If you have scrolled through social media, you have likely seen video advertising on Facebook. What are they, and what are the best practices for video ads? This comprehensive guide will answer all those questions and more!

What are Video Ads on Facebook?

Let’s start by defining Facebook video ads. This type of marketing allows you to share your products and services using a video on the social media platform. You must pay for the ad placement that you want, but you can choose to share either an existing video on your Facebook page or create a brand new one.

In other words, you can pay to have your video appear on a Facebook user’s screen. The location is predetermined when you set up the ad, and the length of the video will vary depending on the placement you chose.

There are three basic options for video advertising on Facebook: in-feed ads, marketplace ads, and in-stream ads.

In-Feed Video Ads

The most popular way to share your brand videos on Facebook is through an in-feed ad. These appear on a user’s news feed while they scroll through the app, and they look like any other post they might see from their friends and family.

This type of video advertising is very effective since they look so much like organic posts!

Marketplace Video Ads

Another option for your marketing campaign is to post ads on Facebook Marketplace. This is where users shop on the platform, and your video can appear on this section of the site while they scroll.

In-Stream Video Ads

In-stream video ads are also effective ways to grab your audience’s attention. These ads play during another video that the user was already watching. About 60 seconds into the video, your in-stream ad will play, and it will give the viewer a choice to click on it and continue watching.

Benefits of Facebook Video Ads

So, what are the benefits of video advertising on Facebook?

For starters, people prefer to watch videos on social media. Research has found that 60% of Facebook users spend time watching videos on the platform every day. Those same users expect to watch and engage with more videos over the next year, so that number will continue to grow.

As far as marketing success is concerned, video ads have one of the highest conversion rates. Similarly, the average engagement rate on video ads shared on Facebook is an outstanding 6.13% – which is much higher than other social media ad types.

Video ads are the perfect way to showcase your brand and quickly capture your viewer’s attention. They are engaging and have great conversion rates, so you need to make sure you are incorporating video advertising on Facebook into your marketing strategy!

Best Practices for Creating Them

Now that you understand what Facebook ads are and why you should use them, let’s dive into the best practices for creating them so you can boost the success of your marketing campaign.

There are several areas to consider when creating a video: the size, format, duration, and aspect ratio.

Size

The largest video size that Facebook will allow is 4GB. This applies to all videos regardless of placement, so be sure to keep this in mind as you prepare your content.

Format

Almost all file types are supported, but Facebook recommends that you stick to .GIF, .MOV, or .MP4 files. Although these generally include sound, make sure that your ads will work even if users do not have their audio on.

Almost all videos are viewed without sound. Partner with a firm like Milk Video to add captions and subtitles to all your ads!

Duration

The placement you choose will determine the allowable length of the ad. It will typically range from 15 seconds to 240 minutes, but be sure you meet the requirements before you pay for the video ad.

Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio is one of the most important considerations for your video advertising efforts on Facebook. If the video file is too small, the ad will look blurry or pixelated.

News Feed ads will appear with a 1:1 aspect ratio, so you may notice black bars appear on both sides of the video.