Mobile Creative that Drives Results: 9 Tips from Facebook

More and more of your customers are checking out your brand on their phones. They’re surfing the web and scrolling through social feeds in the palms of their hands. To drive results, you’ll need to create content with mobile in mind.

Last week, during Brand Camp, Facebook and Instagram Creative Strategist, Marta Mateu Vilalta, shed some light on this very topic. She shared tips for creating social videos that demand attention.

In this post, we’ve rounded up Marta’s tips into a list of nine. Read on to learn what Facebook’s own Creative Shop team recommends when it comes to making mobile creative that drives results.

1. Keep it short

According to Marta, Facebook recommends keeping video ads to a maximum of 15 seconds. "If you can keep it between 6 and 10 seconds,” she says, “that’s the ideal spot."

If creating a video that short feels overwhelming, check out our blog post introduction to 6-second video ads. Here’s an example.

2. Design for sound off

Lots of people consume content on Facebook and Instagram while they’re on their commute or in a place where they can’t watch with sound. For this reason, it’s important to consider how you can communicate your message without sound. You can learn more about how to do this in our article on creating silent-friendly videos for Facebook.

That said, Marta shared that on Instagram Stories, people are more likely to watch with the sound on. For this reason, she says, "Make sure you design for sound off, but delight with sound on."

3. Choose the right aspect ratio

There are a whole lot of formats when it comes to social video—square, landscape, and vertical. So it’s important to make sure you’re framing your digital story in the right aspect ratio.

For the News Feed, square (1:1) is the suggested video size, as it allows the CTA and "Buy Now" or "Learn More" button to be visible on screen.

The aspect ratio for Stories is 9:16 vertical. You can create videos this size using our iOS app, Animoto Social Video Editor. If you’re not an iOS user, find out how to create Stories using the square aspect ratio in Animoto. You can also check out our post on 6 tips for shooting vertical video.

4. Keep it relevant

Your videos are showing up in the feed alongside all kinds of content from family, friends, and other brands. In order to stand out, you’ll want to make sure your content is relevant to the viewer.

You can reach the right audience through targeted ads. Make sure your key message is super clear, to stop viewers in their tracks when they scroll past.

5. Highlight your brand early

Brand association within the first 3 seconds of a video’s start is positively correlated with conversion lift. For this reason, it’s important to include your logo up front.

You can include your logo as a corner watermark. Or, get creative with it! In this example, the brand is represented by a cup with the logo.

For brand recognition, you can also incorporate your brand colors into your video and use them consistently. This way, whenever new content from your brand pops up in viewers’ feeds, they’ll recognize it as coming from you.

6. Showcase the product or service

Make your product or service the focus of your video. When potential customers or clients see your video ad, you want to make sure they know what you’re selling. Try showing your product from different angles, showing a tutorial or demo, or showcasing a collection of products, as in the following example.

7. Provoke and promote with copy

Create a message that’s clear and concise, but that also provokes thought and promotes your product or service. Facebook says that, “Asking questions, showing promos, and keeping text copy under 280 characters are associated with higher direct response lift.” It’s also important to include a clear CTA that viewers can easily see.

8. Add motion

Of course, if you’re creating videos for Facebook they’ll have motion in them. But Marta shares that even simple motion can go a long way. Create a video with a couple still photos to add some motion, add movement to your logo, play around with sharing your benefits through text that animations on screen, and showcase your service or product in a dynamic, eye-catching way.

9. Get noticed with thumb-stopping content

Create content that really captures attention. Animoto’s new Photo Burst block is designed to do just this. A quick sequence of images really stands out as viewers scroll through the News Feed.

Marta shares that you can also capture attention using color, motion, or text captions.

Now that you’re armed with tips from Facebook’s Creative Shop team, you’re ready to start making your own attention-grabbing videos. Click below to get started. And if you’d like a little help along your journey, join the Animoto Social Video Community group on Facebook for feedback, ideas, and inspiration. Happy video making!