Video marketing is the hot topic right now: everyone is discussing how video has transformed the way businesses engage with their customers. However, this isn’t the first time video has changed the marketing world! In the mid-20th century, TV commercials showcased video’s ability to capture viewers’ attention.
TV provided a high reach for those videos… too high, in truth. Most of the viewers weren’t even likely to be interested in the promoted product! And believe me, that kind of exposure wasn’t (and still isn’t) cheap at all.
Fortunately, today’s advertisers don’t need to deal with all that. They can get their message across through commercials, testimonials, or product demo videos on social media, addressing only their target audience without wasting time and money on uninterested viewers.
But few marketers know how to make the most out of this unprecedented level of control. And since we want you to be one of them, we’ve created a comprehensive guide for promoting video ads on Facebook, arguably the best social platform for targeted ads. Ready to begin?
Get to Know Your Viewers with Audience Insights
As we have mentioned earlier, Facebook Ads work wonders for addressing your specific audience. However, to create the best possible strategy, you first need to know your targets like the palm of your hand.
I know: this is a basic – not to say obvious – marketing rule that you’ve probably heard a thousand times. But it’s also the cornerstone of any successful Facebook Ad strategy!
Fortunately, Facebook provides a fantastic tool that allows you to know how your audience is composed. It’s called Audience Insights, and it’s one of Facebook IQ’s tools.
Put simply, Audience Insights gives you in-depth information about your audience. Not only it offers you data about their age, gender, and location, but it also tells you about their hobbies, jobs, and relationship status.
How does Audience Insights know who you are targeting? Because the platform makes you select your audience, which can be one of these three groups:
- Everyone on Facebook.
- People connected to your page.
- Your Custom Audience.
If you handle Audience Insights regularly, you would be able to provide your chosen group with advertising content that suits them and their lifestyles. On top of that, you would be able to shape your organic content according to their interests, hopefully increasing your audience base.
Handle Audience Manager to Select Your Ad Viewers
Ok, you have used Audience Insights and now have tons of handy information about your customers. Now it’s time to use that data in your favor – it’s time to use the Audience Manager tool.
Audience Manager allows you to select the group of people to whom you want to show your ads. The video will only pop up on their feeds, so you have to pick this audience carefully.
There are three groups of people that you can choose from:
- Saved Audience, which lets you select the demographic and behavioral characteristics of whoever will be able to see your ads.
- Custom Audience, which allows you to target Facebook users that are on your email list or that have visited your website, watched your video ads, or used your app.
- Lookalike Audience, which enables you to target new people with similar characteristics to those who have responded well to your ads.
Pro tip: If this is your first time with Facebook Ads, it’s best not to be too specific. You don’t fully understand your ads’ audience yet, so start with a fairly broad audience and narrow it down over time based on the results. If you’re unsure, use the Audience Meter from Facebook to see if your audience is too broad or too narrow.
Retarget Your Audience with the Custom Audience Feature
Now you know about the Audience Manager tool, let’s see how you can use it to your advantage to retarget potential customers.
We are talking about using the Custom Audience feature to target people that have shown an interest in your video ads. That is, viewers that have watched a certain percentage of your video. Here’s when the sales funnel takes particular relevance, as we can assume that the longer the watch time, the nearest the viewer is to the bottom of the funnel.
You should also retarget those who have visited your website without buying anything (how dare they!) and exclude those that did purchase.
I hope it goes without saying that retargeting doesn’t mean showing the same video ad repeatedly. You need to create high-quality animated pieces (learn more) or live-action video content explicitly built for this purpose. In other words, the video content you promote to your retargeted audience should depend on their stage on the sales funnel. Don’t worry: we are about to explore this in-depth.
Use Different Video Styles Depending on the Stage of the Sales Funnel
Not all video types do the trick on every stage of the sales funnel. Some videos perform better than others on the top, middle, or bottom of the funnel. Let’s go through the video styles that work best for each stage.
Video Ad Styles for the Top of the Funnel
In this stage, you need to work on your brand awareness and appeal to anyone that seems a little interested in your video ads. I would say those are the people who have watched less than 25% of your previous ad.
For this stage, it’s recommended to use:
Commercial Videos
The traditional type of video seen on TV ads. They are short pieces meant to boost your brand awareness and recognition, and they do so in the least subtle way. These videos are attention seekers that don’t hide their selling intention.
Educational Videos.
This style is commonly used in inbound marketing strategies, but who said it couldn’t work well in ads? Promoting educational content that your audience may appreciate – especially when it’s connected to their pain-points – can help you call new leads’ attention while boosting your brand’s reputation as an expert.
Pro tip: Whatever the video type you end up going for at this stage, remember to make it short (up to 15 seconds). Viewers that belong to the top of the funnel aren’t willing to spend much of their time watching a long video ad about your company, and short videos tend to get better track in terms of user interaction.
Video Ad Styles for the Middle of the Funnel
At this stage, we recommend aiming at people who have watched between 25 and 75% of your previous video ads (the ones meant for the TOFU). They are probably willing to learn more about your products or services, so it’s time to show them what you have to offer.
Explainer Videos
Being every video marketer’s must-have, an explainer video conveys your value proposition in less than 2 minutes. It does so in a fun and understandable way, no matter how complex the topic is, helping to increase your conversion rate.
Product Videos
This kind of video shines a spotlight on your product or service. The video shows its features and benefits, giving a full picture of what you are offering.
Video Ad Styles for the Bottom of the Funnel
If your audience has watched more than 75% of your MOFU video ad, they are definitely more than just interested in your products or services. They may be seriously considering buying your product or hiring your services but still have doubts about it. It’s time to clear their minds with a video ad that strengthens the trust in your brand.
Testimonial Videos
Testimonials feature an interview with a former client that’s happy with your product or service. This client explains their experience with your company and how it helped them solve their problem.
This kind of video is just what a dubious mind needs to finally take the last step since, as consumers, we tend to rely more on a third party’s opinion than on a brand’s impartial messages.
Minding your audience’s stage on the sales funnel not only helps you create a refined advertising strategy but also a more cost-effective one. Yes: offering the right kind of video ad at the right moment can help you spend less on Facebook Ads, as you would target people that are likely to convert.
Parting Thoughts
Facebook Ads are the tool every mid-century Mad Men would have dreamed of, especially when combined with compelling video content.
The platform provides marketers the unprecedented opportunity of having a well-targeted and cost-effective ad campaign. From big companies to startups, every business can use Facebook Ads to reach their specific audience without wasting resources on cold leads.
But, as you have learned today, having a powerful Facebook Video Ad campaign takes more than paying for promotion. Among other things, it requires having a solid understanding of your target audience and their current stage on the sales funnel.
Once that’s taken care of, you can have a Facebook Video Ad strategy that delivers the results you are after.
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