We can’t deny that social media is one of the best platforms for video marketing because almost everyone in this world is on it. But it’s not going to be an instant and easy success. You have to make social media video ads work for your business, and that involves experimentation.
Want to know more about social media video ads? Read on to find out the answers to these questions:
- How can you make social media video ads work for your business?
- How important is A/B testing when using social media video ads?
- What are the things to consider when creating social media video ads?
Let’s get started.
Make Social Media Video Ads Work for Your Business Using This Foolproof Strategy
Social media video ads are among the best ways to promote your business, products, or services on the internet, and the reason is obvious.
We know it. Social media is now part of people’s lives. In 2020, there were about 7.8 billion people in the world, 3.9 billion of which were social media users.
That’s basically the reason why social media is one of the perfect platforms for marketing. You’ll be able to reach more than half of the global population even when you’re just sitting on your couch!
Here’s some unpleasant news, though.
Without a doubt, your target audience is on social media and you could reach them. But the thing about marketing is that conversion is more important than reach.
If your target audience ignored your ad, your business would stay the same. You wouldn’t see any improvement in your sales or your customer base.
There are different kinds of ads, but social media video ads are more effective than static graphic ads because videos are capable of stimulating not just the eyes but also the ears and sometimes all the systems in the body (if the video hits them hard).
Videos involve colors, shapes, movements, music, and voices whereas static graphics just colors and shapes. You won’t hear anything when you look at an image. You could feel something but it’s a rare occurrence.
Creating social media video ads is easy, but making them work isn’t. There’s a need to test each ad out to see which works and which doesn’t. This is especially important if it’s your first time promoting on social media.
How Can You Make Social Media Video Ads Work?
Just because you know your business too well doesn’t mean that you know too well how to make people interested in it. Things always become different when we talk about other people, so you should think, and think, and think before you approach them.
Put yourself in their shoes. How would you respond if you were on the other side? How would you want to be approached if you were the consumer and not the owner of the business? Would being salesy persuade you to buy a product?
We hear you saying no.
But why are we saying that? It’s because you should know that when promoting your business online, you shouldn’t focus on selling your products but on making the social media people go to the next step.
On social media, some ads are meant to sell but most were created to catch the attention of the audience so that they click on the call-to-action button that will bring them to the “real deal,” which could be the website or a landing page for a specific product. It could be anything.
That’s the goal of video ads: to encourage them to click on a button. That said, it’s important that the video ad is compelling.
But it’s not easy to get it right the first time, so what should you do then?
How Important Is A/B Testing When Using Video Ads?
Here’s how we do social media video ads at Socialize Video: We create three different video ads with different styles and we ask our client to post those ads on social media. Whichever gains more engagement wins. We’ll base our next actions on the results of the test.
Even though the video ads have different styles, they all have the same core message. That core message will be decided during the scripting session. Click here to schedule a free scripting session with us!
The thing is, we know the goal but we’re not sure about the best way to reach it. We test different styles to know in which direction to go to be able to get the results our clients want.
We don’t let our clients be alone in figuring out the right approach to take. We accompany them as they navigate the social media world.
What Are the Things to Consider When Creating Social Media Video Ads?
People have short attention spans, but based on our experience, videos under 15 seconds could be powerful but aren’t good.
To hit the pain points, video ads must be 30 to 45 seconds long. These video ads are called conversion ads, and they are being used by a lot of businesses.
The international standard size for videos is 1920 x 1080. However, for a social media video ad to be effective, it should be created considering the nature of the social media platform it will be posted to.
What we mean by that is that if the video ad is for Instagram, a square video is better unless it’s going to be posted as an Instagram Story or as an Instagram Reel. If you will post it on TikTok, a vertical 9:16 video is more appropriate.
It’s also important to note that some people on social media don’t watch a video until they read something interesting in the subtitles. If there are no subtitles, a lot of people may ignore your video. So add subtitles!
Subtitles could be part of the video—to be done by the video editor—or be added on top of the video by you on the social media platform itself. Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, among others, allow their users to do the latter.
Manually adding subtitles is better if you want them to be editable by you. If the subtitles are part of the video, you’ll have to ask the video editor who edited the video to change them for you. That could cost a few dollars.
Thumbnails are minor, but they can make a difference. Most people judge a video based on the thumbnail. First impression matters, don’t they? If the thumbnail isn’t well-designed and thought-provoking, your audience won’t bother watching it.
So, in a nutshell, the things you should consider when creating social media video ads are:
- The length of the video.
- The size and dimension of the video.
- Where you will post the video.
- The video subtitles.
- The video thumbnail.
If you’re thinking of using social media video ads for your business, this is the right time to do it because the pandemic has made people more online than ever!
Not sure where to start? Reach out to us and we’d be glad to help you write solid scripts for the social media video ads that you will test out! Here’s the link to our free scripting session!
Conclusion
Even though there are billions of people on social media, it’s not possible to reach all of them even if you spend millions of dollars on your ads.
There is no single formula. You have to try and try until you find the best approach to take to reach your goals surely and as fast as you can.
There isn’t one social media, so the first step you need to take is to find out which platform is best for your business. When you’re done with that, you can now start the A/B testing!
When using videos for social media marketing, you have to consider the length of the video (because social media users have short attention spans) and the message so you attract the right people.
Social media marketing is one of the most popular types of marketing because it works—if your strategy is right. It’s easy to get what you want, but it’s also easy to fail.
You can always contact us at contact@socialize.video if you need a clear direction to make your social media video ads work for your business!