Why Facebook Video Ads are the Most Effective

In terms of Facebook’s primary ad formats, video ads are by far the most effective.

In fact, 4.6 billion video ads are watched every year.

And, the average engagement rate for Facebook videos is 6.13% Or, close to double the average engagement rate for text or image posts.

Unlike some other ad formats, video ads can work just as well for top of funnel (TOFU) brand awareness as bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) conversions, such as leads and sales.

“No matter the objective, you should try and incorporate video as it tends to get preferential treatment in the Facebook Ad Auction,” says Tom Brodbeck of Found Search Marketing. “Typically, anything under 15 seconds works best on paid social.”

In this post, we’re sharing a few tips to help you make your video ads more effective.

Focus on Video Views and Shares

If your primary objective is brand awareness, then you should optimize your ads to maximize the number of views and social shares.

“If you’re trying to drive awareness, you really need to focus on getting as many of your target demographic as possible to see your ads,” says Morgan Taylor of Let Me Bank.

“Your most important metric is your unique views, though that is primarily driven through your likes and shares. A good ad could have a very low CPM, but if it goes viral and the shares start piling up, especially from pages with a large audience, your overall audience awareness can spiral far beyond your initial ad spend..”

Darrin Giglio of North American Investigations adds, “Shares are what makes content go viral. One person shares a post that hundreds of people see, and some of them redistribute it to hundreds of more people. It spreads like wildfire, and the next thing you know, a few thousand people are liking your Facebook page.”

Make Your Videos Entertaining to Drive Traffic

This sounds obvious, but it is easy to forget. Your video ad should be a “teaser” to get them to go back to your website.

David Denning of Jumpstart Go says, “Video ads are the best for driving traffic as you pique their interest, deliver some information and value propositions, and then drive them to your site to learn more.”

Niklas Bruun of NB Digital Aps adds, “I would prefer single video formats with a clear message. Add the most relevant sentence starting within the first 3 seconds and make use of colors that's eye-catching next to Facebook's grey, white, blue, and now black colors.”

Generate More Leads and Sales with Video Ads

“Videos are also the best for driving actual conversions,” says Will Cartwright of Get Known Pros. “They often get the viewer interested and emotionally invested in them, which will make them more likely to move forward.”

One of the best ways to do this is through retargeting ads. For example, if someone visits your website, adds an item to their cart, and then doesn’t buy. You could show them a video ad with the main value props of that particular product.

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In sum, regardless of where someone is in the buying journey, video ads can be a cost-effective way to market to them.