We have all heard the saying, “Less is more.” This seems to be a domineering trend in visual and social marketing. Within a social media channel, such as Facebook, the ads that tend to stand out from others are ones with large, bold visuals and a powerful call to action. Each social media and other digital media platforms have specific advertising policies for size specifications and content that can be included.

Being a designer, I know the frustrations that frequently occur with designing to the specifications of Facebook’s 20% text ad guidelines. This being said, however, I have come to acknowledge the effectiveness of these guidelines for consistency throughout Facebook as well as the client’s campaign as a whole. When creating an effective advertising campaign on a social media platform, the allowed 20% area for text should include the aforementioned powerful call to action to entice your audience to read more.

https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay

Facebook has implemented a tool to help better determine whether the “image text” within your ad is considered “OK.” If the image text is determined to be out of the parameters, then the ad may not reach the entire intended audience or may not run at all depending on how far out of the parameters the algorithm calculates. The 20% algorithm has proven to not be as simple as merely having 20% text on your image, but rather based on a 5×5 grid system. Within this grid system, the image text is only allowed to be within 5 of the 25 squares. This does not only constrain how much text is on the image, but it also constrains the text placement on the ad.

Have you found yourself pulling your hair out over your social media advertising? Let’s chat!

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