Chapter 5: Making Good Ads
When it comes to writing copy for paid Facebook Ads, the specifics really depend on what product or service you are trying to sell, in addition to how informative your ad creative is. An easy way to keep your copy short and engaging with FB Ads is making sure the photo or video you’re using for the ad is relevant to your product and explains most of the key selling points. People are much more likely to watch or listen to why they should buy your product than read an essay in an Instagram caption. If you’re advertising a special or a sale, make sure that’s the first thing people read in the caption. Special offers can significantly boost click through rates, especially if you’re offering a compelling deal. A 30% Sale might convince somebody to click through to your site even if they weren’t completely sold on the product from the video in your ad. Emojis can also do well in ad copy, for the same reasons as posts or post promotions (test whether this works well for your specific product). Anything to make your caption a little more eye-catching is just one more reason for somebody to spend their valuable time reading what you have to say.
Unlike in normal posts or post promotions, Facebook Ads allow you to split test the captions for your ad directly from the ads manager. You can have up to 5 different caption options for each Ad, and Facebook will automatically optimize to display the one that has the highest chance of converting your audience based off of its initial testing period. From an advertiser’s perspective this is a huge opportunity, and something you should always be taking advantage of. Here we can see Lulu Lemon split testing a few different captions with the same photo. For any Ad, split test different themes with your caption writing. For example, test one caption that is a hard sell, telling people that they need your product. Test out a discount, or add a testimonial or customer review. Give a soft sell option a try, where the caption sounds cool and casual. There’s tons of different angles to take, but it’s in your best interest to give them all a try. If you can’t come up with ideas, just take what you had for your initial caption and rephrase it, switch around the order of some of your key points, or add a version with/without different emojis. The possibilities are endless, but when Facebook gives you such a powerful tool, give as many as you can a try. After all, since only the best performing one will be shown to your audience, you don’t have anything to lose.
This dynamic testing option is also available for your ad creative, meaning you can allow Meta to split test between up to 10 different videos for your ad, optimizing with their algorithms. The approach is generally similar to testing captions, so try and include videos that hit different selling points or ad styles. It’s always a good idea to include as many options for the algorithm to sort through as possible, which is why we recommend having a steady stream of ad creatives so you can constantly test new options, angles, and styles.