What Is The Ideal Facebook Video Ad Length?

There are a lot of video specs you can play with when creating a Facebook native video ad campaign, from resolution to aspect ratio, file size, and more. But one of the most important is the length of your Facebook video ads.

Obviously, you don’t want to bore your customers – social media users have a short attention span – but you also want to make sure your video is long enough to capture your audience’s attention and sell your products.

So, how can you make sure customers watch your videos on Facebook, and maximise your conversion rate? Read on, and find out how to maximise video views by choosing the right Facebook video length!

Facebook Recommends Ads That Are No Longer Than 15 Seconds In Length

If you’re uploading videos to your business’s Facebook page, you can feel free to try out a lot of different video lengths.

Customers are willing to watch video content that’s quite long if they are visiting your page directly. You can upload videos that are anywhere from 1 second to 240 minutes in length.

Because of this, videos that are a minute long or longer may be a great way to engage with your customers – but that’s not the case for videos used for Facebook advertising.

If you’re using Facebook ad manager to place videos on news feeds on Facebook, or to run “in-stream” video ads that play during or before a piece of video content on Facebook, you should keep things short and sweet.

In fact, videos on Facebook ads should be 15 seconds in length – at maximum. That’s Facebook’s recommendation. Both news feed ads and in-stream ads have a maximum length of 31 seconds, but Facebook has said that 15 seconds is the sweet spot.

Not only that, but Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said in 2017 that shorter video ads were becoming even more popular – and that companies using very short, 6-second ads were showing better results when uploading ad videos on Facebook.

So, if you want to be more effective when creating Facebook video ads, go with shorter content. Customers don’t want to watch long, extended ads. Short ads that get to the point quickly are more likely to make customers convert and learn more about your products or services.

What Other Steps Can I Take To Boost My Facebook Ads Conversion Rate?

Wondering what other best practices you can use to boost the conversion rate of your Facebook ads campaign while using video? Here are a few more top tips that you can make use of in your videos.

1. Grab attention early

The vast majority of users will stop watching or skip an ad within a few seconds. That means you need to create attention-grabbing content with unique graphics and an appealing design to bring in more customers.

2. Focus on your branding

According to Facebook, consumers are more than 23% more likely to remember a brand if the brand is featured within the first 3 seconds of an ad, compared to 13% when it takes 4 or more seconds to show your branding. This means it’s very beneficial to feature your brand right away.

3. Don’t ignore your copy or video description

People don’t just watch Facebook video ads, but they also engage with the ad title and description, so you need to make sure you create titles and ad copy that is descriptive, engaging, and includes keywords relevant to your ad.

For example, do you think a customer is more likely to be engaged with a video ad titled “Save 10% on Insurance,” or “5 Insurance Hacks You Need To Know?” Think about how you can use creative titles and ad copy to boost user engagement.

4. Include captions and optimise for sound-off viewing

Over 85% of Facebook video content is played with the sound off. Don’t just rely on voice-overs and audio content to sell your products or services – make sure to use visual content and captioning to make the content of your ad clear to people who are watching without audio.

5. Choose A 1:1 or 9:16 aspect ratio

1:1 square videos take up more screen real estate than landscape videos in a 16:9 aspect ratio, and fit neatly on both mobile and desktop versions of Facebook.

9:16 aspect ratios (vertical video) are also great for mobile users, as they allow the user to watch the video directly in the newsfeed without enlarging it or rotating their phone. They are also equally easy to view on web browsers. Phones are used in portrait mode 98% of the time, so this eliminates friction and makes it easier to reach your customers.

6. Use a strong call-to-action

A strong call-to-action is important for any ad. You need to make it clear how your customer can benefit from using your services or purchasing your products – and create a relevant call-to-action that will encourage them to take the next step.

If you plan on using a CTA in your video ad, you should also make sure to place it in the middle of your video. Placing it in the beginning means you’re less likely to capture user interest, and they’ll stop watching the video. And placing it in the end is also not a good idea, since Facebook users will rarely watch a full video ad. Instead, place it at least 5-10 seconds into your video.

Need Help With Facebook Video Ads? Contact Australian Internet Advertising!

At Australian Internet Advertising, we’re Facebook and social media experts. If you’d like to experience the benefits of video advertising on Facebook for yourself, we’re here to help. Contact us online or give us a call at 1300 304 640 to get a free consultation and proposal from our marketing team.