Even though image ads haven’t lost their charm, more and more businesses are starting to pay attention to the fuss about video advertising.
Having disrupted the world of digital marketing, video ads are truly one of the best techniques for acquiring customers.
And Facebook is one of the best places to run video advertising. The number of people who create and consume video content on Facebook and its placements is growing fast. Every day, more than half a billion users watch video content on Facebook.
If you’re going to use one of the best ad techniques on one of the best ad platforms, you’ll definitely need to choose one of the best video formats for Facebook ads.
Which Is the Best Video Format for Facebook Ads?
To give an answer to this tricky question, let’s first recall the major Facebook video ad formats.
Carousel
If you ask any experienced Facebook marketer about this format, they will answer with certainty that Carousel ads are one of the most effective Facebook video ad formats.
Carousel ads empower advertisers with the ability to display two or more videos (or images) within one publication in the form of a merry-go-round. That’s why this is one of the best video formats to upload to Facebook.
Every video or image in a Carousel ad can be considered a single advertisement because it has its own headline, CTA button, and link. You can add up to 10 cards to your Carousel.
If you’re an e-commerce business, you should definitely learn how to use Carousel ads to boost conversions, generate sales, and achieve other marketing objectives.
This video ad format is perfect for showcasing multiple products, demonstrating the benefits of a single product, telling a story, and giving a step-by-step tour.
Collection
The Collection ad format is the Carousel ad’s little cousin.
Just like Carousels, Collections have cards that can include links, headlines, and buttons. However, these Facebook ad formats have two differences.
The first difference is the layout. Collection ads have a grid-like layout, which can be presented in one of four templates:
- Instant Lookbook for showing products in action, digitizing an existing printed product catalog, or promoting a brand and growing sales by creating an engaging story
- Instant Storytelling for advertising a business together with its website or app in the form of a narrative
- Instant Customer Acquisition for increasing conversions on a landing page and encouraging people to act on a website or app
- Instant Storefront for promoting multiple products simultaneously and driving viewers to a website or app to buy them
The second difference is the number of cards. Collection ads can include up to four image cards, crowned by a key video or image card. That’s right. Keep in mind that you can add only one video to the crown card in your Collection ad.
This video ad format is perfect for offering a sneak peek of a product catalog, grouping different products from the same catalog, showing a few products in one place, and introducing a business in a unique and captivating way.
Stories
Stories are the most loved Facebook video ad format so far. And for good reason, as they offer everything people love video for: they’re quick, fun, and informative.
What else do today’s customers want?
If you check Facebook video marketing statistics, you’ll notice that:
- More than 500 million people say they buy more after watching Stories
- 62% of people claim Stories spark their interest in a brand or product
Not to mention that you can run Stories ads on three platforms at once: Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
This video ad format is perfect for quickly increasing users’ interest in a brand or product, creating deeper and more personal relationships with a community, and motivating actions that lead to conversions or sales.
Slideshow
A Slideshow is a video created from a set of images, sound, and text. It’s a good substitute for traditional video ads.
By the way, if you want to optimize your video production process, test out our artificial intelligence engine.
This video ad format is perfect for emphasizing the advantages of a business, showing products and services step by step, and targeting ads to people who have slower internet connections.
Facebook Watch
Did you know that Facebook has its own version of YouTube? Now you do!
Facebook Watch is a free service where creators and publishers can upload their own videos and where Facebook broadcasts exclusive content such as comedy, drama, news, and talk and game shows for over than 720 million monthly active users.
To support such a vast video ecosystem, Facebook developed Facebook Showcase.
This premium video program allows advertisers to reach their audiences on Watch in three video advertising formats:
- In-Stream Reserve lets businesses show their ads during original video content produced by thousands of creators and publishers.
- In-Stream Reserve Categories includes the same features as In-Stream Reserve plus the ability to target people who watch relevant content. In other words, businesses can launch ads in categories such as sports, food, and entertainment.
- Sponsorships let businesses become exclusive sponsors of a specific program or show.
If you’re considering using one of these ad opportunities, now is a good time because the popularity of Facebook Watch as an advertising platform is only increasing.
According to Facebook, the number of Pages taking advantage of in-stream video ads more than tripled from June 2018 to June 2019. And the number of Pages generating more than $1,000 in payouts per month has increased eightfold during the same period.
This video ad platform is perfect for businesses that want to expand their presence across the Facebook family of apps and services.
Playables
Want to promote a mobile app on Facebook? Then you should test Playable ads, which are interactive videos designed to present a game or app and boost installs.
This video format for Facebook ads is made up of three parts:
- A lead-in video to present your game or app in a nutshell
- A live demo so users can play a demo of your app
- A CTA button to drive people interested in your app to Google Play and the App Store
Facebook recommends you make sure that your lead-in video and app demo match, introduce your app as simply as possible, let people download your app right during the demo, and test copy, videos, and demos.
You can launch Playable ads on Facebook and the Audience Network.
How to Discover Your Video Format for Facebook Ads
Now let’s learn how to find the best form of expression for your video ads on Facebook.
Know Who Is Watching Your Video Content
Before choosing the best format for Facebook ads, ask yourself these two questions:
Who is going to see my Facebook video ads?
How can I target people on Facebook with advertising?
Your choice of Facebook video format should depend on how you target your audiences.
Facebook has a ton of options for picking the right audience for video advertising, starting from simple targeting by age, gender, and location and ending with detailed targeting based on users’ behavior, habits, interests, and personal information.
Different formats fit different audiences. Younger generations like dynamic Stories, while older customers may prefer lazier Carousels.
Consider Why You Create Your Video Content
When looking for the best format for Facebook video ads, you should remember that every format is created for a purpose.
If you already know which marketing objectives you’re going to pick in Ads Manager, then you don’t have to worry about choosing the right video ad format because certain objectives support certain formats.
If you want to promote your business organically using Facebook video, you just need to figure out how you want to interact with your audience.
For example, Stories are great for producing raw, behind-the-scenes content, while your Timeline is a perfect place for educational videos.
Define How You Want to Tell the Story in Your Ad
People consume Facebook videos in two ways.
The first way is watching on the go — for example, when users stumble upon short video content in their news feed using their smartphones.
The second way is captivated viewing for longer sessions — in other words, when people decide to watch video in a more relaxed atmosphere. This can be on Facebook Watch or Facebook Live.
Once you know what kind of video ad content you want to produce for your Facebook community, it’ll be much easier for you to pick the best Facebook video format for upload.
Final Words on Facebook Video Ad Formats
It’s really simple to find the best Facebook video ad format if you know what you’re doing. The best way to do it is by testing all the video formats you consider useful to your business.
We hope you find our recommendations helpful and wish you luck with your Facebook video advertising.
And don’t be shy about testing Softcube artificial intelligence system.
