As important as the message or the images we use in our social media campaigns is the format we choose. Depending on the objective of our campaign and what we want to communicate, we can choose the format that stands out the most and that best reaches our audience. Would you like to know which are the most innovative formats in social media?
New social media formats to boost your social media campaigns
Campaign formats for Facebook
Facebook has a very wide variety of ad formats. The most common is the Page Post Link, which consists of an image or video, a headline, a message, a description and a call to action button. It is a format that works very well in most campaigns and is especially useful in web traffic acquisition campaigns. However, despite the practicality of using a well-known format that gives good results, we always recommend going a little further and taking a risk with other more innovative and interesting formats.
Canvas
Facebook Canvas is a mobile-only advertising format in which we can create a ‘microsite’ within a normal Facebook post. Within this microsite, we can create product collections, image carousels, videos, panoramic images, messages with call to action buttons and so on. The idea is to show the products in a different, attractive way, where the user must interact with the elements on the screen and where their level of attention will be higher than in a normal post. It is the perfect format for brand storytelling. The time spent by users within this type of ads is much higher compared to more traditional formats and the retention of the ads is increased.
360º Photo and Video
The use of the 360-degree format has many creative possibilities. It is a format that invites to ‘play’ with the mobile and generally attracts more attention than a traditional video. The key is to offer the user an experience. If we just show the product, without a context that defines it, the surprise effect of 360º will be blurred and it will not be as useful.
Campaign formats for Instagram
Instagram Stories
Instagram stories have been very popular, especially in countries such as Spain, where they have become very popular for displaying an image or video for a limited time. In the feed of users’ stories it is also possible to insert advertising using the same format. It allows both image and video and a call to action can also be added to redirect traffic to the website, as the Meller brand has done in this example.
Vertical videos
Although in general, videos should not be shot vertically for physiological (eye position is horizontal) and practical (screens are horizontal) reasons, in the field of advertising nothing is set in stone. Most of the users that access social networks do it through their cell phones, so a vertical video for a promoted campaign can be a good idea if it is well implemented. Some studies claim that users are more receptive to vertical video ads when they see them on their mobiles.
Campaign formats for Twitter
Conversational Ads
On Twitter we can create a poll in whichusers can participate. Generally, this type of format generates more interactions than traditional ones, because it makes the user an active part. Coversational Ads work in a similar way. It consists of displaying a message and giving between two and four options to choose, in the form of a survey, which is the one we like the most or the one we agree with. By using #hashtags, the user tweets their response based on their choice and receives a specific message and a specific call to action. It is a very interesting format when we want to give the user the option to choose or we want to know their opinion on a specific topic. This format also includes an option to ‘unlock’ content after choosing an option. It is about ‘hiding’ an element in the tweet itself and not making it visible until the user chooses an option. It is like a small prize for tweeting.
Creative use of traditional formats in social media campaigns
In many occasions it is not necessary to have new formats to do creative things, but to look for a different use of what already exists. For example, a Target campaign used Facebook’s video carousel to show a girl walking between the different slides, taking advantage of that effect to show products and tell a story. Or the creative use many users make of Instagram’s mosaic arrangement of photos to show larger or more elaborate images. The key is to adapt the product philosophy to the format available to communicate in the best possible way.
