Facebook have made a lot of changes in 2019…
…from the recent Facebook Business Manager design update (that I still don’t like BTW) to their introduction of Watch and the new prominence of Groups, the social media giants have been busy trying to retain their global importance.
And their latest change is an important one for advertisers…
…particularly for those that use Mobile Ads to reach their audience.
This change reflects the newly updated Facebook design on their mobile app, named FB5. Which Facebook have described as ‘simpler, faster, more immersive’.
BTW: The new desktop design will be rolled out in the next few months. Advertisers should stay tuned to see how it will affect ad formats!
Ready to discover how the changes will affect you?
Let’s do this…
What Are The Facebook Ad Update Changes?
The update, which is due to be rolled out August 19th, will affect how ads are shown in the mobile newsfeed (prime location for FB advertisers).
This update will affect both COPY and AD CREATIVES.
The first thing to take notice of is the change to how much text is shown on ads. Up until now Facebook have allowed up to 7 visible lines of copy on their ads, but this will be altered to a maximum of 3 lines.
The second change will affect how users see the ad creative image or video. Facebook have decided to reduce the size of ad creatives (so they take up less space in the newsfeed).
Previously, FB ads ran at an aspect ratio of 2:3. This size allowed advertisers to fill an entire mobile screen with their ad creative.
The update will see the aspect ratio change to 4:5, which will take less space on a long (vertical) mobile screen.
Facebook have stated that both of these changes:
‘are designed to simplify our formats and improve the consistency of our mobile experience. This will help drive increased ad effectiveness and make it easier to use the same assets on Facebook News Feed and Instagram Feed.’
What Does The Update Mean for Advertisers?
As you’d imagine, these ‘changes’ could have a huge impact for advertisers…
…especially because advertisers will be paying the same price for the ads, but receive a smaller space on the mobile newsfeed in return.
Let’s look at a few things that advertisers should do to battle these ad format changes with their AD COPY:
- Immediately trigger an emotional response in users by understanding their pain points.
- With even less time and space to capture attention, use provocative language
- Impart your key value proposition as early as possible
- Use a story-like format to encourage users to click the ‘See More’ button
- Open loops and ask questions of your target audience
And a few things advertisers can do to battle the aspect ratio change on their AD CREATIVE:
- Use an aspect ratio calculator to make sure that Facebook DO NOT mask your image (they will do this for any ads running on the old aspect ratio 2:3)
- Less space on the newsfeed means less opportunity to interrupt users from scrolling, so make sure you are split testing images.
- Use hyper-target ad creatives that your target audience can’t help but stop on (this requires in-depth knowledge of your audience, split tests and LESS stock images- that are now verging on becoming over-used)
Conclusion
The latest Facebook ad format update puts a much higher demand on advertisers to immediately ‘get it right’.
There is less space for both the ad copy and creative, making split-testing more important than ever. Make sure you really know your target audience and are priming everything to grab their attention.
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