Why Story Ads on Facebook Are the Future of Social Media Advertising
Table of Contents Social media advertising is evolving at lightning speed, and businesses must adapt to remain competitive. Among the various ad formats available, Story Ads on Facebook have emerged as a front-runner, capturing the attention of users and driving meaningful results. Here’s why Story Ads are not just a trend but the future of social media advertising. 1. Immersive Full-Screen Experience Facebook Stories occupy the entire screen of a smartphone, creating a distraction-free environment. This immersive experience allows brands to captivate their audience with visually compelling content that leaves a lasting impression. Unlike traditional feed ads, Story Ads eliminate competing visuals, ensuring your message is the sole focus. 2. Short and Engaging Format The ephemeral nature of Story Ads—usually lasting up to 15 seconds—makes them highly engaging. In an era of shrinking attention spans, this short format aligns perfectly with user behavior. It’s an ideal way to deliver a powerful message quickly and effectively, ensuring higher retention rates. 3. Mobile-First Design With over 90% of Facebook users accessing the platform via mobile devices, Story Ads are inherently designed for the vertical screen. This mobile-first approach makes them more appealing and natural for users, as they don’t have to rotate their devices or adjust their viewing habits. 4. High Engagement Rates Story Ads often outperform other ad formats in terms of engagement. According to Facebook, Stories drive higher click-through rates (CTR) and lower cost-per-click (CPC) compared to traditional feed ads. This high level of engagement translates into better ROI for advertisers. 5. Creative Freedom Facebook Story Ads offer a playground for creativity. Brands can experiment with: Dynamic visuals: Videos, animations, and GIFs. Interactive elements: Polls, quizzes, and swipe-up links. Personalized messaging: Tailored content that resonates with specific audience segments. This versatility allows businesses to craft unique and memorable campaigns. 6. Perfect for Storytelling Story Ads are ideal for storytelling, allowing brands to connect with their audience on an emotional level. Whether it’s showcasing a behind-the-scenes look, a product demo, or a customer success story, this format encourages authenticity and builds trust. 7. Seamless Integration with Instagram Facebook Story Ads seamlessly integrate with Instagram, enabling advertisers to reach audiences across both platforms with a single campaign. This cross-platform synergy amplifies reach and ensures consistency in messaging. 8. Data-Driven Targeting Facebook’s robust targeting options make Story Ads even more powerful. Advertisers can leverage detailed audience insights to ensure their ads are seen by the right people at the right time. Features like lookalike audiences and interest-based targeting enhance campaign performance and efficiency. 9. Cost-Effective Advertising Compared to other formats, Story Ads often deliver better results at a lower cost. Their high engagement rates and precise targeting capabilities mean businesses can achieve their goals without overspending. 10. Trend Alignment Ephemeral content is increasingly popular, especially among younger demographics. By investing in Story Ads, brands position themselves at the forefront of this trend, ensuring relevance and resonance with their target audience. How to Leverage Facebook Story Ads for Your Brand To make the most of Story Ads, consider the following tips: Prioritize Visual Quality: Use high-resolution images and videos to create a professional look. Focus on the First Few Seconds: Capture attention immediately with a strong hook. Incorporate a Clear CTA: Encourage users to swipe up, visit your website, or make a purchase. Test and Optimize: Experiment with different creatives, messages, and targeting options to find what works best. Final Thoughts As social media continues to evolve, Story Ads on Facebook offer a dynamic, engaging, and effective way for brands to connect with their audience. Their immersive nature, creative potential, and strong performance metrics make them a must-have in any marketer’s toolkit. At Viral Groww, we help businesses explore the complexity of Facebook Ads to achieve their marketing goals. Need help managing your audience planning? Contact us today! What are Facebook Story Ads? Vertical, full-screen ads in Facebook and Instagram Stories, lasting up to 15 seconds, with engaging visuals and interactive features like swipe-up links. What are the benefits of using Story Ads for mobile-first audiences? Story Ads are tailored for vertical viewing, which fits seamlessly with how over 90% of Facebook users access the platform on mobile devices. This mobile-first design ensures that users have an intuitive, engaging experience without needing to adjust their device orientation. Are Facebook Story Ads cost-effective for small businesses? Absolutely! With high engagement rates and precise targeting options, Story Ads can deliver better results at a lower cost than other formats, making them a smart investment for small businesses. 