How to Create Ads That Slow The Scroll and Get The Click

When you create Facebook Ads, you should be thinking, “will this ad appeal to the people who I am targeting?”

Because at the end of the day, the purpose of your ad in the newsfeed, is to stop people from scrolling and to encourage them to click on it. 

But when there is so much noise in the Facebook marketplace, from your audience’s friends and family sharing pictures of their kids, their family vacations or cute puppy and cat videos, how exactly can you create an ad that stands out and gets the attention of the people who are your ideal prospects?

In this post I will share with you the three things that you need, to create ads that stop the scroll and get the click.

Your image

When you think of yourself as you scroll through your newsfeed, what exactly gets you to stop scrolling and pay attention?

I don’t know about you, but an image or a video makes me slow down and actually check out what’s going on. 

And this is exactly what you need to be thinking about as you create your ad.

People mostly stop what they’re doing, when they see something interesting that pops out to them in an image or a video. 

If you don’t have a video or you can’t create one, then consider using an image. 

Images that are bright, playful and colourful typically work the best. 

Here are a few examples. 

Stock images or those that are dull and of a poor resolution, don’t stand out or have that attention grabbing focus that it should have. 

Therefore avoid using this as much as possible.

I also find that ad images that have a call to action on it or tells your audience what they will be getting, attract a higher click-through rate, so make sure that you test this when creating your own ads. 

If you do decide to use text on your ads, you should ensure that you are following Facebook’s guidelines when it comes to the text to image ratio - it should be less than 20% and you can use Facebook’s Text Overlay tool to confirm that your image has the right amount of text, since if they do not, your ad can be penalised by Facebook.

The same can be said about videos. 

If you are using videos in your ads, make sure that your video is of a high quality. You do not need to hire a professional agency or pay hundreds of dollars to create a video. 

Online software like Canva or Rocketium allow you to make really cool videos from templates that they stock, in as little time as possible. No video editing skills needed.

When creating videos, make sure that the first thing in your video, calls out your audience or has some keyword that will grab the attention of your audience and make them stop the scroll. 

Your Copy

So your image or video is what will stop the scroll, but your copy is what will get people to click through on your ad to your offer. 

How do you make sure that you have amazing copy that converts your readers?

Copy can be broken down into three elements: 

• The hook
• The body 
• The call to action

The hook

The hook is what is going to call out your audience and make them sit up and listen and say “Yes this is me”

So for example, if I am writing an ad for a health and wellness course creator who wants to get leads to her webinar on how to get more fit by changing your diet, my hook might be

“Feeling sluggish and tired all the time?”

Or I could be a bit more creative and tell a story that starts: 

“The day I said goodbye to 300lbs of excess weight and finally be able to run in the park with my kids, is the day I would never forget how great I felt” 

In the first hook, it calls out the person who feels sluggish and tired and is probably looking for a solution. So what do they do? They continue to read the ad to see what the author has to say. 

In the second hook, there is an element of intrigue since it captivates the reader and makes them want to read the story to find out what happened next.

Or if they are the target audience, they might identify themselves as being in that same position and wanting a similar outcome. So what do they do? They continue reading to see if there is any information that can help them too.

So your hook is crucial to grabbing your readers’ attention and getting them to continue reading your entire ad.

The body

The body of your ad copy should not only describe what you’re offering, but also tell the reader, exactly what they are getting. So what’s in it for them?

This is where you lay out the benefits to the reader so they can identify themselves as someone who has a problem, wants to fix it and knows what they are getting that will solve that problem, should they decide to accept your offer. 

In most cases, your offer should really ensure that your reader saves them time - so maybe you have a neat little hack that will help them do something more effective and quicker. 

It should also save them money. 

When your offer focuses on those two points, people are more likely to raise their hand and grab your offer, since saving time and money are two things we want more of.

So when next you are writing your ad copy keep this in mind.

Call to action

Good copy always ends with a call to action. What steps do you want the reader to do next. 

Facebook makes it easy for you to add a call to action to your ad with their buttons, but always address this in your ad copy too. 

You’d be surprised to know that many people don’t really know what they need to do next when they read something. So you actually need to be specific and tell them. 

So if you want them to click on the ad and sign up for your webinar, tell them that. 

If you want them to click on your ad and sign up to listen to your podcast, tell them that.

Your Targeting

Finally the last thing that will really help you create amazing ads that slows the scroll and gets your audience to click through to your offer, is your targeting. 

Targeting is super important, because  no matter how good your image is or your ad copy, if you have the wrong targeting, they just will not convert.

That’s because you have to put your ad in front of people who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer. 

I hear too often, course creators say that “random people are commenting on their ads” or “no one is opting into their funnel”. And typically the reason for that is either their ad or their targeting. 

When creating target groups for your ads, you should focus first on doing audience research using Facebook’s Audience Insights Tool, that gives you so many other target groups that you can target, based on your niche. 

So for example, you can create target groups based on the following categories:

• The TV shows that your audience likes
• The books or magazines that they read
• The public figures that they follow 
• The blogs that they bookmark
• The organisations that they are members of
• The tools or software that they use

These are all interest groups that you can target to help you find your ideal audiences. 

When creating the size of your audiences, I typically like audiences that are at least 500k and no more than 2 million. If you find your audiences are more than 2 million and stretching into the 5, 6 or 7 million mark, then consider narrowing your audience to make them smaller. 

The reason why you want to do this, is so that you give Facebook enough data to use to find the right people for your ads, but not too much data that they don’t know exactly who you want to target. Therefore don’t create too broad audience groups. 

If you’re still not sure whether your targeting is right, then my Mastering Your Ad Targeting will help you create the right targeting for rock solid audiences that are likely to convert. 

So there you have it. 

To create amazing ads that stop the scroll and gets your audience to click through to your offer, remember that image/video, copy and targeting are important elements that you should work on. 

If your ads are not working the first time you turn them on, it is more than likely that something is wrong with any of the 3 elements, and you should revisit them and even test them to see what can make the difference. 

Hope this helps you.