Making your first Video Catalog Ads and Product Level Video on Meta

Video Catalog Ads, or Product Level Videos as Meta calls them, can be extremely powerful. Some Confect users have seen a whopping 50% improvement in their Cost Per Purchase by making their Catalog Ads into a video.

But getting started with Video Catalog Ads can also seem daunting - even though it in its nature is the exact same as a normal Catalog Ad, just in a product video instead of a product image.

Table of contents:

Video Catalog Ads compared to normal Catalog Ads

The way to think about Video Catalog Ads and Product Level Videos is just as you normally think about Catalog Ads; The only difference is that you show a video.

And, because well-designed videos can perform better than images, they can be really powerful.

The Product Level Video below starts off by moving the product to the right to grab attention, and then starts introducing the different USPs of that specific wine one by one:

With Confect, you can make these videos for all your products and provide them to Meta in a Catalog.

The Meta AI will then dynamically show the product users are most likely to buy - mixing the power of their personalization engine together with beautiful video designs.

The biggest difference between normal Catalog Ads and Video Catalog Ads is that Video Catalog Ads only are supported as a single video - not as a carousel.

This can seem like a big limit, but in reality, it's not. And often, it's a big help to us marketers since it's very difficult to make videos work well in carousels. Seeing the same animation effect being applied to all slides in a carousel can easily cause sea sickness for the viewer, just like seeing a Prezi presentation with too many effects.

Making your first Video Catalog Ad

So, let's get started making our first Video Catalog Ad!

First, we of course need to create a new video design in Confect that we can use in our catalog.

If you are experienced in designing videos in tools like Premiere Pro or Final Cut, this can be a new, fun format to try out.

If you, on the other hand, like most marketers, have fairly limited experience editing videos, we recommend starting out simple.

Start with your current design template

If you want an easy start, the easiest way is to duplicate the design template you are using and make that into a video instead.

Go to your Design Templates in Confect, right-click on the design you're currently using, and duplicate it.

Now we have a design template we can make into a video.

The biggest change from image mode to video mode is the timeline in the bottom. Now, you can change when certain layers and elements should be on screen - or not on screen - by dragging the duration of the individual elements.

This makes it very easy for you to introduce new information or elements later in the video, add an intro video to the design, ending with a catalog ad, or shuffling through different images of the product.

Apply simple video effects

On top of the timeline you can also add video effects - like fading an element slowly into the screen, or making it fly out to the right.

An easy way to start is by making one of the elements in your design animate into the design.

This could typically be text elements like your price splash, the name of the product, or similar elements.

It can be used to grab attention when the viewer sees your video - as in this case, where the product is animated into the design with an attention-grabbing effect that is rotating and moving the product into the screen:

Your imagination is the only limit, but to get an easy start, it's recommended to start fairly simple like this.

In general, it's recommended to keep the most important thing(s) and information in the video from the start and then animate less relevant information or thing(s) into the video.

You can add pretty much any effect you want, like resizing the element, moving it, changing the opacity of it, rotating the element, and even more.

Your first video design can either be by animating the name, price of the product, and call to action into the video.

Or by shuffling between different additional images of the product, making the viewer see the product from different angles.

Or just adding motion to the video by animating the product, a splash, a campaign bar, or similar, so the video is engaging to look at.

Here are 3 different examples of how to achieve this by a simple animation:

Even though the videos look very smooth, they are very simple - only adding animated effects to either the text, the additional images, or the product image.

Videos can quickly become a behemoth to edit if you start out by making a complicated video with multiple scenes, so keeping it simple like this is a great way to get started.

Another way could be if the advertiser has product videos for each product.

If this is the case, you can swap your product images with the product video instead and focus your video on showing the viewer how the product is used and looks:

Implement your video catalog in Meta

Once you have a video design template you like, it's easy to implement it into your ads.

First, you have to create a video catalog in Confect - using your new video design template. Simply select Facebook Video Catalog as your channel, select your video design template, and you have a new video catalog you can use in Meta.

Once you have your video catalog in Confect, you just need to connect it with your current catalog in Meta's Commerce Manager, by inserting it as a supplementary feed - and boom, your products now have videos attached to them as well!

The above Product Level Video is the one we made in the screenshots earlier. It starts off showing the product zoomed in, but then animates the product to the left and reveals the sidebar to the right.

The sidebar has a subtle black video in the background and flickers the "SALE" text. A simple and fast way to make a designed image Catalog Ad into a nice video.

Use the video catalog in your ads

Now the products in your Catalog have videos associated with them, you can start using these product-level videos in your ads.

In the Facebook Ads Manager, find the ad you want to turn into a video catalog ad. You can edit a live one or create a new ad.

Make sure to select your Confect Catalog - and have the Confect chrome plugin installed.

In the Confect dropdown you find in the ads manager, you can switch away from your current design variant - and choose the Video variant you have created.

Now you can preview your ad - seeing your new Video Catalog Ad live - and start giving it ad spend!

Improving your Video Catalog Ads and Product Level videos

Once you have been live with your first Video Catalog Ads you can start planning how to improve them over time - and making better video design templates.

There are plenty of ways to utilize Video Catalog Ads to their fullest potential to deliver a better personalized experience as the viewer - and improve the discovery of your products, selling each product in the best way possible.

One thing to experiment with is the length and amount of information you provide viewers within the videos. In general, we recommend shorter videos with a duration of 6-12 seconds in order to not overwhelm viewers.

The video below is 8 seconds long, but it still manages to tell 3 things to the viewer: What type of wine it is, where it is from, and what it costs.

The most important thing is that you showcase the product - and why the viewer should care about the product - and ultimately buy it.

This can be different information about the product, like price, features, information about the brand, and so on.

It can also be different angles or scenarios of using the product so viewers can grasp all the benefits of buying the product.

A great rule of thumb can be to optimize your video designs based on AIDA:

Grabbing attention early in the video, optimally within the first second.

Creating interest in the product during the next 3 seconds.

Make the viewer desire the product in the next 3 seconds.

And ending your video design template with a Call to Action.

If you are currently using Confect for designing your Catalog Ads, it's easy to get access to Video Catalog Ads - just reach out to the live chat, and they can activate the feature for you with the press of a button.

If you are currently not using Confect yet you can create an account for free right here and get started designing your Video Catalog Ads in minutes.