90% of Facebook users access the platform on mobile devices. This mobile-first design ensures that users have an intuitive, engaging experience without needing to adjust their device orientation. Do Story Ads offer good ROI? Story Ads often deliver higher engagement rates, such as better click-through rates (CTR) and lower cost-per-click (CPC), compared to other ad formats. Combined with precise targeting options, they enable businesses to reach their goals cost-effectively. Customer Stories Slider How We 2.5X’d Organic Traffic for SUYU India in Just 5 Months by Following Our White Hat SEO Framework SUYU India was born with a clear vision—to bring superfood-powered skincare into the Indian market. Co-founded with a deep belief in sustainability. Read More Scaling a Sexual Wellness Brand with SEO – How We Did It for Ecstasia Ecstasia is a sexual wellness D2C brand started by Prakhar Raj and Hamid Iqbal in December 2024. Prakhar, a school friend of mine, works in a corporate job but has always wanted to start his own business. Read More How we got 8.7X Impressions for a gifting D2C brand within 3 Months by doing White Hat SEO Foundation Gift was started by Rakesh Adak and Abhishek Koley with a simple idea — gifts should feel just as special as the moments they celebrate. Read More Scaling a Lingerie Brand to 7-Figure Sales in Just 75 Days—Proof Inside! Krvvy is a modern, forward-thinking lingerie brand committed to redefining comfort and functionality. Designed to elevate the lingerie experience, Krvvy
Top 5 Tips to Boost Your Facebook Ad Performance
Introduction Running ads on Facebook is an excellent way to reach your audience, but real results only come from continually upping your approach. If your ads aren’t performing as great as you want, that is perfectly fine! I will share with you five simple tips that helped me—and loads of others—elevate our ad performance on Facebook. 1. Know Your Audience The first step towards better ads on Facebook begins with really knowing whom you’re targeting. If your audience is just too broad, you may be blowing money advertising to individuals who are simply not interested in your product or service. Instead, use Facebook’s targeting options to narrow down to reach the right people-whether it be age, interests, or even location. Targeting interested traffic in online shopping and specific products was one of the major focuses for running ads on behalf of e-commerce. By showing the ad to already interested traffic, we attained more clicks and sales. Tip: With Facebook Custom Audiences, target users who have visited your website or engaged with your content previously. 2. Test Different Versions of Your Ads A major part of improving Facebook ad performance is running A/B tests. That means testing different versions of your ad to see what works best. You’ll want to experiment with things like the headline, the image or video, the ad text, or even the button. For example, I ran an A/B test once with a simple image ad against an e-commerce campaign’s short video ad. Guess what? The video ad did as much as 50% better in engagement. That’s why testing is of the essence: you can never tell what will perform better until you try it! Tip: Make one change at a time so that you know what caused the difference. 3. Make Your Ads Mobile-Friendly The majority of people use Facebook on their phones, so it’s super important that your ads look good on mobile. That means imagery’s clear, text is readable, and any landing pages load nicely on mobile devices. When I used to work through optimization on mobile, the difference in the results was huge. Ads proposed for mobile had more clicks and better interactions in them. Tip: always preview your ad in mobile format, before launch, so that it will look perfect. 4. Using High Quality Visuals People scroll quickly through Facebook, and therefore, your ad must be attracting. High-quality images or videos can make all the difference when pegging how well your ads are doing. Interesting visuals can get users to stop and look at your ad, increasing their chances of clicking or converting. I found the following out of the study: Video typically tends to outperform images. A video ad that I’ve just run for a performance marketing campaign had a 70% higher click rate when pitted against the image format test. Tip: If you use videos, include captions, since most will view without sound. 5. Track Your Ad Spend You don’t want to waste money on ads that are not working. Track your ads’ performance regularly in terms of metrics such as CTR, CPC, and conversions. If you see that an ad’s performance is good, it is the right time to increase your budget to gain better results. Conversely, if your ad does not work so well, you should make appropriate adjustments or stop it to save your money. For instance, because one of my ads was performing very well in an ecommerce Facebook campaign, once I increased its budget by 20%, the sales jumped even higher without raising the costs too high. Tip: Optimize your ad spend on an ongoing basis with regard to their performance to maximize ROI. Conclusion Smoothen your Facebook ad performance: Know who you are targeting, Test several ads. Optimize for mobile. Engage visually. Keep in mind the budget. Follow these easy steps to get the most out of your Facebook ads and magnify your campaign’s success. Don’t be afraid to reach out to one of the Best -in-class Ecommerce marketing agencies in india for customized advice.
