Facebook to Update Its Ad Format

Significant changes are currently happening at Facebook. The latest? Big updates to their ad front. If you’re using Facebook for advertising, then you need to be aware of this update. Starting August 19, Facebook is rolling out changes to their ad layouts, taking them from a 2:3 aspect ratio to 4:5. This change will shrink the amount of text and image size. Text will drop from 7 lines to only 3 with a “See More” prompt to expand text beyond that. This news was firstly disclosed by Susan Wenograd, VP of Marketing Strategy at Aimclear, and was later confirmed by digital marketer David Herrmann.

comparison of Facebook feed ads new ration — *Source: Facebook*

These moves come into play as Facebook increases its ad pricing while more advertisers join the platform. Due to the fact that Facebook owes much of its success to the growth of its small business accounts, marketers can expect that these changes will drive advertisers to make more engaging Facebook ads. Director of creative strategy at marketing agency Midnight Oil, Jack Appleby, is eager to see how Facebook advertisers handle the “significantly” shorter copy length. “The standard pithy one-liner plus feature-approach plus [call-to-action] won’t comfortably fit in three lines. Social copywriters will have to make a prioritization choice. I bet [direct-to-consumer] brands will double-down on feature marketing, while bigger brands will stick with feel-good copy down the lifestyle line,” Appleby said. Others like digital marketing manager at Ko Marketing, Andrea Cruz, say it will be interesting to evaluate if one paragraph, bullet points, or one sentence performs best in the Facebook News Feed.

What Does This Mean for Marketers?

With these changes, videos will also need to be optimized for the new size, otherwise they will be automatically masked when the changes take effect. [su_quote cite=”Susan Wenograd, VP of Marketing Strategy at Aimclear”]“Less text, so it’s skimmable. Imagery that gets to the focal point quicker. These two things force marketers to synthesize their message into something instantly understandable. It makes sense given the insane amount of content we are now seeing on a day-to-day basis.”[/su_quote] Wenograd trusts that if an advertiser is going to interrupt a user’s primary reason for being on a platform, the message needs to be focused, concise and adaptable. She also stated that Facebook’s announcement comes at a time when brands are currently lamenting their declining direct-ROI from the platform. If you’re looking to maximize your Facebook ads, you’ll need to make those three lines super catchy, while also keeping the image height change in mind in your formatting to ensure optimal presentation.

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