What Stops People Scrolling?
OK we’re talking Facebook and Instagram today.
Specifically, facebook and instagram ads.
When you;re thinking about running ads, we need to be thinking about what makes people stop scrolling. Because more than half your visitors are going to be on their phones.
Your whole aim is to interrupt what they’re doing long enough that they get drawn into your ad.
How do you do that? Well there’s a few ways so let’s dig into it.
Generally people stop scrolling because of the image. This is the first thing they see. Then their eyes go to the headline, and lastly to the text.
If you don’t stop the scroll with the image, you’ve got no chance of them engaging with your offer.
So let’s talk about the different types of images we can use.
Number 1 – A bright or pattern interrupt ‘shocking’ image.
Number 2 – A real happy snap of you or your family or your staff, whatever makes sense.
Number 3 – An industry specific image.
So let’s break them all down.
Number 1 – A pattern interrupt.
This doesn’t have to have anything to do with your ad or your business or your offer. It’s only job is to stop the scroll.
It might be a fluro spiral, it might be a woman in a red dress, it might be balloons, or it might be something really odd – like a sumo wrestler in traditional costume and high heels or something really random like that.
Again, the entire point is just to get their attention.
Number 2 – A real photo.
This is because our feed is full of these naturally. We don’t like stock photos, we don’t want to be sold too while we’re looking at pictures of our niece or our sisters’ wedding or our friends’ holiday.
But if we see unfamiliar faces in our feed and it doesn’t look like an ad – we’ll probably wonder what they’re doing there. We’ll stop long enough to read the headline, and maybe even the text. And if it’s something that resonates – we’ll engage.
Number 3 – An industry related photo.
Here you’re putting a photo that makes sense for your business. It’s your work or your team or something related to what it is that you do, or how you help people, or the type of person that you work with. We work with tradies, so I might put an image of a tradie here.
Now – you want to test each type with your audience, because you’re not going to know what works until you do it.
Once you’ve chosen your images, you’re going to think about your headline.
This should be very action oriented. ‘Message us for a free consult’ or ‘Enquire now’ or something like that.
Your text is your offer. ‘What do you do, who do you do it for and what’s in it for them? What are you offering them?
Your CTR or your Click Through Rate is going to tell you how successful your ad is.
Once you’ve tested your different images with the wording and found a winner, it’s time to choose a winning image and play with your wording a bit.
Now we’re not going to get into all the stats today. If you do want to dive into that and you want some more support around implementing this, get in touch. We’re offering free 20 minute strategy consults at the moment and you’ll come away with a big picture plan on how to move forward with your marketing.
Thanks so much for spending this time with me today, until next week – have a great one!
– Annelise xx