9 Ways To Design Facebook Ads That Gets Results

The focus of this post is on design & specifically news feed ads, however the principles can be applied to all Facebook’s ad options.

Just keep in mind that targeting your ad at the right people is super important.

It’s advertising 101 - decide who you’re targeting before you start designing.

1. Capture Attention With Graphics

When designing ads for Facebook it’s important to keep in mind the principles of any advertising. That is relevance, value proposition and a single call  to action.

Creative graphics can help you achieve all these things.

Whether it’s adding text to an image, an icon or logo, graphics play an important role in capturing attention and capturing attention is the first thing you need to do with any ad.

2. Include a Call To Action

You can have the best looking ad in the world but if users are not sure what to do or do not understand what’s in it for them, your ad fails.

That’s why adding a call to action (CTA), value proposition or incentive to your visual content is critical.  Consider the ads below.

Adding a call to action or value proposition to these images does two things

1. It lets you know that what in it for you.
2. It lets you know what you need to do.

For example: If ever you are selling an expensive product, rather than display the price, you might prefer to promote how much consumers will save.

3. The Power of Overlaying Text

Facebook 20% text rule limits the amount of text you can feature in your ads, so it’s important to make the most of the space you’re given.

When user scroll their newsfeed, your ad needs to tell them why they should stop scrolling and investigate further.  

This is where adding some image to your copy is powerful.

The text needs to be overlayed to enhance the advertising message.

A picture may say 1000 words but adding text reveals the message.

4. Make Your Piece Interactive

Ads are designed for an audience to make meaning from, so why not bring the audience into the process of that meaning-making?

Consider your audience will interact with your piece - can they add something to it, or interact with it in some way to draw more meaning from it?

5. Keep Your Copy Short and Sharp

A real good piece of advertising copy is definitely nothing to turn your nose up against, but sometimes a super short and simple piece of copy can be the most effective, especially if it’s accompanied  by a strong visual.

For example: You could use just two words of copy and a super strong visual to create an attention-grabbing, clever and smart ad.  

You could focus on only one feature of the product and put a simple amount of punchlines to it.

Keep in mind, when designing your ad, that short and sharp copy is much easier to remember and consume, as your audience will instantly read your message, as soon as they glance over your ad - getting the message right away, loud and clear.

6 . Let Whitespace Be Functional

Whitespace is an incredibly useful tool in design, it helps you to let your designs breathe and it keeps your design neat and uncluttered.

Whitespace helps to draw attention to the main focal point of the design.  

The use of the whitespace here also helps to capture the idea of a break - silence, relaxing etc.

Let your whitespace speaks to the consumers and let it keep your design simple and clean, but also let it say what you want it to say.

Sometimes less really is more.

7. Create Custom Type

Creating custom type by hand can add a personal touch to your design and it could be that one added element that makes your ad stand out from the rest.

Consider constructing your own type, whether this is handwritten, made out of your product, or created by any other means, a strong piece of type that is unique to you and you alone is memorable, personal and super effective.

8. Use Leading Lines

Think of the last diagram you saw, and think of how it was laid out.

It probably had lines or arrows pointing in certain directions and to certain things in order to explain them right? These lines are called leading lines.

Using leading lines in advertising is a great way to direct your consumers eyes right where you want them to look.

So if you want to be 100% sure that your audience sees all of the important pieces of your design, consider using some leading lines and shapes that direct the eye from Point A to Point B.

9. Generate An Emotional Response

A lot of design works to appeal to certain emotions.

The appeal to emotions is enhanced greatly by the use of handwritten type.

So whether you want to appeal to happiness, humour, sadness or any emotion in between, orient your design around that emotion from the image, message, right down to the type.