12 Facebook Ad Mistakes You Can Avoid
Facebook has more than 2.5 billion active monthly users. That’s a lot of people to potentially get your ad in front of. But if you’re making these mistakes, your Facebook ad campaigns aren’t going to end well. Need expert help? Visit Viral Groww for expert guidance on creating effective ads.l. Facebook Ad Mistakes Let’s take a look at 12 common Facebook advertising mistakes and how you can do things differently for better results. 1. Using the Wrong Objective You choose a campaign objective right at the start of your ad-building process and it really drives your entire Facebook ad campaign. Your objective lets the platform know what you want to achieve from your Facebook advertising campaign and helps you get there. Facebook has 11 campaign objectives: Take the time to choose the right campaign objective instead of one that might work. If your ads aren’t getting results, your objective is the first thing to check. 2. Not Using the Facebook Pixel Facebook Pixel is a short snippet of code you can add to your website to track and analyze the behavior and actions of your site visitors. The pixel continuously works to collect valuable data about your audience. The data that the pixel collects can be used to track events, create custom audiences, retarget users based on their actions, optimize conversion campaigns, create lookalike audiences, and a lot more. 3. Using “Boost Post” If you’ve spent any amount of time on Facebook as a business owner, you’ve seen the “Boost Post” option underneath the posts you make on your business’s Facebook page. It’s tempting, we know. Facebook tells you how many 1,000s of people you’re going to be able to reach if you boost your post—why wouldn’t you do it? While this will show off that post to potential customers, it’s not going to do much else. Before you’re tempted to click on “Boost Post,” create an advertising account on the platform that will really make a positive difference to your bottom line. 4. Using Only Interest-Based Audiences Interest-based audiences are a great place to start, but to get the most out of your advertising, you’ll want to test out different types of audiences to find out what works for your particular business. We recommend trying out interest-based audiences to gather information about what works and what doesn’t so you can put that data to use with custom audiences and lookalike audiences. 5. Using a Too Big or Too Small Audience Another common Facebook ad mistake deals with audience size. There aren’t any cut-and-dried rules about what size audience you should be targeting. It really depends on your Facebook advertising objective, industry, and budget. We recommend aiming for an audience size of 500K–2 million. If you have a larger budget, you can target more (2.5 million or so). Obviously, you’ll need to adjust these numbers for your business. Businesses with a small audience and budget (like a local business) will have a smaller audience size. Why is audience size so important? If your Facebook ad audience is too small you’re going to have a hard time spending your advertising budget. Or, your ad is going to show up too often for users, causing them to be annoyed or stop seeing it altogether due to ad fatigue. If your audience is too big you’re going to be spending a whole lot of money reaching people who aren’t actually qualified. 6. Not Using Videos Everyone loves videos. They’re engaging—yes, even in ads. Videos will keep the attention of users for a lot longer than images. And this gives you a better chance of getting your advertising message through. Facebook loves video ads, too; they know how they work to keep users on their platform longer. Bottom line, if you’re not using videos in your Facebook ads, you’re missing out. The best part about video is that it’s no longer the huge production that it used to be. Many marketers don’t have access to a professional camera or recording equipment, but it doesn’t matter. Even the camera on your smartphone will work to