Happy Monday and Happy February! I'm definitely glad to see the back of January although it was a very productive month for me setting up Karissa Digital. Thank you for the great response so far!
Today I'm talking about poll ads. I'm a big fan of Facebook polls and Instagram story polls because they switch up your content, making it fun and engaging. And now reports show that sponsored posts that contain polls are getting huge engagement rates.
What are Poll Ads?
Poll ads include a question and response choices in a video ad campaign, placed in the Facebook Mobile News Feed or in Instagram stories.
Organic Facebook polls have been around for a while, such as the Facebook poll below I created for one of my clients, Sweet Potato Pizza Company in July 2019. These are created using images.
But in Q3 of 2019 Facebook introduced video polls in advertising. I've included an example below.
There are also add-on features available giving you the option to direct a voter to your website, or encouraging them to download your app. The URL tag allows you to retarget these website visitors in remarketing campaigns using your Facebook Pixel.
The polls sticker is widely used on Instagram stories and this stays live for 24 hours. Here's another example below.
However a few months ago Instagram also introduced video poll ads on Instagram stories changing the game for marketers.
The roll out of these new video polls on both Facebook and Instagram is exciting as we know high quality video gets better engagement than static images. It's the results of the polls that we're really interested in. Without realising, users are telling you what products or services they are interested in. These results allow you to create tailored remarketing campaigns, providing relevant content to users who are highly likely to buy your products or services.
Let's take a closer look at how these poll ads are performing..
Multi award-winning digital agency, Wolfgang Digital recently posted a very insightful blog on this topic, so I'll highlight some of the key stats below. They trialled the new features and saw the following results:
189% uplift in click throughs using polling ads over regular video ads
Average cost per click 58% cheaper for polling ads in comparison to generic video ads
Setting Up Poll Ads in Facebook Ads Manager
Poll Ads on Facebook are currently only compatible with video ads, and with the following ad objectives:
Brand Awareness
Reach
Traffic
App Installs
Conversions
To set up your poll ad on Facebook Mobile News Feed go to Facebook Ads Manager. Create an ad using one of the compatible objectives, and select the 'single ad or video' option. Facebook recommend that you upload videos in either .gif, .mov or .mp4 format and a ratio of 4:5 for feed placements. Once your video has uploaded click on the 'Add Poll' button as in the below example.
You will then be prompted to fill in the question and response fields.
You will also have the option to add a website link for the user to be directed to once they have selected their response. Note if you choose to add this option you must add a URL for both responses.
You can also set up a poll ad for Instagram Stories in the same way. Just select the placement as Instagram Stories (not compatible with automatic placements), and upload a video in the 9:16 aspect ratio (1080px x 1920px).
Analysing The Results
That seems pretty straight forward, but you probably want to know how you can analyse the results.. Simply open up Facebook Ads Manager. Select the campaign that you'd like to see poll responses from, and click 'view charts'. Select the time range. Under 'Interactivity Results', choose 'Facebook Mobile News Feed' from the drop-down menu. You will see 'Reach' along with 'Poll Responses'.
I hope you find this blog post helpful in enhancing your social media strategy.
Let me know if you use any of these tips by tagging me on Instagram at @karissadigital !