Want more people to watch your video ads? Wondering how to create video ads that look like a native, organic content?
Why Design Facebook Video Ads That Feel More Native to the Platform
The truth is, the people who want to buy your products hate ads and they don’t want to see them in their Facebook feed.
So if you want to connect with your audience via Facebook video ads, they need to look more native to the platform and less like commercials. When people are scrolling the feed, your ads should feel more like the content they normally see rather than stick out as ads.
Here are two ways to make your Facebook video ads look more native to the platform so you can capture your audience’s attention.
Set up an Interview-Style Facebook Video Ad
This first approach to getting people to watch your Facebook video ads is to incorporate an interview element. But this isn’t a traditional interview video where the subject is looking straight at the camera as they speak. Instead, have the person who’s talking look away from the camera as if someone off-screen is interviewing them.
This interview format can make their narration feel less rehearsed which is perfect for a testimonial or an appearance by a company executive. It makes the video more authoritative by design, which results in something that feels more like organic content when people see it in their Facebook feed.
Create a Text-on-Screen Facebook Ad Video
You’ve undoubtedly seen lots of text-on-screen videos on Facebook, where the story is told primarily through video clips and photos that are overlaid with text.
The reason these videos feel so native is that a large percentage of people on Facebook don’t watch a video with sound. When they’re scrolling through the feed, the video naturally autoplay. So if you can grab their attention with a strong headline, you can get people to click into the content, where you can take them on the journey to becoming a customer.
How you make this content feel native has everything to do with your mindset. Design your content from a potential customer’s point of view so that it’s not you saying how great you are, it’s somebody else. If you were chatting with a friend at the bar, think about what you’d tell them about your product or service. That’s what feels native to people in the feed.
The key to making all of this work is the script because people experience these videos primarily by reading the text rather than watching whatever B roll you use. Here’s an approach to writing the perfect script for a text-on-screen video.
Write an attention-grabbing headline
When you write a script, start with a specific headline that generates empathy, sparks emotion, and delivers expected information.
The most important element is specificity. It’s something that I call “click expectation.” When people see your headline, it should give them a clear idea of the value they’re going to get on the other side of their click. If that value isn’t evident or if you give away the game in the headline, there’s no reason for them to click.
Your headline needs to create a curiosity gap. If people want to see the value they’re going to get, they have to click into it.
For example, your headline might be, “This tool fixes the worst thing about taking this device apart.” Your audience will then have a very specific expectation of what they’ll get on the other side of their click—learning what’s different about this tool that could transform their life.
That’s where empathy comes in. They feel an emotional identification: “Wow, there’s something bad about the tool that I use now.” It makes them feel that it’s going to solve a problem in their daily life.
As the final piece, your headline needs to deliver on the promise it makes.
Include your most shareable pieces of information
After the headline, the next part of your script should include your most shareable piece of information. It’s important to include all of the market-defining details about your product or service in the first 15 seconds of your video because viewers won’t watch to the end.
Follow that up with the second more shareable piece of information. This is where you get into the nitty-gritty of your product or service. Explain how it works, why it’s market-defining, and so on. Remember these are only 1-minute videos so keep it tight. Use only three lines per text slide and four or five words per line. You don’t have a lot of space but you don’t need it. You just want people to click over.
Add a clear call to action
The last step in scripting is a clear call to action such as “do this here” or “buy this here.”
Conclusion
To get people to pay attention to your Facebook video ads in the feed, they need to look more like organic content and less like ads.
If you want to feature someone on-screen talking to the audience, try using an interview-style format where they’re looking away from the camera. This makes the video looks less like a talking-head piece yet still provides authority.
Another option is to create a text-on-screen video to capture attention from people scrolling the feed with the sound muted. The key is to develop a video script that effectively tells the story through a text overlay.