Growth marketers who rely on paid media have their work cut out for them. Each platform comes with numerous formats, tons of pricing models, and a variety of audiences to target—not to mention its share of “secrets,” or tips and tricks that let the knowledgeable growth marketer get benefits beyond most advertisers. Add to that a need for testing, analysis, and revision, and you’re looking at a serious amount of time and skill. Anyword has, over the years, spent over $250M on paid ads, so we know what we’re talking about. It’s not easy by any stretch.
Still – to make things a little easier, we’ve broken down our favorite hacks for ad copywriting for the biggest social media and paid ad platforms. Check out our best tips below:
Instagram Captions
Instagram captions copywriting is limited to the fact that you’ve got 2,200 characters (plus emojis) to insert keywords that are essential to your brand. You should use phrases that appeal to emotions, and stick in a few CTAs as well. But keep in mind that Instagram displays only two rows of text “above the fold”, i.e., the user must click to see the rest of the text, which they tend not to do. It’s therefore vital to grab their attention with those first words.
You also get 30 hashtags – use these as keywords for each and every image that you put up so that people will discover you among the 95 million pics that are posted every day.
Top tip: Don’t forget that your profile, username, bio, and alt text are all factors in how your ad will perform.
Facebook Headlines and Primary Text
Primary text is actually the most important text for ad copy, but all you’ve got is 125 words to get your message across.
Fortunately, Facebook has the Multiple Text Options feature that allows you to test the response to the copy variations that you create. We’ve run experiments that have shown that even small changes can improve CTR by as much as 20%.
Top tip: For headlines, we recommend about five words, and using them to highlight deals, promote a CTA, or brand your product/service.
(Click here if you wish to learn about Facebook ai ad tools)
Twitter Ads
Twitter has generously doubled its character count to 280, but don’t forget that every link reduces that by 23 characters. You also get 20-character hashtags that allow you creative ways to define your product or service by, for example, including your location, notice of a sale, and whatnot. But hashtags also reduce your character count, so use them sparingly.
Top tip: Instead of hashtags, focus your twitter ad copywriting on limited time offers, free stuff, and calls to action.
Google Ads
Google Ads might just be the most restrictive when it comes to character limits – 30 characters per headline and 80 characters per product description. However, Google has some great tools that allow you to make the most of limited space.
For instance, you can automatically adjust your ads to appear according to the physical location of the user through Google’s location targeting. Google also lets you take advantage of classic “FOMO” marketing with a countdown timer, which is just one of a set of customizers that they provide.
Top tip: Google Ads are about people actively searching for a solution, so make sure your Google ad copy reflects how your brand solves a problem.
Pinterest Ads
Pinterest has become a popular advertising alternative to platforms like Facebook and Twitter. While the platform is designed around searchable images, copy still plays an important role for Pinterest ads. Pinterest ads have two types of copy: the description and the headline.
Since Pinterest relies on users typing in what they’d like to see, the description of your ad must be highly searchable. Make the most out of the 100 characters you get for the headline and the 500 you get for the description. Be sure to use popular keywords and pin-worthy images. It also helps to think of keyword synonyms. For example, if you are selling a mini waffle makers, keywords like “waffles,” “easy breakfast ideas,” and “gift ideas” could all be great choices.
Top tip: Pinterest users are predominantly female, so it’s especially important to be aware of your target audience when deciding to promote on the platform. Make sure your imagery, headline, and description all fit the bill.
Linkedin Ads
After Google’s maximums, it might seem as though LinkedIn’s character limit of 600 is generous. However, for visitors to read anything beyond the first two lines of ad text, they need to click “see more”, so putting your best stuff within the first 150 characters is the best bet.
Plus, don’t forget that LinkedIn (usually) works according to CPC. To reduce the number of unqualified clicks, you should do your best to ensure that the relevance of your product is very clearly set out within those 600 characters (there is no charge for the “see more” click).
Top tip: Insert URLs, hashtags, and CTAs within the first two lines to increase their visibility.
>> Click here to learn more about Linkedin ad copy best practices
YouTube Ads
Video content isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and advertisers have taken notice. And what better platform to place a video ad than on YouTube? Users of all kinds flock to YouTube to watch makeup tutorials, music videos, cooking how-to’s, and much more, so it’s a natural place for marketers to reach their target audience. All you need to do is create your video ad, set up a campaign on YouTube, and see the results.
Top tip: The platform recommends tell a specific story with your video ads, and it gives three effective categories to choose from: Business story, Product/Service story, or Promotional story. Choose whichever one fits your needs best and go from there.
You can also get more tips on how to create effective YouTube ads here.
Native Ads
Native ads are different than others because they catch a person as they’re consuming content and not necessarily looking for what the native ad is selling. That means that you need to be eye-catching while also reflecting the post-click content.
It’s therefore essential to use a catchy headline that can describe your content very efficiently. Also, in some placements, the text gets cut off, so you want to lead with the most important info first.
Top tip: Use the headline to call out your audience: “Foodies will love this new restaurant” or “Seniors can benefit from this financial advice”.
The (Often Untapped) Power of AI
The above tips are a mere glimpse at the ins and outs of ad copy. For greater success, marketing managers need a much deeper level of knowledge than what we’ve described here, and that can often feel intimidating.
The good news is, there are new tools that lighten the burden when it comes to ad copy creation.
The most cutting-edge technologies use Aritificial Intelligence to create copy that is tailor-made for each channel. This helps in a few ways: 1) it ensures you have the perfect text for each individual channel; 2) it saves you time by creating multiple variations; and 3) it generates ideas for effective copy if you’re drawing a blank. Plus, with the right AI copywriting platform, you can automate text creation with only a few words as input.
Anyword, developed based on millions of dollars of ad spend, does all this and more. It even grades the copy variations to help you pick just the right message from the multiple variations that it generates. Curious how it works? See what copy it generates for you at go.anyword.com.
