Facebook ads - will standardisation lead to higher engagement?
Facebook this week announced that it was to roll out a standard size for its display advertising, to much cheer from advertisers and agencies alike. However James Caig, head of social for Isobar questions whether the larger size ads will heighten engagement rates with the platform's users.
Clearly Facebook’s changes will make advertisers happy. It minimises production issues, as well as creating uniform experiences across desktop and mobile — something presumably on Facebook’s mind.
But more engaging for users?
Making content harder to avoid isn’t the same as making it more engaging. There’s no guarantee that this move will generate more interaction from an audience. More than anywhere else, the way brands talk to people on social networks is as important as what they say. Timing and relevance can influence response levels, and force-fed messaging remains a fairly blunt instrument.
Getting into news feeds organically remains the best way to engage new people, especially if you want to create a valuable, sustainable community, rather than simply create short-term Like spikes. As agencies we should be finding ways for current fans to visibly participate in our clients’ brands, spreading tools, content and ideas through their networks.
The technology exists. Isobar has developed SeeItShopIt, a proprietary tool that appears in the form of a post and enables browsing, sharing and even purchasing. But not every business is set up for this kind of initiative yet. For those who aren’t, this new format could soften the blunt instrument advertisers have become used to.
Do users accept that Facebook, like commercial television, radio and any other medium, is a value exchange between relevant content and the advertising dollar that helps deliver it? The question is less whether they expect more advertising in return for free use of the platform, but whether they will accept it.
This could be the development Facebook want it to be. Or further encroachment into users’ world could be the trigger for people, especially younger users, to vote with their feet.