Author: Jordan Schofield / Paid Media Specialist

Facebook released some compelling data points last month: “68% of people say they use stories on at least three apps regularly, and 63% plan to use stories more in the future.”

Are you a frequent power user of ‘Stories’ on Instagram, or even its distant, but closely related, relative Snapchat? Well, now the big cheese, Facebook, have been heavily trying to push its user base to use Facebook Stories – and it’s safe to say, Facebook really want us to use this feature, with BIG plans for its future.

OpenTable, an online restaurant-reservation service, ran Instagram story ads to drive restaurant reservations. They saw a 33% lower Cost Per Reservation compared to other ad formats. Seeing these results from Instagram, we have high hopes for this Facebook placement.

How does this assist our paid media marketing plans?

Well if you want to hear the paid media gurus’ dirty little secret, they have always known that Instagram stories are a phenomenal way to boost your reach count on a budget. The bottom line is, the less ads on Instagram, the lower Cost Per Thousand (CPM).

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Now that Facebook have launched the story ads placement, and opened up the floodgates to digital marketers, it’s going going to have similar effects to the placement on Instagram. Marketers will be paying a lower CPM, as opposed to more traditional placement methods like the Facebook Feed and Right Hand Column.

What makes this even more exciting is that the stories placement allows for EVERY objective.

• Reach
• Brand Awareness
• Video Views
• App Installs
• Conversions
• Traffic
• Lead Generation

Now down to the nitty-gritty technical specifications. Facebook recommends using 9:16 to 1.91:1 for all creative in order to maximize all of the real-estate on users’ devices. The total video length should be up to 15 seconds, even though the average dwell time on an Instagram video story ad is just one second – yes you heard that right. The first second has to push the limits and have impact.

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In Facebook’s official announcement, they showcase the impact of stories ads: “Advertising in stories has proven to drive valuable business outcomes.

“In the Ipsos survey, 62% of people said they became more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a story.

“Brands testing Facebook Stories ads are already seeing results. iHeartRadio, Kettle Chips and KFC are among the advertisers who have seen brand lift from their Facebook Stories ad campaigns.”

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Right now is a fantastic opportunity to test Facebook story ads out and trial this placement for yourself. As Facebook story ads have just been released, strike while the iron’s hot, to maximise your potential reach on a lower campaign budget.

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