Stories ads creatives, volume 2: Designing for success

Welcome to the second article in our two-part series on stories ads! If you missed the first part, you can read it here. Based on an extensive study that Facebook ran on creating effective ads in Stories, we’re diving into all of the tips and best practices you need to get the most out of your Stories ads.

Now that we’ve covered best practices and some areas for creative exploration when it comes to your overall approach to Stories, let’s take a closer look into the more granular details of your Stories ads’ design.

Recommended best practices

When it comes down to the design details of your Stories creatives, what works best? Here are some design best practices you should take into account.

Pair text with a creative focal point. Where you place the text in your Stories ads creatives matters. According to Facebook’s data, placing the text towards the middle of your creative tends to see the best results. Beyond that, you can use text in your ad strategically to draw attention to your main focal point .

Use sound. Voiceover and music can be really effective in reinforcing your message, enhancing your value proposition, and building your brand. 80% of Stories with voice-over or music drove better lower funnel results than ads without sound. This recommendation also applies outside of the Facebook family of apps. On Snapchat, sounds is on by default, so audio in your Snapchat Stories ads is a must!

Experiment with your design

Beyond best practices, it’s important to test out different design elements to see what might work well for your brand. By experimenting creatively, you could find the breakthrough you’ve been looking for, helping you to more effectively reach your most valuable audience.

Avoid unnecessary stickers. Incorporating native Stories elements like stickers can enhance your creatives when used strategically. Stickers can make your ads creatives feel organic and relatable. But think twice before you use them: they can also seem arbitrary or disingenuous if they aren’t used well, and can even distract from your products.

Call audience to action strategically. Emphasizing your call to action can help your Stories ads perform better. Facebook found that there is an 89% chance of campaigns that emphasized the CTA driving more conversions than without emphasizing the CTA. Experiment with different ways of drawing attention to your CTAs. It could be with moving elements like arrows, or adding some visual emphasis.

Try out text overlays. There are a lot of ways to use text in your Stories creatives, but like with stickers, it’s important to consider any text strategically. There isn’t one single answer for how to best use text: it depends on your brand, what you’re trying to communicate, etc. Some things to think about when considering text are: does it provide additional context or highlight key benefits? Or does it take away from the focal point of your ad? Testing different ways of using text and measuring the results will help you understand the best ways to use text in your Stories ads.

Drive better creative performance

Want to know more about ads creatives? Need some help defining your creatives strategy? Curious about your creative options across networks? Look no further: we have a guide for you!

Download our guide to creativity it in advertising to get a full picture of how you can drive better advertising performances through effective creatives across networks.