In 2012, every online marketing conference was like ”mobile is growing so fast” and ”think about mobile visits”. Today, it’s mobile-first for everyone – especially in Facebook Ads.
If you take a look in Facebook Ads Manager or in Zalsters Visual Reports feature, on how many of your impressions are on mobile - I think it will be much more than the majority, well if you haven't only optimized your ads for desktop.
We're always connected, even when we're doing some serious binge -watching on Netflix ( at least speaking for myself ), the mobile is often the last thing we look at before going to bed, and the first we look at when we open our eyes. Social Media harbours a lot of our social interactions, Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, Whatsapp – whatever floats your boat!
Mobile consumers do consume content in a higher pace. Daily the average person scrolls more than 100 m per day – and they don't remember that content that they have consumed for very long. Mobile users spend 5x more time consuming video content than static images. To capture those scrollers you need to understand how to create content that stands out and grabs attention quickly.
Since we marketers are creating our ads on computers we often make a oh, so common mistake; we forget to actually think about the full experience for our potential customer - from ad, via landing page to conversion. We need to optimize every single step of the way for mobile. We need to make sure to provide that seamless experience whether our customers are on desktop or mobile.
Customize your creatives for placement
What you should do: ALWAYS customize your ad creative to each placement. It will make a difference for you. Do not break-out placements into different Ad Sets just make them all in one ad! You can easily do this in the Ad Creation Step.
Having customized your assets means that you are giving yourself advantage in the Facebook Auction by providing Facebook with the ability to properly test your creatives in each placement. But even though you have customized your creatives for each placement you need to make sure to create compelling ads.
Create Ads that POP and grab attention!
No one knows what makes great creative better than creatives themselves, but understanding mobile's new context for creativity is key to building better ads that drive results. (Facebook For Business)
There is no magic creative formula that will guarantee you high converting ads. One thing is to build for You just need to test what works best for your product or service and for your target group of course. But there are a few best practices to follow;
🌊 Make some motion on that ocean.
Creating video or to have gifs in your ads can lift your game a whole lot. Creating great video ads has become very affordable and accessible due to what we can create with our phones. With the touch of a tap you can easily become a master creator. One easy way to create ads adapted for the mobile-first mindset is to use Facebooks Mobile Studio for inspo and how-to guides. Creative hub is also a great place to find inspiration for your ads.
But do not exclude static from the equation. See them as complimentary not one or the other.
⏳ Deliver experience and grab attention
Make sure to grab your audience attention in the first three seconds of your video. Your video ad should be no more than 15 seconds long, but preferably in between six to eight seconds. As I mentioned earlier, we are getting more and more picky and we consume a loooooot of content on a daily basis. Your content need to grab attention quickly to be able to stand out and compete in the Facebook Auction.
💡 Showcase your brand early
Be quick to get your brand out there. Try to bookend your ads by showing your brand/logo the first and last thing you do in your video.
💆🏽♂️ Get personal
Offer a connection with your brand. Consumers are expecting a lot from advertisers and are often doing their research before shopping or committing to a service. Make sure to understand your target audience and their needs.
💬When it comes to Ad copy;
'As short as it can be and as long as it needs to be'. A/B test what works best for your product. We have lately made some experiments with our own ads, and found that what we thought wouldn't work – did work the best! Always trust data and not just your gut feeling!
🔉Design for sound off and on.
Autoplay in Facebook will automatically play your ad in the newsfeed without sound until someone clicks on it to "unlock" the sound. Therefore it could also be a good idea to use subtitles given the fact that your ad might probably be watched with sound off. But with that said it is at least as important to have sound on your ad.
⎅ Vertical is a game changer
Maybe not like the Documentary ( The Game Changers, 2018) – that I really do recommend you to watch but not at all related to Facebook Ads 😅.
Vertical will allow you to utilize that full mobile screen and show case your brand and product. It really allows you to play around and get creative. If you are doing big shoots for your creatives, just turn the camera around for some great vertical content. And hey, it doesn't have to be that difficult to create great vertical content just use some of the apps available, or why not just use the camera in your phone for some quick on the go and native content.
📚Stories, stories and more stories.
So with the mindset of mobile-first, also add stories-first to the mix. Take advantage of the whole mobile screen when showing your ads in the stories placement - to enhance the user experience to max. Here you can really use that vertical format and play around. Stories is one of the fastest growing placements in Facebook history. But please don't forget about the other placements
- Take advantage of the whole screen in Stories.
- Text overlays
- Make sure to get your message out quickly since and that it pops, people tend to sweep pretty fast in stories.
Least but not last....
📲 Make sure to optimize your landing page and website for mobile
I can not stress this one enough. It's super important that you provide a website that is adjusted for mobile. Otherwise you might miss some really great opportunities. Also make sure that your loading times are up to speed and that the experience runs smoothly from product view to check-out.
Test, test and test! What your audience want and need can change on the whim in this social and mobile world. What works for one advertiser might not work for the other etc. etc. And pst! Don’t forget to try our Facebook Ads automation tool 14 days for free!