“Supercharge your brand with paid social, media buying, Facebook and Instagram Ads” – you probably hear this day in and day out… but what does it actually mean?
Gone are the days when you could upload any old creative to Facebook, throw some money at it and reap the huge rewards of the Shopify bell dinging.
The landscape of paid social media is changing rapidly and constantly. People are becoming accustomed to what traditional ads look like, as well as dropshipping and scams, and are actively trying to avoid them.
So what can you do to stand out and make good creative that converts profitably?
Testing.
It’s honestly as simple as that. In this article, we won’t be diving into account structures and audiences, but we will be focusing on what makes a good, direct-response creative – specifically, image-based creative styles.
“Before & After” ads are a staple across brands that are crushing it on Facebook ads, and there are thousands of ways to display this using visuals and words (as seen above).
The core goal is to directly target the insecurities, problems and real issues people are facing on a daily basis. Then present the desired outcome, solution and benefits to solving those problems.
This ad angle is perfect for finding people who are problem-aware. That means they know they have something they need to fix but don’t know the solutions for it yet. As such, the “before” is extremely relevant to those users who are mindlessly scrolling through their feeds and timelines.
“Us vs Them” static creatives have seen a huge increase across all industries using Meta Ads. This is a clear sign that they perform well, and if angled correctly can really help scale your account.
These are ultimately comparison ads which can be developed using different hooks and angles. The core goal is to help those people that are on the fence about purchasing make that final decision. Or, to encourage people to “swap” brands and try your product vs something they are already using.
This framework is ideal for people who are solution-aware. They are also often familiar with competitors in the marketplace, or are already shopping there. A comparison between the two helps you summarise your USPs, benefits and show how you have (hopefully) a better product/solution.
Testimonials, like all ad styles, come in many forms. They are often a written review with key pieces of info, benefits, FOMO, highlights and so on, used to help tweak the prospect’s perception of the brand.
In reality, people seek validation, so if they see others love and rave about the product, it’s often the last push to convert and the final bit of social proof they need to inform their buying decision.
This ad style is commonly used as a remarketing tool to add some social proof. Somebody may have shown interest in you, or clicked a previous ad, but wasn’t quite convinced at the time. This really helps solidify the brand image and helps validate the product.
This type of ad is a clear and concise way to highlight your products’ key features and the benefits that people will see once they buy them. It’s also very effective to pair these features with a bold, scroll-stopping headline. In a way you are almost prequalifying users before they click, as they have a good understanding of what's on offer.
If you have a new innovation or a standout feature, this is the way to shout about it.
This type of ad can be used at different areas of the “funnel” depending on whether you showcase features, ingredients or benefits.
Benefits could be used to target problem-aware people too, whereas features and ingredients could be used to target solution-aware people.
This ad style is often used in video content, however, you can easily position statics to work in much the same way. The headline is key – it should be impactful, agitate a common problem and ultimately… stop the scroll.
Pair this with your product as the solution, and you could be on to a winner.
You can’t get much more direct-response than a problem-solution ad. If you manage to stop the scroll and highlight the problems the prospect may have, then you are one step closer to a new customer.
The added bonus of this ad style is that you can mass test them with relative ease. By simply tweaking the headline and messaging with different angles, wording or problems that your product can help with, you’ll have the perfect formula to launch new creatives every week!
If you are struggling to scale your ad account with winning creatives, these five frameworks could be the levers you are missing. Direct response ads take time to carefully craft with the right offers, messaging and purpose.
Develop different variations of the above creatives and see what works for you!
If you’re looking to take your Meta ads to the next level or need expert guidance on creating high-converting social media campaigns, we’re here to help. Get in touch with our team today and let’s start building creative that drives real results!
Lewis Hall
Paid Media Account Manager
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