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Facebook and TikTok Image & Video Best Practices

Facebook analytics report that the average person spends less than 2.5 seconds on a social media post before scrolling away (Facebook IQ, 2016). For marketing, you only have a moment to hook your audience and compel them to engage with your product or brand.

Effective Facebook and TikTok ads showcase products and translate engagement into conversions. Posts should be designed to focus on brand and product demonstrations yet creatively enhanced with sound, animations, text, and video content to compel buyers towards a purchase. 

This creative playbook will quickly introduce essential tips to improve your Facebook and TikTok marketing content. Use this information to structure posts, increase user engagement, and produce more conversions.

Create Facebook Creatives that Positively Impact Lower-Funnel Attributes

Your brand's Facebook advertising should primarily feature static images that showcase products and services. After all, images are a more effective form of media that can convey information in less than a second.

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Tips for Creating Effective Static Images

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• Read more on how to improve your Google Display Ads
• Get a free e-book for 300 Facebook Ads that will inspire you

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Follow these guidelines to create engaging yet informative static images that capture your audience:

• Keep it simple – Similar to Google Display ads, use close-ups to highlight key features and always make your product the subject of your ads.
• Make the product the focal point – Avoid overly complicated backgrounds that distract from your product. Keep the audience's attention on the product, or they'll scroll away without engaging.
• Play with perspective and layouts – Simple doesn't have to be boring. Shoot your subject from a high or low angle to make the post more exciting and engaging for your audience. Moreover, try different layouts like "left to right", "Z shape", and "break-out effect" (check the image below).
• Drive urgency – If you're offering deals or time-limited offers, make it known by overlaying text to compel buyers to act. Keep the text simple, though. Consumers will disengage from anything longer than 280 characters.

Static Doesn't Mean Still

You don't have to limit Facebook content to simple image posts. Mixed media campaigns that combine static images and video content are more impactful for DR activity than individual static images. Animate this creative by using the following tips:

• Incorporate animations – Animate 1-2 elements with motion in the first 3 seconds. Animating aspects of a static image, such as brand logos, unique product features, product benefits, and deals, quickly highlight information visitors need to go from audience members to buyers.
• Make short but direct videos to capture buyers' attention – Get straight to the point by introducing your brand in 3 seconds, deliver your message with the product on showcase, give a demonstration, and finish within 15 seconds. Wasting time will drive away buyers.
• Shoot videos vertically – Most Facebook users browse their feeds using a phone, so frame all video content to fit a vertical mobile format.
• Add sound to capture attention – Even a simple jingle or sampled audio clip can capture the audience's attention by engaging their auditory sense and encouraging them to stop scrolling.
• Create a story – This story is not a well-known Facebook Story or Instagram Story. We need storytelling. A story built around an objective can deliver more information than a single post. Start with your brand and quickly transition using motions. Use multiple scenes that combine both static and video content, sound, and short text overlays to land main takeaways. Finish with a direct call to action without offering specific price inclusions.

Tips For Mobile Creative Design

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The human brain needs less than 0.5 seconds to engage with mobile ads and trigger a reaction (Cognition Neuroscience Research project, 2019) 

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Considerations for In-Stream Video Ads

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Most Facebook users view In-Stream video ads as necessary evils inter-spliced between the content they want to consume. Overcome this sentiment by creating content that's even more engaging and direct by:

• If you want to promote Instagram Reels, ensure your Reel ad blends with organic reels. Save your Reels to your phone since you can't promote Reels directly on Instagram. Upload the video via the Promote feature when setting up your ad campaign. 
• Using clear and readable supers that convey the vital information you can't present in a short time slot
• Match sounds with Contextual Lyrics to make content more engaging and drive brand recognition. We recommend using original audio that corresponds with your brand.
• Shoot tight or crop in. Keep your main subjects at the literal heart of your video to maintain connection throughout the ad.

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If you have trouble strategise a video from scratch, how about using the ABCD framework from Google to start:

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My Marking Criteria For Facebook Ads Video Creative

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 Use the marking points table below

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Create TikTok Content that Connects to Consumers

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TikTok Best Practice

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On June 12, 2023, TikTok has unveiled a set of data-backed creative guidelines to help advertisers craft high-performing ads. The newly released Creative Best Practices for Top Performing TikTok Ads offers valuable insights and actionable strategies to create compelling ad content that captures audience attention and drives significant impact. ‍I've done the hard work of decoding TikTok's creative genius, and I am going to spilling the beans with my bite-sized table summarising the six essential Creative Codes! No more confusion or guesswork—simply follow these data-backed guidelines to craft ads that'll take TikTok by storm and leave your audience wanting more!

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‍Bite-Sized Table, Maximum Impact!

