Ad creative that works in the feed looks like something people want to stop for, not like an ad. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok now find the right people so well on their own that what you show them matters more than how you set up the audience. Seven rules cover most of it, and none of them requires an agency.
Why does the creative matter more than the audience?
Ten years ago the winner was whoever was best at building audiences: interests, ages and lookalikes (people who resemble your existing customers) stacked on top of each other. Today the platforms do that job better than we do. Meta's algorithm looks at who stops for your ad and finds more people like them. The ad itself has become the targeting: a video about bookkeeping for tradespeople finds tradespeople, a picture of a pushchair finds parents.
That's why I tell my clients that creative is the new targeting. In my accounts it's the single biggest difference between campaigns that pay for themselves and campaigns that don't. Same budget, same audience, new creative: the cost per result can halve or double.
How do you grab attention in the feed?
Rule 1: Win the first two seconds
Nobody waits for your ad to get to the point. You have about two seconds (half a scroll) to give someone a reason to stop. No logo animation at the start, no build-up, no "welcome to". Open with the strongest thing you have: the product in use, a face saying something unexpected, a number, a question.
A simple test: watch the first two seconds of your video with the sound off. Do you understand what it's about and why you should care? If not, re-edit it.
Rule 2: One message per ad
The most common reason ads flop in my accounts is that they try to say everything. Free shipping, 20 years of experience, new collection, book now and follow us on Instagram, all in the same image. The result: nobody takes in any of it. Pick one thing. If you want to say three things, make three ads (which you should do anyway, see rule 6).
Rule 3: Make text readable on a phone, and assume the sound is off
Almost everyone sees your ad on a phone. The elegant, thin text that looks great on your desktop turns into a grey smudge on a small screen on the bus. Hold the phone at arm's length: can you read the text without squinting? Large text, high contrast, few words.
And feed video often plays without sound. If someone speaks in your video, add subtitles burned into the video itself, so you don't depend on the platform's own captions working. And the story should be easy to follow with the sound off. Sound is a bonus, not the backbone.
Which formats and subjects work best?
Rule 4: The right format for each placement
An ad made for one placement usually looks wrong in another. A landscape 16:9 clip (TV shape) takes up a third of the screen in the feed and almost nothing in Stories. The basic rules today:
- 1:1 or 4:5 in the feed on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. 4:5 takes up more of the screen and is the one I choose most often.
- 9:16 (vertical full screen) in Stories, Reels and on TikTok. Leave space at the top and bottom, where the platform puts its own buttons and text.
- Make every format from the start. Exporting an extra version takes a few minutes while the project is open, and hours if you come back to it a week later.
You can let Meta recrop a 1:1 to 9:16 automatically, but the result is rarely good. Faces end up out of frame and text gets cut off. Do it yourself.
Rule 5: People and faces beat product shots more often than you think
A product shot on a white background is made for an online shop, where the visitor already wants to look at the product. In the feed you compete with people's children, dogs and holidays. A face stops the thumb. In my accounts, images of people using the product, or talking straight into the camera, win more often than pure product shots. That applies to B2B too: a short video where you explain something you know beats a slick animated graphic on LinkedIn time after time. Not always. But more often than most people think, so test it.
How many variants do you need, and how polished should they be?
Rule 6: Make at least three variants and let the platform choose
You don't know which ad will work best. Neither do I. The only way to find out is to put in several and let the algorithm decide where the budget goes. Three variants is the minimum: change the image, the headline, the angle. After a week or two you'll see which ones get the budget. Make new variants of the winner and switch off the losers. There's no answer sheet, just a loop.
Rule 7: Skip the stock photos and use your own material, even if it's simpler
People spot a stock photo in a split second: the smiling team around a laptop, the handshake by the window. It says "this is an ad" before anyone reads a word. A phone photo of your real workshop, or of you in the car on the way to a client, may look worse technically. But it looks like the feed around it, and it's real. People notice.
The caveat: pretty isn't the same as effective
I have to say it, even though it goes against everything your brand guidelines stand for: an ugly ad with the right message often beats a beautiful ad with the wrong one. I have seen a shaky phone video of an installer explaining why a heat pump sounds the way it does beat a professionally produced film from the same company, several times over. The message was right, the person was credible and it looked like the feed.
That doesn't mean making ugly ads on purpose. It means that if you have to choose between one more hour of editing and one hour working out what the ad should actually say, choose the second. The version you like least may well win. Let the numbers decide, not your taste.
And the rules don't apply everywhere. Luxury products and interior design may need that polished look. Many LinkedIn users are at a computer, so big text matters less there. And if you only have time for one ad, make one good one rather than three half-hearted ones.
Do you need an agency to make your ads?
Usually not. But this is where many people get stuck: they can set up the campaign, but nobody's there to make the actual ads. I offer two levels, depending on what you already have.
Adapting your own material. You already have images, video or a logo from a photo shoot, your website or your phone. I edit it, add text and subtitles and adapt it to 1:1, 4:5 and 9:16 so it looks professional in every placement. It's the cheapest option, and surprisingly often it's enough. For Meta it costs €580 as a one-off fee.
Production from scratch. You have no material at all, so I come up with the idea, copy, images and video in the formats each channel needs. It costs more (€870 for Meta), but you own everything and can reuse it in other channels.
You'll find what both levels cost for each channel in the pricing calculator, and how I approach production on the ad production page. Either way, the creative is made once, so you can run the campaigns yourself afterwards. I cover how the campaign itself is set up under Meta Ads.
What to do next
- Open your latest ad on your phone with the sound off. Do you get the message within two seconds? Can you read the text? If not, you know where to start.
- Write down the one message each ad should carry, before you open any editing software.
- Make three variants in 4:5 and 9:16, preferably with your own material and at least one with a face.
- Put them in the same ad set, let them run for one to two weeks and make new variants of the winner.
- Not sure where you stand? Take the quick analysis, five questions, two minutes, and you'll get a picture of what to tackle first.
