Tip: What are Facebook video ads good for?

Facebook video and Facebook video ads are important for your business.

Based on Mixpo’s recent State of Video Ads report, Facebook will overtake Youtube in the next 12 months as the leader in online video ads.

But, Facebook videos ads work better for some things than for others.

I reached out to Mixpo to ask their advice on how businesses should think about using the new Facebook video ad format because they have been testing this format a lot.

What are Facebook video ads not great at?

On average, Facebook video ads are not that great for conversion goals.

In general, if your goal is to get Facebook targeted audiences to click through to an outside landing page, video ads do not perform as well as other Facebook ad options. Here’s what Justin Kistner, Mixpo VP of Marketing had to say:

“Adding a video [to your Facebook ad] splits the activity between two different possible actions.”

“We tested the use of video creative to drive traffic to a landing page. Our Facebook video ad had a high click-through rate, but it was from clicks to play the video, not clicks to our landing page. Adding a video splits the activity between two different possible actions, which is terrible if your actual goal is to drive traffic.”

What are Facebook video ads best at?

Turns out they are really great for top of the funnel marketing. And helping you filter a larger, untested audience, for who you should send future messaging to.

“While video creative was not great at driving clicks to a landing page, we found that retargeting people who watched a video did improve the click-through and conversion rates. In other words, audiences that were warmed with video creative were more likely to take action on follow up campaigns.” said Kistner.

One more video tip

Mixpo also wanted me to make sure where they thought videos, in general, are a value add, whether you are running ads or not. And that is on your landing page itself.

Once someone is on your landing page, they are more likely to take multiple actions without it hurting your conversion rate. And a video can help build trust, provide info, and in general convert your visitor based on your landing page needs. Split test this to make sure it is working for you.

Download Mixpo’s full State of Video Advertising report here for more info.