Five Quick Tips for Scroll Stopping Facebook Ads

With over 7 million advertisers on Facebook you not only need to be using the right objectives, and targeting the right audiences – but stopping the scroll if you want to get the attention of your potential customers via what is becoming an ever-competitive marketing platform.

Your ad creative is, therefore, one of the most important pieces of the Facebook ads puzzle to get right.

But how? Here are five quick tips that you can action right now…

1. Grab attention in the first 3 lines of copy

As of August 19^th 2019 mobile news feed ads now only display the first three lines of text, with users prompted to click “read more” to reveal the rest of the caption. So, it’s these first three lines that are critical in grabbing the attention of the scroller.

Here are some ways you can use those three lines to stop their scroll:

• Open with a question
• Address customer pain points
• Be clear on the benefits your product offers
• Highlight your offer if you have one (e.g 10% discount)
• Use customer proof / create FOMO
• Use emojis to break up the text

2. Make your headline count

Did you know that whether it’s an ad, a landing page, or a news article, most of us will only read the headline? So, when crafting your ad copy don’t make your headline an afterthought – make it your priority!

Here are some ways you can create an attention-grabbing, action-evoking headline:

• Use numbers at the beginning
• Create a sense of urgency
• Ask a question
• Use emotive language
• Keep it short and focussed

3. Include user- / influencer- generated content

Here’s the thing. Unlike when searching Google, your potential customers aren’t scrolling Facebook and Instagram looking for your products. They are scrolling to connect with friends and family and see what their favourite celebrities/bloggers/vloggers have got to say. So, what better way to grab their attention than to make your ad look EXACTLY like something one of them would post? Yep. One way you can stand out is to fit right in. This can work especially well for Instagram Stories.

And not only that but user- or influencer- generated content – whether it’s an image, video or review – is a brilliant way to build trust and credibility and really can make the difference between someone scrolling on by or clicking to find out more.

4. Use video

Facebook loves video and video ads are more often than not my best performing ads for clients. The good news is that video content for ads doesn’t need to be high production, expensive and time-consuming to create. You can use video shot on your mobile phone – just ensure you have good lighting and sound quality and that you use subtitles if speaking to the camera.

And, if you lack video content completely? Try creating a slideshow from the still images you have using a tool like Canva or the inbuilt slide show maker in Facebook Ads Manager. The movement this creates within the feed as a user flicks through their newsfeed can be enough to stop the scroll and grab their attention!

This is an example of an ad which combines product images and copy to create a video that converts!

5. Test! Test! Test!

If you take away one piece of advice from this blog post, make it this. Do not second guess what you think will work by putting one ad out there and expect it to get results. Test a variety of creative, copy and headlines and let the results speak for themselves – you might just be surprised which is the best performing!