What’s Happening
Facebook’s asset customization feature recently got a quiet new boost. Undoubtedly in an effort to improve adoption rates and performance for Stories ad placements, eight additional static image templates have appeared within the Facebook Ads manager.
Previously, static image ads in Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger Stories showed with the now-default template that placed the horizontal (or square) image above the ad text, which is highlighted against a colored background.
The new templates vary the position, order, background, and color schemes surrounding the hero image, ad text, and headline.
What It Means
New templates provide the opportunity to further differentiate your Stories ads from competitors without video creative.
Asset customization is a lifesaver for marketers who do not have access to 15-second-or-less video creative. The ability to leverage existing image assets within the Stories placement opens up a new set of currently-less-expensive social inventory.
Facebook has taken this one step further, now offering the chance to truly customize (to a limited degree) how your image ad will appear within the trendy Stories placements on Facebook-owned apps.
What to Expect
As more and more advertisers begin to adopt asset customization, the default static image template will become less and less appealing to Stories viewers, causing engagement rates to eventually decay. Taking advantage of the new templates should, in the near term, provide a leg up for early adopters.
Video creative is still expected to dominate in Stories, as well as the feed, due to user expectations and preferences. However, not having access to video should no longer be a permissible excuse for avoiding Stories ads, given the many tools that Facebook has rolled out.