create a high-quality video you can use in your ads. There’s also editing software and tutorials that make it super easy to edit your video into something you’re proud of. When considering creating a video for your Facebook ads, take the time to plan out your story and make it something that you would actually pay attention to. If you’d watch it, other people will, too! 7. Using Too Much Text on Your Ad Images Facebook used to flat out specify that an ad image with more than 20% text was a no-no. If your ad image contained more than 20% text, you’d get an email letting you know that your ad needed to be fixed before it could be approved. These days, Facebook uses categories (Low, OK, Medium, and High) to classify their text-in-images rule. Unfortunately, with this new application of its text-in-images rule, Facebook isn’t going to decline your ad. No, they’re just going to reduce your ad’s reach. A low text-in-images classification is going to have a normal reach, but reach will start to decrease as your ad has a higher text-to-image ratio. This is a common Facebook ad mistake that has a simple solution: keep text in your ad images to a minimum. Facebook offers a Text Overlay Tool that will help you make sure that your ad doesn’t have too much text. 8. Not Using a Landing Page (or Using a Non-Optimized Landing Page) This Facebook ad mistake is common across paid advertising platforms. No matter how much time you’ve taken to create a great ad experience, sales happen on the page you send your ad traffic to. If your landing pages don’t fit with your ad design, you’re going to confuse people. And confused people don’t buy products or sign up for newsletters from companies that confuse them. Keep your ads and landing pages coordinated—images, fonts, colors, everything! This helps you create a cohesive message that conveys a level
How to Use Facebook Lookalike Audiences to Reach New Customers
Table of Contents Wish you could take the guesswork out of your social ad targeting? Don’t we all. Sure, it’s awesome that marketers have so many choices when it comes to our Facebook advertising strategy and who we serve our ads to. But navigating the numerous targeting options and factors can be downright daunting. That’s where Facebook Lookalike Audiences are a game-changer. Rather than start each campaign from scratch or tweak a bunch of targeting factors, Lookalike Audiences lets you base new ads on your existing audience. The result? More engagement and conversions with a lot less guessing. What is a Lookalike Audience, Anyway? Facebook Lookalike Audiences represent an ad-targeting option for a totally new target audience that shares characteristics with your existing ones, based on previous engagements with your business account or ads. The concept here is simple. Instead of researching a new audience manually, Facebook figures out who’d be most likely to click through your campaigns on your behalf. This is determined by factors such as interests, interactions (think: “likes,” comments, shares) and previous ad clicks. While Lookalike Audiences are ideal for marketers that have run ads successfully in the past, they’re fair game for first-timers as well. That’s because Facebook allows you to create Lookalike Audiences based on People who like and follow your Business Page Conversion pixels you’ve created in the past Existing custom audiences In addition to more accurate targeting by default, this format also provides more experienced advertisers with customization and flexibility. For example, you can broaden your Lookalike Audience to your liking or keep new ad targets almost identical to your own. If nothing else, Facebook does a pretty good job of holding marketers’ hands through the process of creating a Lookalike Audience to make sure they’re relevant. Doing so is in the best interest of the platform, after all. Why use Facebook Lookalike Audiences versus other ad formats? Again, there are plenty of ad formats on Facebook to choose from. What makes Lookalike Audiences so