Now we know that making the cash register ring is not the only goal of advertising anymore. Brands crave digital dominance. They are always on the lookout for ways to engage customers and nurture loyalty. Social media advertising helps with that. Considering the penetration of Facebook and the diverse user demographics of the platform it makes a brilliant choice for businesses to meet with and engage their audience. 

Did you know that about 1.6 billion Facebook users are connected to a small business on the platform? So, with the right ad strategies for Facebook, you can take a big leap in your marketing efforts. However, we cannot deny the fact that the Metaverse is continuously evolving. Advertising on Facebook looks so much different today than it did yesterday. And there is always something new to explore. Given all this, how can you make Facebook ads work for your brand? We’ll tell you all about that in this blog. So, are you ready to look at some emerging Facebook advertising trends for 2023? 

Facebook ads: 3 reasons why they are profitable 

When it comes to advertising on social media, we see brands gravitate toward Facebook advertising in full force. Businesses have been steadily increasing their Facebook ad budgets. In fact, data shows that in 2021 the ad revenues from Facebook ads stood at 114.93 billion U.S. dollars. There are several reasons for this. 

• Based on the monthly active users, Facebook continues to be the most-used social network with a whopping 2.89 billion monthly active users. So, if it all boils down to reach, what better platform than this? 
• With Facebook ads, you get better conversions but at a lower cost. Based on a conversion lift study conducted by a popular fashion retailer, Gant, Facebook ads cost 2.2 times lower per incremental traffic than paid search. So, if you have to weigh your options with a tight budget at hand, Facebook ads might be a good place to start placing your marketing budgets in order to increase traffic and visibility.  
• Facebook helps increase the discoverability of a brand and its products. In a Statista survey of 2021, it was found that 78% of people discovered new products through Facebook. So, brands looking for a launch platform online find Facebook to be the ideal setting. 

Since Facebook ads have several such benefits brands are strengthening their focus on them. Among the 200 million businesses on Facebook, just about 3 million are actively advertising on the platform. But the competition is exploding. So, start now and you are sure to stay ahead of your competitors. 

Well, Facebook advertising offers a dizzying number of options when it comes to formats and ad placements. Which among them should you prioritize, to make the most of Facebook ads in 2023? Let’s find out. 

Leveraging Facebook ads in 2023 

1. More brands to increase their Facebook ad spend 

More and more brands are increasing their Facebook ad spending. 75% of brands on Facebook are paying to promote their posts. That’s because it helps them gain new leads and improves their social media presence. 

Moreover, retargeting becomes simpler with Facebook ads. This helps in reaching existing customers and getting them to resume their shopping journey. Facebook makes it easier to track ad analytics and monitor leads. This helps in lead scoring and therefore brands can plan more effective campaigns on Facebook. 

Due to all these benefits brands are now actively increasing their Facebook ad budgets. 

2. Promoted posts for the audience that loves endless scrolling 

Ensuring uninterrupted experience has become the norm. Brands are finding creative ways to promote to customers without interrupting them from what they are doing. That’s why promoted or sponsored posts are becoming more and more popular. 

Sponsored posts on Facebook appear like regular posts on the Feed. They are, therefore, the perfect answer to banner blindness. We are likely to see more brands using sponsored posts to meet new customers.  

Another benefit of sponsored posts is that you can use an existing post, one with a high engagement. The engagement in your original post helps boost the credibility of your ad. 

And with sponsored posts, you can try both single-image ads and video ads. 44% of marketing and media agencies still find single-image ads to be effective. So, this versatile yet simple format is indispensable in your Facebook ads strategy. 

Kimp Tip: For your sponsored posts to work, be mindful of their placement. Also, remember that 98% of Facebook users access the platform from their mobile phones. So, your design and the content should be easy for them to consume. This includes the use of a simple color palette, good contrast, and legibility of the text. Your CTA should also be clear and relevant to the copy of your ad. 

3. Ads in Facebook Reels 

TikTok-ification of social media has become an inevitable trend. We have seen most social media platforms give in to the short-form video trend in the form of Reels for Instagram/Facebook and Shorts for YouTube. So, if you are keen on making Facebook ads work for your brand, Reels Ads are something you cannot take lightly. 

Within Reels Ads, Facebook lets you place overlays and interstitial ads besides regular Reel video ads. While all of them are important, we anticipate short-form videos to be more in trend in the coming years. A humanized presentation of your brand will make it work. Moreover, since these appear along with Reels, the most effective format will be one that follows Reels trends, and uses audio, transitions, and everything else that people love about Reels, in general. Remember, it’s about an intrusion-free experience. 

Kimp Tip: When we talk about TikTok-ification, it also includes having a human touch in your videos. Talking head videos help humanize your brand on social media. And if the first encounter with your customer happens in the most humanized way possible, it does make a huge difference.

Got some raw video footage? The Kimp team can help you make all the essential edits to create a crisp video ad with it.

