Last week Facebook released some new research it has carried out around the performance of video ads on its platform. <link to https://www.facebook.com/iq/articles/stand-out-in-feed-optimizing-video-creative-on-mobile>
The report makes for some interesting reading and highlights many of the things we already knew – such as video ads developed with a structure and narrative that caters for the way that users consume video on social media outperform content that has been developed for other platforms or has been adapted to try and make it a better fit for posting.
So, what can you do to make your video ads work on social?
- Keep it short – the content that performs best on mobile according to the research is under 20 seconds in duration.
- Early use of branding – in the age of the thumb stopping creative, we also need to ensure that branding is positioned prominently in the first two seconds. The research shows that there was a much higher recall of an ad where the brand was featured prominently in the first couple of seconds as opposed to an adapted ad which might utilise a logo watermark to convey the brand.
- Know your audience – this isn’t necessarily a finding of the research, but it should go without saying that you should ensure you tailor your approach and creative to your audience (as well as making use of the tools available to target them).