As a user, you can’t help but see Facebook ads in your feed, and as a marketer, it’s hard it ignore the appeal of Facebook ads and their potential.
There are more than 1.65 billion monthly users on Facebook — more than half of all internet users — making Facebook the ideal place to connect with target audiences where they’re engaged.
There are more than a dozen Facebook ad types, including Dynamic Products ads, which link to product feeds and are perfect for remarketing to those who abandon their cart, Carousel ads which allow marketers to display multiple images, videos, or a mix of both to reach potential customers, and Canvas ads which are interactive mobile ads that offers customers an immersive brand experience and include a path to purchase without ever leaving Facebook.
Here we list a few ways you can get creative with Product ads, Carousel ads, Canvas ads and more in order to get more impact and more clicks from your Facebook brand initiatives.
1. Let your customers tell your prospects how great your products are
You can always tell the difference between a Facebook ad and your friend’s post on Facebook, and it’s not just that “sponsored” label. Authenticity divides sponsored posts from the ones you actually stop, like, and share.
When building Facebook ads, it’s important to create something people will identify with, and what better way than with user-generated content?
Apple has no problem generating awesome user content, and in their most recent cross-platform campaign, which include TV ads as well as Facebook and Instagram ads, they feature images and video from real users who used the hashtag #ShotoniPhone, whose names are featured in the film Apple released.
Watching videos makes up one-third of all online activity, and after watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online. That’s why Apple decided to create a Video ad on Facebook and Instagram.
In classic Apple style, the video is meant to inspire you, set to a moving quote by Maya Angelou. The brand has found these motivational ads, dating back to the 80s, work to inspire people to buy their products because they feel they’re part of the cause.
By using people’s genuine photos and videos, it functions as another way to invite more people into the movement.
2. Step by step product “how to”
User generated content doesn’t always work for your business, depending on what you’re selling, so a great way to make your ads engaging is to show people how cool your product is with a step-by-step tutorial on how it’s used and the benefit you get from it.
This doesn’t have to be too detailed, although it can be.
L’Occitane reached 2.3 million people with their Canvas ad, which allowed mobile users to explore the history and significance of the brand.
The interactive video ad explained key ingredients, where they come from, their benefits to the skin and body, and how L’Occitane uses them in their products.
After learning more about the ingredients and the process, users were introduced to some of the products and could ever move their phone from left to right to see more within the interactive video.
At the end of the ad, users could click a “Shop our holiday gift sets” button and buy products without leaving Facebook. After explaining how to products were made, how they’re used, and where the ingredients come from, people had more confidence to buy the products.
There was a 34-second engagement time with this ad, much higher than user’s average eight-second attention span, and the ad helped boost the company’s ad recall by 11%, proving that a little how-to like explanation regarding how your products work or why users should care can go a long way.
3. Show off your product line
Have you heard of Cocoa Beach on Florida’s Space Coast? If you haven’t, you likely haven’t seen the tourism hub’s Facebook ads, because they boast a 7-point lift in ad recall.
In order to get more people to visit the beach, the tourist board decided all they really needed to do was show off their beach in Melbourne, Florida, no fancy marketing messages needed!
Their Facebook ad campaign showed people exactly what Cocoa Beach was all about, using aspirational images and videos that showcase how much fun people have there.
The campaign was extremely successful. The Facebook ads had an 86% higher incremental reach than TV ads (go digital media!) and with help from that “Book Now” button, there was a 12% increase in year-over-year tourism tax revenue.
For physical products, like jewelry, showcasing the product line worked just as well for Blue Steel Jewelry.
After creating Product Ads, which lead audiences directly to product pages on the brand’s website, the company saw a 3.25X increase in sales, along with a 61% decrease in cost per acquisition.
Sometimes, your products sell themselves, although a discount code and a cheeky tagline help, too.
4. Tell a story about your company
Even though straightforward Product ads have proven successful, it never hurts to tell a story and give people a glimpse into what your company cares about and how your products are made.
Much like the Canvas ad released by L’Occitane, fans were able to learn more about the ingredients for a new Jack in the Box burger with their fun Independence day Canvas ad campaign, Declaration of Delicious.
The story may not have moved people, like the Apple video was designed to, and it may not have been as educational as L’Occitane, but it showcased the ingredients of their new burger in tantalizing detail, all within the framework of making history and breaking new ground, which played well with the July 4 theme and their new product release.
I don’t quite know what hand-leafed lettuce is, but it looks and sounds delicious, as do the buttery bakery buns.
The ad featured a fun video with the Jack in the Box mascot, and ended by giving people the option to upload a photo of themselves with the mascot or find a store and redeem a free burger.
“The combination of precise targeting and engaging creative drove an exceptional 44% lift in purchase intent for our Double Jack burger,” said Richard Cran, vice president, Marketing Communications at Jack in the Box, to a Facebook representative.
The fun and silly story Jack in the Box told helped earn them a 13-point lift in ad recall among those who saw the Canvas ad.
For your own ads, using a clear storytelling narrative, one that audiences can follow and understand, will help improve engagement and ad recall, and lead to more sales.
5. Location, Location, Location
Storytelling, product ads, how-to’s, and user content are all great to capture attention, but if you want people to visit your store, the most important thing is to target people close enough to actually get there.
Black Bear Diner, a California chain, used Local Awareness ads to target people nearby one of their 79 locations.
To target people from specific areas, the brand used images of their dishes or happy customers in their restaurants to get people into their closest location, and each carousel ad was highly targets by geographical location.
The ad campaign helped boost sales by 1% across the entire franchise, and had a 10X lower cost per action than other ad platforms.
More than 2 million people nearby one of the locations saw the ads, and Black Bear Diner paid an average $0.48 for each person who requested directions.
Summary
If you want to promote your brand or product line some of the best ways to use Facebook ads to capture audience attention and to convert them into clients is with relevant creative and interesting and eye catching images or videos.
- User content will help you connect with your brand audience, improving both brand awareness and the likelihood someone will buy your product.
- How to ads give people the confidence to make a purchase by providing them all the information they need to make a decision.
- Product ads are straightforward and effective, and help bring users directly to product pages where they can convert without leaving the comfort of Facebook.
- Storytelling helps engage users and get them interested in your brand or your product offering.
- Highly targeted location ads are the best way to drive in store traffic for local chains or businesses.
There are dozens of other ways to promote your product line and brand via Facebook ads, and the best way to learn what works to engage your unique audience is to test, test and test again.
Acquisio provides technology designed to optimize search marketing campaigns and provide information on online display, social and mobile marketing.
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