It must come as a surprise to most online digital marketing nomads that suddenly, Facebook removes the 20% text limit on ad images. This was noted rather quickly by many individuals who use Facebook Ads because they noticed that Facebook’s text overlay tool has suddenly disappeared. Initially, this tool was used to, in a sense, ensure that the image complied with that 20% threshold. This helped save advertisers a lot of headaches as they were immediately alerted if they were in violation of that rule.
Nevertheless, there were actually a few instances where some of the written text did not actually contribute to that 20% limitation. Examples of those were infographics, books, posters for events, comics or cartoons, and even things like screenshots from applications and software. The limitation was mostly applied to ad campaigns that are usually posted by small to medium enterprises as a form of marketing for their products or to generate a certain number of leads to a service that they are offering. However, some advertisers would try to “outsmart” the Facebook detection algorithm in a variety of ways. For instance, an ad for a product could actually be shown in the form of an infographic, which is actually allowed. Therefore, the advertiser is able to push the content even though it exceeds the limitation.
It should be noted that this many Facebook advertisers were patiently waiting for the time when Facebook Removes the 20% Text Limit on Ad Images, and this is mostly because a lot of them had a difficult time running certain campaigns under this limit.
Now you might be wondering “why did Facebook Remove the 20% Text Limit on Ad Images?”
This seems to be a way for Facebook to help advertisers make the most out of the platform for their specific needs. For instance, someone’s ad campaign for a certain product might be quite reliant on the use of words in the image as it attempts to grab the attention of that target audience and convince them to purchase. Facebook understands that it’s a major pillar for the marketing efforts of millions of businesses, each with their own needs and targeting different niches with a large variety of offerings. Hence, they wanted to get rid of having a “one size fits all” when it comes to text overlay on images that are used in ad campaigns.
This policy has been fully implemented as of September 7th. However, this does not mean that you should go and plaster your next campaign with a lot of words just because Facebook removed the 20% text limit on ad images. This is because Facebook still recommends that advertisers self-impose that limit on themselves if they want optimal results. Through their extensive research and surveys in this area, they have found that keeping text to a minimum ensures that your message gets communicated as effectively and as clearly as possible. The difference right now is that they have simply left the choice up for the advertisers.
