brand visible right away to maximize the results.

It is also worth noting that your video ad’s length is quite a crucial aspect as well – Do not ignore it! On average, people are 80% more likely to watch videos with a length of less than 30 seconds. Also, People are more likely to remember videos that get their message across in the initial few seconds. 

Try to keep your message and concise and clear to have a lasting effect.

Publish Content That Has Performed Well Already

You’re paying money to Facebook for your promotion, and nobody would like to pay for a campaign that doesn’t perform well. To avoid such a situation, publish and advertise videos that have already performed well elsewhere. For example, your website or your Facebook page.

Ask yourself these questions before you run your video ad.

• Which video has performed well on your website?
• Did the video perform well organically on your Facebook page?
• Did the video drive enough engagement and play rates?

Answering these questions would help you quickly determine whether or not to invest in that video.

Use Vertical Videos

We’ve told you that videos drive more engagement than any other type of content on Facebook. But did you know that it is the Vertical videos that drive the highest conversion rates on Facebook? Well, that’s true. The biggest reason why you need to use vertical videos on social media is that they are meant for mobile devices, not to mention that most watch videos on their smartphones.

In simpler words, mobile devices and videos are a perfect match. If your videos are optimized for mobile devices, you’re going the right way!

That’s All Folks

Watching all those big brand videos that are skyrocketing, you might think that you won’t be able to achieve that level of success. But let me tell you – That’s far from reality!

Optimizing is one thing, but the main reason behind the success of any campaign is authenticity. Keep your ads authentic and relevant to your services while practicing these tips alongside, and you’ll see your campaign catapult into success.

Author Bio

Jane Collen is a creative content writer and digital marketer at BuzzFlick. She works closely with B2C and B2B businesses providing blog writing, video script writing, ghostwriting, copywriting and social media marketing services.