Here's How To Adapt Your TV Ad Creative To Facebook And Instagram

You’ve been tasked with continuing a big TV campaign on Facebook and Instagram. But the only assets you’re given are a bunch of long, 16:9 aspect-ratio TV ads. Here’s how to repurpose them, to make them as effective as possible on both platforms.

When creating video ads for a new marketing campaign, most brands think TV-first. And that leaves them with video assets that can’t really be used as effectively on social media. Why? Well, because video on social is different. On TV, ads are shown in a “forced view environment,” which means that viewers watch the whole video before the punchline arrives at the end. Not the case on Facebook or Instagram.

As most users view video on both platforms from their mobile devices, it only makes sense that you deliver a different video experience to them. Firstly, viewing video on mobile is “fast, frequent and needs to work without sound.” Secondly, according to Facebook’s own research, 47% of a video’s value is delivered within 3 seconds, whereas 74% is delivered within 10 seconds. So, if you’re planning on using a 30-second TV ad on either platform, your audience is likely to miss your message.

Thus, there are a few rules to follow:

Cut/edit videos short – Shorter videos perform better. Attention declines after 10 seconds
Add your branding early on – The earlier the better
Make the message clear from the start – Don’t wait to make your message known
Use other brand elements throughout – Colours, fonts, aesthetic, etc.

Another problem with most TV campaign ads is that they are in the wrong aspect ratio. And no… people really don’t like to turn their phones on their sides just to get the full picture. Facebook’s Creative Shop team suggests that a vertical 4:5 ratio is used on Instagram and a 2:3 ratio is used on Facebook, to get the best results.

47% of a video’s value is delivered in the first 3 seconds. 74% in the first 10.

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So, what does one do with a widescreen video? Facebook suggests to,

[quote]Play with grids and stacked images. Sure, the mobile screen is small—but there’s so much you can do with it. Try splitting the screen to show two or more parallel storylines at once.[/quote]

Overall, cutting up a TV ad is not the easiest thing to do, and repurposing it is a creative process you can experiment with. Mixing things up with different beginnings, different endings, and of course narratives in a different order can have benefits. You are free to turn a story around, play with speed, or create visual rhythm. This may also give it something that might be missing due to the lack of sound.

If you can’t create video especially for Facebook or Instagram in the first place, you will need to think out of the box to repurpose what you’ve got. For more in-depth tips on how to repurpose TV ads for the two platforms, read this.