6 Facebook Ad Image Best Practices to Boost Your Click-Through-Rate

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Are your Facebook ads targeted well? Do you have great content but are still struggling to increase your Click-through-Rate? The problem could be with your Facebook ad images.

In this article, I’ll explain six best practices for selecting Facebook ad images. I’ll take a look at six examples where these best practices have been utilized, and one where they’ve been ignored entirely. This will give you a clear idea of what works and what you should avoid at all costs.

Ready to improve your Facebook ads with the right images? Let’s get into it.

Facebook’s Own Ad Image Best Practices

Below are Facebook’s three ad image best practices. See what you think:

  • Choose a Facebook ad image that is directly relevant to your product or service
  • Use a Facebook ad image that is bright and eye-catching, even when viewed at a small size
  • Avoid Facebook ad images that have many small details or text and opt for something simple instead

To be perfectly frank I only agree with two of the Facebook ad image best practices.

As you well know (and I’ll debunk in the “Children and Pets’ section below), it is in no way essential for Facebook advertisers to choose an image directly relevant to their product or service. Facebook ad images of a completely unrelated tiger are just as eye-catching (if not more so) as a picture of the mobile phone you’re selling.

And while I agree your Facebook ad images should most definitely avoid small details, text can be a great eye-catcher. For instance, the word ‘FREE’ emblazoned in orange across a blue background will definitely catch a Facebook user’s eye. Value Propositions (see below) also work well.

Bright and eye-catching? Now that is absolutely 100% essential when it comes to Facebook ad images.

Facebook Ad Images Size and Shape

Before we take a look at some Facebook ads image examples, make sure your image is the right size and shape. For all ads, Facebook recommends your image be 1200 pixels wide, and make the resolution at least 600 x 600 pixels.

There are various Facebook ads placements that could require different ads sizes. However, most businesses will choose automatic placements, so you don’t have to worry about providing different-sized Facebook ad images. Using images for Facebook ads with an aspect ratio of 1080 x 1080 pixels is generally a good strategy. Of course, make sure the file size is not too large.

In case you were wondering, Facebook allows the same image to be used in both desktop and mobile advertising.

6 Facebook Ad Image Best Practices

Ready to improve your Facebook ads success with your ad images? Follow these best practices to help your image ads stand out.

1. Happy People

The image that has proved to convert best in Facebook ads is of a happy woman looking directly at the camera. There’s something about these image ads that just works.

Facebook ad images

How you can do it:

  • Retailers can have a happy woman modeling their product
  • Service-based businesses can show a happy woman who has benefitted from their service (like the ad above)

2. Color

It will come as no surprise that Facebook’s color scheme is blue and white. If you employ the same colors your ad will blend into the News Feed and people’s already tired eyes will skip over it. For this reason, your Facebook image ads should be bright, colorful, and eye-catching.

Tough Mudder does this with smiles and eye-grabbing orange below:

Facebook ad images

How you can do it:

  • If your product image, logo, or mascot is blue, make a bright background or border around the image to make your ads stand out
  • Ensure the background or border you choose contrasts with the image itself
  • Attract the eye with bright color and encourage a conversion with a great CTA in the title or copy of your Facebook ad

3. Logos

An easily-recognizable logo may not attract the eye as well as a woman, a lot of color, a baby, or a pet, but over time they’ll encourage conversion as Facebook users see it consistently and often.

QuickBooks, below, prominently features their logo to increase brand recognition. Including your logo in your Facebook ad is a great way of spreading brand awareness and recognition.

Facebook ad images

How you can do it:

  • I’d recommend creating a campaign with different Facebook ad options and having one of three Facebook advertisements be your business’ logo
  • This allows you to combat a low CTR with ad rotation while still increasing brand recognition of your logo
  • If your logo is naturally blue or colorless, be sure to use a colorful background or border

Only use your business logo if you are confident that your audience will recognize it. Otherwise, Facebook users will skip over something they don’t think is related to them.

4. Value Proposition

A clear and solid value proposition is a great way to attract the eye. This will make your Facebook ad campaign stand out, and it will inspire your audience with a powerful message.

Naturebox, below, uses awesome colors as well as the word “Free” to grab attention and engage users:

Facebook ad images

How you can do it:

  • Run a contest and put the prize within the image: ‘Win a $250 gift card’
  • Give a valuable takeaway from an eBook or guide: ‘Convert with A/B Testing’

Be sure to still include color within your image. A great value proposition will increase click-through, but won’t attract the eye without color. Advertisers need to blend strong imagery with the right text.

5. Children and Pets

When it comes to images on social media, pets, and children are always popular choices for advertisers. Including them is a safe bet for your Facebook ad image.

Facebook ad images

How you can do it:

  • Find an image of a baby or pet with your product
  • Come up with an image that works with the title
  • For instance, if your product is an A/B testing ebook, how about a picture of twins in different hats?

6. Funny or Odd

Depending on your business’ audience, employing a funny or odd image can seriously increase your conversion rates. Not only do they attract the eye, they encourage your reputation as a fun, casual brand. If this is what you’re going for as your Facebook brand persona, go with it.

If not, steer clear.

Facebook ad images

How you can do it:

  • Use a fun image, like a cute pet or baby with your product
  • Use an image that looks slightly off or exaggerated to cause Facebook users to do a double-take and engage

Asking your Facebook Fans for user-generated content (through a photo or Pinterest contest for instance) is great for uncovering funny, interesting, or inspiring images.

Testing Your Facebook Ads

Knowing the top six image categories for Facebook is extremely valuable, but you should still test your individual images to be sure you’re getting the best response rate.

How you can do it:

  • Create a campaign and, within it, create two advertisements
  • Run the first advertisement for a set period of time, taking careful note of its metric performance within Facebook Insights – this advertisement is your ‘Control’
  • After a set period of time, publish the next advertisement, changing the image, title, copy or Call-to-Action
  • Watch its metric performance for the same period of time to determine which variation performed the best

If you feel an advertisement should be performing well, but isn’t, try changing its targeted demographic before throwing it out.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of what images work best for Facebook ads. Remember to test what people respond to for your own company, and watch your competitors see what’s working for them.

And always try out different Facebook image ads when you run new campaigns. After some practice and experience, you will soon discover which images for Facebook ads work best for your business.

Further Reading:

Wishpond’s Facebook Contest Apps make it easy to create sweepstakes, photo contests, Instagram hashtag contests & more.

Have you had any success split testing your Facebook advertisements? Are there any images you’ve found work best for a SaaS company? What about eCommerce businesses?

Start the conversation below!

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