Breaking the social media clutter: Which ads make an impact?

Do consumers notice your ads while scrolling through their social media feeds? How do thumbnails, colors, and sounds impact your ads? Does your industry affect ad performance?

EyeSee’s team of researchers tested 36 dynamic ads from 6 different industries (Food, Beverage, Cosmetics, Banking&Telco, Services, and Technology) on over 2000 respondents. Each of the ads was tested both in context (Facebook feed) and in standalone mode using eye-tracking, facial coding, and survey, to try and uncover best practices, rules, and tips for brands. Try out some of these tips, and if you want to make sure they work – pre-test them.

We found that not all social media ads are equally successful. Discover why the top-performing ads:

• hold attention for 6 seconds longer,
• have a 16% higher emotional reach,
• and a 50% higher stated purchase intent.

Here are some of the study findings – if you want to learn more, listen to our podcast!

Seeing doesn’t equal watching 

Our study shows that Facebook ads, on average, have an 87% chance to be seen. However, there’s a caveat – you can have high visibility, but low attention; meaning people are just scrolling through the feed, and notice the ad without stopping to read/view it.

The advertisements in this study were watched for 4.1 seconds on average. When it comes to attention, the results contain clear advice: you only have 4 seconds to make an impact and relay the desired message to the viewers! The top 15% of ads in our study had attention for 6.3 seconds, while the bottom 15% – only 2.5 seconds.

Facebook Ads Are Emotionally Engaging 3% of users (on average): How Do You Get Yours In This Group?
Ads on a Facebook feed typically have little or no emotional impact. Average emotional engagement was 3%, meaning that on average, 3% of viewers reacted to the particular ad with positive or negative emotion – most watchers remain neutral to the content. Additionally, 56% of ads had some kind of emotional engagement, while 44% had none.

This stat varies depending on the ad industry – unsurprisingly, the food and beverage ads garnered more interest than the other industries. The services industry has the same emotional engagement as the two, but a different emotion – surprise, instead of heightened interest.

So, what works?

Showing people or showing your product (if you have one) in the thumbnail is likely to elevate the emotional reach.

• Showing the product in the thumbnail boosts the probability of your message being received by up to 20%. For food and beverage: show your product being consumed instead of only the package shot.
• Ads that have light colors in their thumbnail (first scene) will draw attention to your ad. They had the highest visibility, and emotional reach was higher for ads that used more intense colors (light or dark) than those that used colors with medium intensity.
• Gifs provide abetter message recall since they are seen multiple times and last shorter than the video, but there’s a downside – they are more likely to be found as boring or irritating because they are repetitive. 
• Videos have a better impact on brand perception, are more persuasive, and ensure better brand differentiation. Depending on the purpose of your campaign, you should choose one or the other.
• Ads with music are more likely to be rated as entertaining and pleasant to watch, however, music can draw attention away from the ad message (by up to 10%, compared to ads without music).
• The industry of the advertiser affects ad attention. Ads from the Food industry got the most attention, while those from Banking, Telco, and Services got the least amount of attention.
• The industry of the brand also impacts perceived clarity. Ads from Food and Beverage industries were regarded as the clearest.
• In case there is no product to show, you can show your brand logo on the thumbnail or in the first few seconds, especially if your brand is well known and likable. To make a stronger impact, make sure your brand logo is visible. 
• Lowest-performing ads are too long for social media. All of the lowest-performing ads were too long, had lower attention, almost twice lower brand recall, and consequently, triggered negative emotions.

The verdict

There is no magic recipe for creating the perfect Facebook ad, but pre-testing ads is the way to go for ensuring you make it in the social media advertising arena. Some things, however, have proven effective – here are the key takeaways, but request our podcast for a more detailed report on the insights!

• The product itself is the king! Show the product in the thumbnail for higher ad clarity and more credible ads.
• If you want to evoke emotions – opt for video and go big – but always adjust the length of the video for social media! Use music, intense colors; show the brand name/logo in high contrast with the background, positioned centrally.
• The industry that brand is coming from will dictate the type of effort companies need to apply for success in a busy social media setting – communicate the experience that product brings in the first 4s.