4. Video ads matter, now more than ever 

Other than Reels ads, video ads placed on regular Feeds, in-stream video ads, and ads appearing on Business Explore pages are all being pushed. We expect videos to become even more dominant in the world of Facebook ads in 2023. 

Most global brands actively use them. Here’s one from Pepsi. 

Pepsi’s use of in-stream ads during the holiday season helped the brand see an 8.5-point lift in ad recall. 

The trick is simple – you are placing your campaign on a platform that your target customers access almost on a daily basis. So, if you want a particular campaign to gain traction, try Facebook video ads and boost your reach. 

Kimp Tip: Video ads can be designed as mobile-only full-screen ads or square videos for display on both desktop and mobile devices. While square videos increase the number of screens your ad reaches, full-screen mobile videos provide a more immersive experience. Identify which of these advantages resonates well with your campaign goals and choose the right format. 

Need help creating short video ads for your brand? Choose a Kimp Video subscription. 

5. Start incorporating Facebook lead ads 

Have you come across the “Sign Up” CTA while creating Facebook ads? Lead ads are the best places to use them. These are ads where users see a form to fill out without having to leave the platform. This is a traditional lead capture form but placed intuitively on Facebook Feed. 

Adding a video/image/carousel ad and taking customers to a lead capture landing page is the traditional way to do it. It works, sure. But it’s about minimizing the number of clicks. Moreover, users might not find it convenient to navigate outside of Facebook, perform a task and then get back to where they were. 

Instead, lead ads can quickly capture their response and populate your lead database while letting users effortlessly pick up from where they left off on their Facebook Feed. So, there are better chances of receiving responses. 

Given all these conveniences we might see a surge in the number of lead ads on Facebook. They are easy to create and more effective too! Exactly the kind of ads any brand visualizes. 

They are particularly handy in event marketing campaigns. 

Kimp Tip: You can also use this idea in a multi-step targeting approach. An initial ad might target fresh target users and present them with information about your brand. You can then use retargeting strategies to present a lead ad to those customers who interacted with the first ad. In such cases, remember to maintain visual consistency as well as consistency in the copy between your first and second ads. Because customers are still getting familiar with your brand and so they might appreciate a consistent presentation of it. 

Long-term design outsourcing options with designated design teams as with Kimp, simplify this process. 

6. Widespread use of Facebook Attribution and other Meta tools 

80% of consumers prefer buying from brands that provide a personalized experience. Personalization has been at the crux of several successful campaigns. Ads should look and feel like your brand but they should resonate with your ideal customer persona. Even the best ads will be wasted if the target customers do not understand their relevance or the value proposition in them. 

So, personalization is a trend that’s here to stay. But how do you personalize the experience when you are working on a platform with a massive reach, like Facebook? Facebook has an answer for this, in the form of its Attribution tool. Among the many analytics tools available for Meta ad management, the Attribution aspect helps brands monitor and deliver personalized ads based on individual customer journeys. 

The Attribution feature lets you understand the devices where the conversions happened, sources of organic traffic, and other useful information. As a marketer or business owner, you already know the value of analytics in Facebook advertising and how it helps you spend wisely on your Facebook ads. So, to stay on top of Facebook advertising trends, make sure that you are using all the features of your professional ad management suite. And aim at delivering ads relevant to your customers. 

7. Make the most of Collection ads

While working on the Facebook ad formats we hear people mostly talking about single-image, video, and carousel ads. Not many truly capitalize on Collection ads. However, this is a very useful, very clickable high-conversion ad format to explore. So, if you haven’t used Collection ads already, start using them now. 

Collection ads are immersive and visually engaging. And what makes them special is that you can use a single post to help people understand your product/brand and then instantly direct them into the purchase funnel. After all, sometimes you only get one shot at impressing your leads, and Collection ads help you make the most of this chance. 

A combination of strong content formats and the strengths of Collection ads helped Stadium, a Swedish sports company, increase its only sales by 14%. 

Facebook lets you use both images and videos for Collection ads. One good way to format this will be to add a demo video as the featured graphic in the collection and the other images are dedicated to the products featured. They lead customers directly to the respective product pages. 

Based on an Accenture consumer survey to understand purchasing trends in social commerce it was found that 29% of consumers find it difficult to place an order through the platform. Therefore, to overcome these barriers, Shoppable ads like Collection ads are the way forward. 

Kimp Tip: The first few product images displayed in your collection convince leads to click on your ad or ignore it. So, make these images visually appealing. A design that’s free from clutter ensures that all eyes are on the product. If you do use lifestyle images use them to emphasize the strongest trait of the product in focus. 

Design stunning Facebook ads with Kimp 

Facebook ads are evolving as we speak. You need a variety of formats for all the placements that Facebook lets you explore. And the best part is that on the Metaverse you get to create a single campaign for multiple platforms in one go. So, aim at creating platform-agnostic creatives. But for this, you need your creative team to be able to make timely tweaks and provide multiple versions of the ad design. This way you will have the right specifications to post on each platform but the core idea remains the same. And that’s where an unlimited design service like Kimp can help. 

Sign up now for our free 7-day trial.