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The average TikTok video is between 21 and 34 seconds, offering a short window to capture engagement and translate views into conversions. Maximize your time by creating videos that:

• Get to the point – 63% of effective TikTok ads introduce brand or product messaging within the first 3 seconds, or the average time users engage with social media posts.
• Use sound effectively – 100% of TikTok ads use songs or audio clips to relate to their brand directly. This drives engagement and makes branded ad content more entertaining and memorable.
• Partner with trendy creators – Influencers already have a large platform and an eye for what's on-trend. Partnering your brand with theirs will increase mutual brand exposure and translate to an explosion of conversions.
• Stay grounded and relatable – Consumers engage with brands they can relate to. Shooting natively, incorporating humour, and directly speaking to your audience breaks the fourth wall and closes the gap between your brand and the consumer, helping to drive connection and conversions.
• Drive urgency – Whether using text overlays or direct calls-to-action, your TikTok content should encourage buyers to act by highlighting deals, offerings, sales, and time-limit product lines.
• Break the fourth wall - Address the viewer directly and look them straight in the eye or take it even one step further and pose questions to the audience.
• Use informative text overlay - Don't think I need to say more on this one.

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Let's have a look some TikTok trend inspiration：

Let's have a look some popular hooks：

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Creative Strategies for Young and Small Businesses

Young and small businesses may lack the resources needed to produce TikTok-specific content, but that doesn't mean they should ignore or neglect the platform. Instead:

• Start by repurposing existing content – If your brand already has video content from Facebook, don't reinvent the wheel. Recycle it onto TikTok to increase brand exposure and user engagement.
• Slowly build an in-house TikTok team – Outsourcing video ads to influencers can be costly and unnecessary, especially as your business grows and generates enough resources to create in-house content.
• Partner with a TikTok Creative Agency – Only after your business has grown and TikTok has become an essential part of your marketing strategy should you outsource to a creative agency. These agencies use data points and analytics to produce targeted content up to 10 times a week. 

Tips to Bring in New Consumers and Drive Conversions

Last but not least, incorporate these tips into your TikTok marketing strategy to increase the size of your consumer base and produce more conversions:

• Track new leads over output quantity – Producing a high volume of content wastes resources if it doesn't produce new leads. It's always better to post high-quality, low-quantity content than waste time and money on ineffective ads.
• Showcase what makes your brand unique – You don't have to create high-production-value content to convey what makes your brand better than others. Show off the user interface, functionality, product features, and anything else that makes you stand out.
• Maximize app features – Using built-in TikTok features such as sounds, text overlays, breaks, slideshows, reactions, and duets makes content creation easier and encourages interaction and connection to your consumer base.
• Use incentive-based creative – Offering rewards to new consumers encourages visitors to take the leap from browsing to buying.

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The Bottom Line

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Remember, you only have a moment to make an impression on social media. So follow the tips in this playbook to produce high-quality, creative content that'll hook your audience and compel them to engage with your product.

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References

• https://visme.co/blog/the-psychology-of-images-and-infographics/
• https://buffer.com/library/the-ideal-length-of-everything-online-according-to-science/
• https://www.facebook.com/business/news/insights/capturing-attention-feed-video-creative
• https://econsultancy.com/science-of-sound-how-music-makes-advertising-more-memorable/
• https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-wants-longer-videos-like-not/#:~:text=(The%20company%20declined%20to%20participate,between%2021%20and%2034%20seconds.
• https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/kantar-report-how-brands-are-making-noise-and-driving-impact-with-sound-on-tiktok
• https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/real-tok-re-thinking-influence-in-the-age-of-tiktok
• https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-tricks/
• https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/creative-best-practices-top-performing-ads
• TikTok Marketing Science Global Creative First Study 2022 conducted by Ipsos.
• TikTok Marketing Science Creative Coding Analysis based on 3,500 TikTok ads that ran from 1/1/2021 - 10/1/2021 representing all major verticals, conducted by Kantar, 2022
• TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertaining Ads Study 2022 conducted by Marketcast
• TikTok Marketing Science US SMB Creative Effectiveness Study 2021, conducted by Lumen
• TikTok Marketing Science Global Community and Self-Expression Study 2021 conducted by Flamingo
• TikTok Creative Guide: Driving Brand Equity", 2020 (TikTok "Value of View" Analysis)
• TikTok Marketing Science, Top-Performing BLS Creative Analysis 2020
• Marketing Science Global Information Density 2022 conducted by Neuro-Insight
• TikTok Marketing Science US Cross-Platform Sound On Research 2022, conducted by Kantar
• TikTok Marketing Science EU Consumer Empathy Research, 2020; Base UK TikTok users in the past 7 days, 138 respondents; 148 respondents

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