special? Below are some of the key benefits: They save you a ton of time. If you’ve already gone through the legwork of fine-tuning a Custom Audience, you’ve done the hard part. Lookalike Audiences allow you to squeeze more out of what you’ve already established.In theory, Lookalike Audiences are “proven” versus creating something cold. That’s because they’re based on parameters that show user interest.Lookalike Audiences can easily supplement your existing ads. For the sake of stretching your social media budget, Lookalike Audiences allow you to experiment and target multiple audiences at once without running totally different campaigns. How to create a Lookalike Audience on Facebook Let’s say you’re interested in putting together your first Lookalike Audience. Excellent! First things first: log into your Facebook Ads Manager account. On the left-hand corner, you’ll see the “Create Audience” dropdown. create facebook lookalike audience in ads managerAgain, the platform makes the creation process fairly straightforward but the number of options to choose from can be overwhelming. The breakdown below can help speed things up. Viral Groww can hlep you . 1. Select your audience source Facebook recommends using “events with value” (AKA value-based sources). That’s because such targeting is based on actual past customer purchasing data. For example, creating a Lookalike Audience based on a remarketing Pixel allows you to base your campaigns around targets with higher (or lower) average order values. If you opt to use a Custom Audience as your source, make sure to familiarize yourself with the various Facebook ad targeting options available. For example, you can upload a customer list or base your Lookalike Audience on people who’ve interacted with your website. 2. Choose your audience location If you opt to use a Custom Audience as your source, make sure to familiarize yourself with the various Facebook ad targeting options available. For example, you can upload a customer list or base your Lookalike Audience on people who’ve interacted with your website. 3. Determine your audience size Finally, you have a choice to choose just how “alike” your Lookalike Audience is. The smaller the percentage here, the more similar your audience is to your source audience. On the flip side, a larger number makes your audience broader. Whether you want a super similar audience or a larger one really depends on your goals and budget. Like any type of Facebook ad targeting, a little bit of experimentation goes a long way. Are you taking full advantage of Facebook Lookalike audiences? Lookalike Audiences are an invaluable tool for social marketers. Like any other type of ad, they can take time to master but are worth pursuing for the sake of experimenting and reaching new audiences. Now that you know how to create a Lookalike Audience on Facebook, perhaps it’s time to consider how such ads fit into your paid social strategy. And if you need to secure a bigger budget to expand your campaigns, we’ve got you covered. Make sure to check out our guide on making a business case for social media to get the buy-in that you need to run a new campaign. If you like this blog post share your this post now. Customer Stories Slider How We 2.5X’d Organic Traffic for SUYU India in Just 5 Months by Following Our White Hat SEO Framework SUYU India was born with a clear vision—to bring superfood-powered skincare into the Indian market. Co-founded with a deep belief in sustainability. Read More Scaling a Sexual Wellness Brand with SEO – How We Did It for Ecstasia Ecstasia is a sexual wellness D2C brand started by Prakhar Raj and Hamid Iqbal in December 2024. Prakhar, a school friend of mine, works in a corporate job but has always wanted to start his own business. Read More How we got 8.7X Impressions for a gifting D2C brand within 3 Months by doing White Hat SEO Foundation Gift was started by Rakesh Adak and Abhishek Koley with a simple idea — gifts should feel just as special as the moments they celebrate.
