Sometimes the greatest ideas fail to resonate with the intended audience. This is particularly true when it comes to B2B advertising. Nothing is more frustrating than designing a beautiful Facebook ad only to have the relevance score plummet and the cost-per-click skyrocket.
So how do you know which images will resonate and which images will flop? Below, we will explore seven tips that will help you choose and design more effective B2B Facebook ad images.
Know your audience
The first step in any great B2C campaign is figuring out who you want to target. While basic consumer data is helpful in establishing your target, the best advertisers will go beyond simple demographics and into behavioral data. The same goes for B2B advertising. You may have enough information to set target audience parameters in Facebook, but unless you know more about your targets’ values and behavior, your executions may fall short.
There are many ways you can establish what your target is all about, but the simplest way is to spend time hanging out where they do. Look at their websites, social media pages, and past ad campaigns. Find the blogs and other publications that exist within the industry and read what your customers are talking about. In short, do your research. After a while you will begin to see what they value. This key information will help determine what type of content they’re likely to respond to.
Have a Distinct Call to Action
The most important part of your image is the call to action. Regardless of what you’re offering potential clients, it is essential that you ask them to do something. This means that if you use text in your image, make sure you include things like “click to learn more” or “get it now.” You could incorporate a button, which indicates the viewer should click on it to take action. Make sure to utilize basic graphic design techniques such as leading lines, color, and alignment to draw the viewer’s attention toward your call to action. Remember, this call to action should be the central focus of your ad image.
Start with a dark background
Using a dark background may seem counter-intuitive at first. After all, most psychologists agree that people are drawn to bright colors. But posts with dark background colors tend to do much better in terms of total engagement and CPC. There are a couple probable reasons for this. The first is that dark colors stand out when contrasted against the white and light gray hues that dominate the Facebook feed. The second is that while bright colors may catch attention as well, dark colors often convey sophistication, authority, and strength. People may be more likely to click your post if they associate your post with knowledge and authority, especially within the B2B space.
Use the Right Photos
Stock photos are a great resource when creating online content. They’re inexpensive (sometimes free), varied, plentiful, and they require little effort to incorporate into social media. Unfortunately, not all stock images are created equal and you should be very careful when it comes to Facebook ads. If an image looks too amateurish or staged, it’s often a turnoff to potential clients. It’s a good idea to pick an image that looks natural and genuine. Preferably, you would have access to professional photos featuring your product either in a natural location or tastefully overlaid onto an attractive background. The best images will stand out, look professional, and convey the essence of what you want to say.
Incorporate charts to Look Smart
Charts and graphs are a good decision if you want to appear credible. A chart usually suggest new research or an increase in metrics, so when business minded consumer see them, they are more likely to stop and pay attention. You don’t have to put an extremely detailed chart on your Facebook ad, but smart design choices that suggest charts or graphs will increase the amount of clicks you receive.
Use Sans Serif Fonts
When incorporating text onto your image, stick with sans serif fonts. While serif fonts are largely found to be the more legible choice in general, there are a couple {reasons} why sans serif fonts work much better online. The first reason is that online ads typically have very short copy. When used in long pieces of copy, sans serif fonts can cause readers to become fatigued, but in short doses, sans serif letterforms can more easily be distinguished. The ability to recognize and read a word quickly is especially important when placing an ad on Facebook, where users may only see your ad for a split second as they scroll through their feed.
Another reason sans serif tends to do better online is they hold their form when scaled down. As the text shrinks, the serifs often become obscured and start to create needless noise around the letterforms. Sans serif letters have more basic shapes, so scaling doesn’t affect their legibility as much.
Experiment
Even after doing tons of secondary research on your target audience, sometimes ads still flop. And that’s okay. Even if something worked well in the past, it may not work in the future. The best way to figure out what your audience will respond to is to try and fail. Don’t be afraid to test out new ideas. Just make sure that you write down the things that go wrong as well as the things that go right. These notes will prove invaluable when fine-tuning your online advertising images.
When it comes to creating B2B Facebook ads, the copy is quite important, but it’s not the first thing that people see. Images are what attract people to your ad and they’re ultimately what convert impressions into actions. Use the tips above to help you choose the right ad images that will help you raise engagement and conversions, while lowering your CPC.