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Humans love watching and listening to stories.
In one of his blog posts, author and marketing shark Seth Godin has this to say about stories:
The top story is the one that informs our narrative, and our narrative changes our future.
Instagram has proved this with a vengeance. If you’re an active Instagram Stories user, you’ve noticed that Instagram Stories ads represent literally every second, third, or fourth post you swipe.
The huge popularity of Instagram Stories pushed the Facebook team to expand storytelling opportunities across the Facebook family of apps and services and later introduce Stories for Facebook and Messenger. And it was the right move — in one survey, 68% of people said they use Instagram Stories, Messenger Stories, and Facebook Stories at least once a week.
We’re glad you’ve decided to read about Facebook Story ads. It’s story time!
The True Story about Facebook Story Ads
Let’s start with two facts. 1) According to a Facebook IQ study, users create and watch 300 million Facebook Stories every day. 2) The Facebook Q1 2019 earnings call transcript says there are 500 million people using Facebook.
These numbers are huge. And you definitely shouldn’t ignore them when launching your ads on Facebook.
Introduced on September 26, 2018, Facebook Story ads are an ad placement available in Facebook Ads Manager. Want some Facebook Story ads examples? Consider this ad made by KFC during one of their Facebook ad campaigns:
Now let’s learn everything about how to create Facebook Story ads for your business.
How to Create and Launch Story Ads on Facebook
You can create Stories ads on Facebook the same way you do on Instagram.
Here are the steps you need to take:
Step 1. Launch Facebook Ads Manager.
Step 2. Once you’re there, click Create to start a new ad campaign.
Step 3. Choose one of the marketing objectives that support Facebook Story ads.
Step 4. After you choose your marketing objective (and your target audience), proceed to Placements and pick Manual Placements.
Step 5. Scroll down to the list of placements, find Facebook Stories, and check the box to select it as a placement.
Step 6. After you pick Facebook Stories and any other placements, finish creating your ad campaign by setting your budget and schedule, choosing your Facebook Story ad template, writing ad copy, etc.
Step 7. Check your settings carefully to make sure they meet your requirements by clicking Review. Then click Confirm and wait for your ads to be approved by the system.
Design Specifications for Facebook Stories
The first thing you should know about Facebook Story ad specs is that the Facebook Stories placement can’t be used on its own without either Facebook Feed or Instagram Stories placements.
Before creating your Facebook Story ads, check out this spreadsheet:
| Specification | Video | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 to 1.91:1 | 9:16 to 1.91:1 |
| Facebook Story ad size | 4 GB | 30 MB |
| Maximum duration | 15 seconds | 6 seconds |
| Supported file types | MP4, MOV | JPG, PNG |
| Maximum video width | 500px | — |
| Video quality | H.264, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan | — |
| Audio quality | Stereo AAC at 128kbps+ | — |
| Captions | Not available. Subtitles or captions must be embedded in the video. | — |
Along with Facebook Story ad dimensions, sizes, and other specifications, you need to know the objectives and call to action buttons that support Facebook Story ads. Here they are:
| Call to Action Buttons | Marketing Objectives |
|---|---|
| Apply Now | Traffic |
| Book Now | Conversions |
| Contact Us | Reach |
| Download | Brand Awareness |
| Learn More | Video Views |
| Get Showtimes | Lead Generation |
| Request Time | App Installs |
| See Menu | |
| Shop Now | |
| Sign Up | |
| Watch More | |
| Listen Now | |
| Download |
How to Master Facebook Storytelling with Facebook Stories Ads
When it comes to Facebook ads, Stories is one of the most fascinating advertising formats. The all-purpose nature of Stories allows any business from any industry to promote itself using any narrative form.
According to marketing data collected by Facebook:
- 69% of users say branded Stories are a great way to discover new products and services.
- 44% of people want to see Stories that announce new products.
- 51% of customers would like to see branded Stories that contain promotions.
- 45% of people want to see Stories that offer advice.
- 62% of users say Stories spark their interest in a product or brand.
Let’s go through seven best practices to create the best Facebook Story ads:
Best Practice 1. Get to the Point in Seconds
Always remember that a typical Stories viewer knows they have a lot of content to see. If you don’t want your Facebook Story ads to be swiped, attract viewers’ attention with something that’s truly out of the box starting from the first seconds.
Best Practice 2. Keep Your Content Fresh
Promote anything you need by means of trending content, news, or events. In other words, use something that’s familiar to everyone at the current moment and adjust it to your products, services, or business.
Best Practice 3. Use Motion and Vividness
The eyes of users will catch something that moves fast and contains bright elements. Take advantage of different editing techniques and graphics to hold viewers’ interest. Test various stickers.
Best Practice 4. Link Stories to Your Brand
Use brand colors and add your logo to let people know they’re going to see a Story that’s worth their attention from the very beginning.
Best Practice 5. Benefit from Sound
Did you know that 80% of Stories that contain music or voice-over narration bring better lower-funnel results than ads without sound? Stories get the best feedback when they not only move fast but sound cool.
Best Practice 6. Enhance Visuals with Powerful Copy
The right text overlays that appear at the right moment and in the right amount do magic. Come up with drastic calls to action. Avoid mentioning prices.
Best Practice 7. Cut, Cut, and Cut
Create as many scenes as possible. This technique will enhance the effect of everything we mentioned above.
Make Facebook Video Stories Ads with Artificial Intelligence
When it comes to cutting scenes, it may be a real challenge to choose the best parts from your footage. We know that firsthand.
The good news is you don't have to do this by hand. When you import your video to the Softcube artificial intelligence system, an algorithm will help you find the best scenes, cut them, and create a short, high-quality video ad that will boost your conversions.
Best of all, Softcube does all this automatically and for an image-sized budget.