5 Common Mistakes in Facebook Ads and How to Avoid Them
Facebook Ads are a great way to grow your business, but if you don’t set them up correctly, they can waste money without giving you the results you want. Whether you’re just starting with Facebook Ads or have been running them for a while, it’s easy to make mistakes. In this blog, I’ll share five common mistakes I’ve seen and, most importantly, how you can avoid them to get better results from your campaigns. 1. Poor Audience Targeting One of the biggest mistakes advertisers make is not targeting the right audience. If your ads are shown to too many people or the wrong group, you’ll end up wasting your money. Facebook allows you to get really specific with your audience, but if you don’t use it correctly, your ads may be seen by people who aren’t interested in what you’re offering. How to Avoid It: When I first started, I used very broad audience targeting, and my ads didn’t perform well. Now, I use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool and Lookalike Audiences to make sure I’m reaching people who are similar to my best customers. By narrowing down your audience based on interests, behaviors, and demographics, you’ll make sure your ads are seen by the right people. Example:If you’re promoting a fitness program, targeting people who like “fitness” is too broad. Instead, target people who like specific fitness brands, follow fitness influencers, or have recently engaged with fitness-related content. 2. Ignoring Ad Creative Your ad’s creative—whether it’s an image, video, or text—is one of the most important parts of your campaign. I’ve seen ads with great targeting fail because the creative wasn’t strong enough to grab people’s attention. If your ad looks boring or low-quality, people will just scroll past it. How to Avoid It: I used to think any image would work for my Facebook Ads , but I’ve learned that high-quality visuals and engaging copy make a huge difference. Use clear, eye-catching images or videos that tell a story or connect with your audience emotionally. And don’t be afraid to test different creatives—sometimes a small change can make a big difference. Example:Instead of using a plain product image, try a lifestyle photo showing someone using your product, or create a short video that highlights its benefits. These types of Facebook Ads, tend to catch more attention and lead to better results. 3. Weak Call-to-Action (CTA) A weak or unclear call-to-action (CTA) can leave people confused about what to do next. I’ve seen ads that say “Click Here,” but that doesn’t give users a strong reason to take action. How to Avoid It: From my experience, a clear and strong CTA is essential. Use action-oriented phrases like “Shop Now,” “Sign Up Today,” or “Learn More” so users know exactly what to do. A good CTA can increase your click-through rate (CTR) and get more people to take the action you want. Example:If you’re running a sale, use a CTA like “Get 20% Off Today – Limited Time Only” to create urgency and encourage immediate action. 4. Lack of A/B Testing When I first started with Facebook Ads, I didn’t understand the importance of A/B testing. Running just one version of your ad means you don’t know which parts are working or which aren’t. Without testing, you miss opportunities to optimize your campaign for better performance. How to Avoid It: Now, I always run A/B tests. Try testing different elements like headlines, images, or targeting options, and see which performs best. Even if your ad seems perfect, testing different versions can help you find new ways to improve it. Example:If you’re unsure whether your audience prefers videos or images, create both types of ads and run them as a test. You’ll quickly see which one performs better and can then focus your budget on that type. 5. Overlooking Ad Metrics Another common mistake is focusing too much on vanity metrics like likes or reach, instead of tracking the metrics that really matter—like conversions or return on ad spend (ROAS). I’ve made this mistake before and learned that it can give you a false sense of how well your ads are doing. How to Avoid It: Track metrics that show how well your ads are contributing to your business goals. Focus on CTR, conversions, and ROAS to see whether your ads are actually making a profit. These metrics are more meaningful than just looking at how many people saw your ad or liked it. Example:If you’re running Facebook Ads for an online store, focus on how many people clicked on your ad and made a purchase, instead of how many likes your ad received. Conclusion Running Facebook Ads is more than just setting up a campaign and letting it run. By avoiding these common mistakes—poor targeting, weak creatives, unclear CTAs, not testing, and overlooking important metrics—you’ll get better results and improve your return on investment (ROI). Even small adjustments can make a big difference in your ad performance . If you need more tips or want expert help with your Facebook Ads, feel free to reach out to one of the Best Performance Marketing Agencies in India – Viral Groww. We’d be happy to help you optimize your campaigns for success! Customer Stories Slider How We 2.5X’d Organic Traffic for SUYU India in Just 5 Months by Following Our White Hat SEO Framework SUYU India was born with a clear vision—to bring superfood-powered skincare into the Indian market. Co-founded with a deep belief in sustainability. Read More Scaling a Sexual Wellness Brand with SEO – How We Did It for Ecstasia Ecstasia is a sexual wellness D2C brand started by Prakhar Raj and Hamid Iqbal in December 2024. Prakhar, a school friend of mine, works in a corporate job but has always wanted to start his own business. Read More How we got 8.7X Impressions for a gifting D2C brand within 3 Months by doing White Hat SEO Foundation Gift was started by Rakesh Adak and Abhishek Koley with a simple
