According to Social Media Week, 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. The pandemic increased screen time overall, which allowed advertisers and marketing companies to address where digital video advertising would best serve their potential and current customers with updated messaging, flexibility, and placement.
If you’re beginning to explore the options and benefits of video ads, a great place to start is Facebook. Facebook offers tutorials and help in their Facebook for Business section. The section gives you the tools to create your digital video in different formats such as slideshow, stories, or even turn an introductory Facebook post into a video ad with a boost.
Next, they help you select where you’d like the video ad to go. In-stream video ads are inserted directly into the videos people are watching. As customers watch a video from their favorite follows, a well-placed video ad pops in to show a brief message, then back to the show, much like TV ad spots. Placing digital ads comes from the audience targeting you choose to build your brand’s awareness and engage with the right audience.
If you’re not a fan of Facebook and its many video ad options, you can always create your own and place it on your website where your potential and current customers will enjoy it. Several apps and sites can help you, including Wave.video, Animoto, Adobe Spark, Canva, and Renderforest.
After creating your video ad, the next step is placing it on your website, or landing page–above the fold is better than below. Close to the navigation bar is ideal. Google also has a tool called a heat map that locates ideal placement for their ads. If your video ad is a testimonial, the center of the page is an excellent place for it as it is not a direct sell. Studies show that direct product sales video ads do well near the header AND the footer of an article the product relates to. However, another excellent guideline to follow from newspaper advertising is not over-cluttering your website with advertisements, in general. Experimenting with ads and ad placement and tracking your traffic with an ad manager (AdsBridge, Clickmeter, Everflo.io, etc.).
Video advertising is now a common source of exposure and revenue—it’s expected to reach $50 billion by the end of 2022. Whether your company opts to use Facebook’s video advertising resources or branch out independently on your website, video ads can make an impression and increase awareness for you and your business.