To say that business needs and objectives have drastically shifted in the last week is an understatement. A digital footprint is more important than ever before as schools, businesses and community centres close their doors to the public to help protect those who are vulnerable and at risk.

But what can we do as businesses to continue connecting with our customers?

Facebook is now offering cash grants in support of small businesses that are and will be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. This grant program is aimed at keeping your workforce going strong, covering operational costs and connecting with your customers online. For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants

If a digital strategy and video ad creation is in the next steps of your action plan, here are some recently shared best practices to keep in mind:

Your message needs to be clear within the first 6 seconds.

• As we are spending more time on social media than ever before, our attention spans are shortening at an equal rate. If the message isn’t clear within the first six-seconds, consumers will already be scrolling on to the next video or meme. Always start with your most captivating content.

Attention needs to be grabbed quickly

• You’d be hurt to hear that consumers might not watch the entirety of a 60 second, nay 30 second, video clip to understand your brand’s message and story. By grabbing the attention of the viewer within the first few crucial seconds, you stand a chance at having them watch the rest of the clip, ideally, becoming intrigued enough in your product to click the link to learn more.

6-10 seconds is the video sweet spot

• Anything more than 15 seconds and you’re asking for too much of the viewers time. (Their words, not ours) If your message does, in fact, take more than 10 seconds to relay, create an enticing trailer of sorts for your ad, which will entice viewers enough to want to click on the ad to learn more.

Optimize for sound off

• While most of us can understand this rule, we sometimes forget when we are creating content for ads. Most of us scroll through social media in public places with the sound off. If words are being spoken in the video, always include subtitles in a small font/text so your message can still be understood.

Begin to create content with a mobile-first approach

• Creating content for mobile devices often becomes an afterthought as the typical form of capturing video is horizontally with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Try flipping the script by planning for mobile-first and designing a video that is vertical friendly with either an aspect ratio of 4:5 or 9:16. Full portrait/vertical videos generally tend to outperform landscape videos in both Facebook and Instagram ads.