Checklist. How to Make a Targeting Creative That Works ?

Facebook and Instagram targeting advertising are one of the fastest and most effective marketing ways to achieve your business goals.

But the effectiveness of strategy itself does not mean that any type of ad will work equally.

The Internet space and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are so overwhelmed with ads that you need to really put effort into your ad creative, copy, and landing pages if you want to succeed.

So once you have investigated and determined your target audience segments and their needs, it’s time to make a creative that works.

Let us find out simple but useful tricks on how to do it!

Pay attention to creatives formats and sizes

Even a very attractive ad targeting creative will look weird if not optimized for every separate platform. Thus, Facebook demands an image with 1200 x 628 pixels.

Otherwise, it may be stretched and oddly exposed to the user, catching no attention or provoking the only desire to scroll it as soon as possible.

If we talk about Instagram, think about display advertising in the news feed and stories.

Square images look unnatural and not that appealing when displayed in the Instagram story format. It does not mean advertisers should use different images or two different creatives for their campaigns. Just choose dimensions both for post and story.

Choose one common style

Brand recognizability is a crucial element of any Instagram or Facebook marketing campaign. If you have already developed a single corporate style and concept, use it in your ad targeting creatives. Let people recognize you from the semitone and font of your ads.

Focus on video

Video content is on top of popularity, and we assume that this trend will remain in leading positions of the best practices for Instagram and Facebook for quite a long time.

Why?

First of all, this format is much easier to perceive by custom audiences. The message is read faster and enthralls. The video gives more room for imagination and allows you to tell whole stories with your ad targeting strategy without scaring off with an article of text. If we are talking about Facebook or Instagram stories, do not forget that many people watch them on mute, so subtitles are a wonderful option.

The simpler, the better

Many people in their campaigns want to show everything at once, but this way is rather distractive than effective.

When there are many different objects on the creative, your target audience struggles to get the product you are trying to show/promote/sell.

In simple words, it may be just confusing.

So, try to keep your ads simple without turning them into a marketing mess.

Choosing an image for your Instagram/Facebook creative

Visual content is the first thing individuals pay attention to when viewing an Instagram or Facebook feed. Pay attention to the selection of the image for creating a creative: a bright picture can attract audiences by encouraging them to read the post and follow the link to your website or profile, bringing more traffic. This very choice depends on the specifics of the niche and audience segment, location, age range, interests, etc.

Quality

Lack of focus, poor lighting, poor camera angles, low resolution are all signs of bad ad variants that will alienate the prospect. You need to present your product so that it looks the most attractive to your target audiences.

Protagonist

It is believed that the ads become livelier and attract more attention if it depicts a person. According to the study, those photos on Instagram and Facebook, which show people, receive an average of 38% more views, likes, and interaction.

This means that they are interesting to the audience. However, beautifully captured bootles or other objects look just the same attractive.

Show the subject in an unusual perspective

Changing your angle of view is a great way to showcase your product in an original way, stand out from the competition, and intrigue the audience with your marketing and/or remarketing campaigns.

You can show the “catalog”, or you can demonstrate the product “in the natural environment.” The last options always sell better.

Show the photo “before” and “after”

The technique is not new, but it is proven and visual: the user sees the capabilities that the purchase of your services will give him/her, how his/her life will change, what result he/she will achieve thanks to you, etc.

Do not tell, show!

Here the famous cinematic motto will help you: “Show, not tell.” When advertising a painting workshop, post a photo report from the previous life events.

When offering to order at your bakery, show how the pastry chefs decorate the cake.

Final Word

Modern digital marketing is a challenging thing. People are fed up with ads and the fact that every advertiser is trying to sell them something from everywhere.

However, a well-thought social media targeting campaign may help you to bring more site visitors, boost sales, promote the business, its products, services, app, and make people take actions whatever you need.

The key to success is to determine the right target or lookalike audience, and of course, make an attractive and engaging visual creative, and effective text.

The process is not easy but definitely rewarding.