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Facebook Text Overlay: Is the 20% Rule Still Relevant in 2022?

At 5 Horizons we value curiosity and expand our industry knowledge by keeping up with the latest marketing trends and testing the relevance of the old ones. 

It’s been a few years since Facebook got rid of its restrictions on text content in ad images, known as “text overlay.” When enforced, the rule used to reject advertisements that had more than 20% text in the image itself. Even though the rule is no longer a requirement, it should still serve as a guiding principle for anyone looking to advertise on Facebook, according to HubSpot.

Why?

“Use less text on images” is listed as a top recommendation from Facebook to its advertisers. The goal of advertising on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) is to create ads that blend as seamlessly as possible into the rest of the content in the user’s newsfeed. Consequently, images with less than 20% text create a better experience for viewers and advertisers and tend to perform better.

How to Optimize the Text-to-Image Ratio

1. Use a Text Overlay Tool

When the 20% rule was enforced, Facebook offered a text overlay tool to help advertisers determine whether their images had too many words. While the original tool is not available anymore, these alternatives mimic its functionality and can help you determine your text-to-image ratio:

• TechWyse’s Facebook Text Overlay Tool
• Social Contests Text Overlay Tool

2. Pay Attention to Details

Images of book and album covers, event posters, video games, and some product images that contain text are an exception to the 20% rule. However, text-based logos are not an exception to the rule and should be counted when deciding how much text to include in your image.

3. Pick an Effective Font Size

Smaller font sizes don’t take up as much space and are recommended for ad images, while bigger font sizes make you exceed the 20% rule right away. Still, your font should be big enough to be legible, so staying around 24 pixels for sentences and under 42 pixels for headings is a good rule of thumb. 

Keep in Mind

Use the 20% rule as a guideline when creating your ads to make sure it’s as effective as possible. Keep the image text to a minimum while opting for more eye-catching and resonant language. And remember, even if your copy is well-written, too much text is too much text.

Create Better Facebook and Instagram Ads

Our 5 Horizons creatives are experts in reaching unique audiences with compelling copy and appealing images. Contact us if you’re looking for ways to make your marketing stand out and encourage people to engage with your brand.

How to Strengthen Higher Education Marketing: Part 2

Top Higher Education Marketing Trends to Implement in Your Strategy for 2023

In part one, we discussed the crucial roles of crowdsourcing and short form video content in higher ed marketing. While virtual events and digital marketing continue to be popular strategies for capturing student leads, striking a balance between traditional marketing and fresher trends is still highly important.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) marketing trend is not new, but it remains as relevant as ever. With so many prospective students looking for higher education options on major search engines, strong SEO strategies can help improve visibility and increase ranking. 

Higher positioning in search engine results can drive more traffic to your school’s website, and if it’s populated with relevant and insightful content, such as blogs and easy-to-navigate resources, a prospective student is more likely to stay on your website for longer. 

Updating your institution’s SEOs in a timely manner can lead to user retention, which will increase the prospective student’s familiarity with your school’s brand and identity.

Our Recommendation

One of the ways to increase your institution’s visibility and boost rankings is to create quality content for your website. Your content should be interactive, tell a story, and capture the voice of your school. Linking to reputable and high-ranking sources within your content can further positively affect your SEOs and bring awareness to your institution.

Unique Selling Proposition

When it comes to differentiating your academic institution from other competitors, it’s crucial to keep your unique selling proposition (USP) in mind. 

While there is no doubt that each school has its own identity and branding, this marketing strategy is directed more toward identifying specific offerings that are unique to your institution.

For example, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people had to quickly adapt to online learning. Even though in 2023 many higher education institutions are expected to fully transition back to in-person instruction, online education remains in high demand for some students. People who require more flexibility to balance their studies with other responsibilities gravitate toward online or hybrid learning, and if your institution offers such programs, it is worth putting them at the forefront of your marketing strategy.

Our Recommendation

When trying to identify your institution’s USP, ask yourself and your team these questions:

• Who are our actual and ideal applicants?
• What programs or services do we offer that other schools don’t?
• What are our strengths and how can we best communicate them?

Bottom Line

A successful higher ed marketing strategy will always be unique to your institution, but a combination of crowdsourcing, short form video content, SEO, and USP can give you a boost in enrollment in the new calendar year. Check out Part 1 of How to Strengthen Higher Education Marketing.

5 Horizons can help incorporate all of these tips and more into your higher education marketing strategy. With our vast experience working with community college and university clients, the 5 Horizons team understands your unique target audience and provides exceptional creative execution and data insights that bring in tangible enrollment results. Let us help you reach and exceed your marketing goals.

Small Steps to Grow Social

Engage Your Audience Organically

Social media is a complex beast, especially when trying to market your business or grow your brand. Connecting with the right audience and establishing your brand voice and style can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.

Growing your audience organically takes time, but here are five small steps you can take along the way to boost consistent growth and engagement.

1. Interview Your Business

Identifying and presenting a clear brand aesthetic will show your audience that you know exactly who you are, what you offer, and what consumers can expect when interacting with your brand. As an exercise, conduct a mock interview with your business or brand. What are your mission, vision, and values? What type of customer experience do you want to offer? What is your brand style and why does that reflect your business offerings?

2. Know Your Audience

Learning more about your current audience will help you reach the right consumers on each platform. Who is your target audience and what are their motivations? The more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to reach and connect with them.

3. One Size Does Not Fit All

Depending on how many social media channels you are engaging with, you will need to designate unique content for each channel. Different platforms attract different users and require different approaches. Find out where your audience spends most of their time and research successful brands on that specific platform. Your brand voice will likely change in subtle ways when interacting with different channels.

4. Find Like-Minded Communities

Social media developers want their users to interact in a variety of ways. If you post content but don’t interact with other users’ posts, it is likely the algorithm will de-prioritize your content. Take the time to find other companies and organizations to align yourself with. Unfollow accounts that may be positioning themselves in ways that compete with or contradict your business approach. Create, share, and reshare valuable content that your audience may appreciate.

5. Stay Current

Each social media platform offers unique features to reach a wider audience. Take advantage of the tools available to you and be open to trying new techniques. Social media is constantly advancing, meaning the tricks that work today may not work as well next week. Use hashtags wisely and keep an eye on what posts gain traction in your social community to strategically implement your approach.

Consistency and creativity are the keys to successfully growing a strong, organic social media following.

How Rewards and Loyalty Programs Affect Marketing

At 5 Horizons, we value curiosity and continue to expand our industry knowledge by keeping up with the latest marketing trends.

Over the past few years, browser extensions, such as PayPal Honey, have become increasingly popular among consumers shopping on eCommerce websites. According to Business Insider research, businesses that prioritize rewards and loyalty programs in their marketing efforts are more likely to not only find but also retain customers in the current abundant online retail market.

Browser extensions that aggregate and automatically apply promo codes at checkout have been saving people money at no cost to them, ultimately resulting in a positive shopping experience. Adapting such programs into the marketing model allows retailers to meet consumers where they are, convert “lost shoppers,” reduce buyer’s remorse, and even incentivize customers to spend more on average.

Affiliate marketing programs are also very likely to motivate prospective customers to go through with a purchase. Since rewards and deals are a highly emotional trigger for people, such programs further contribute to establishing customer loyalty.

If you’re looking to incorporate rewards and loyalty programs into your marketing strategy, here is a list of tools that could make both the seller’s and the buyer’s journey more efficient and gratifying:

1. PayPal Honey
2. Shopper.com
3. Capital One Shopping
4. Rakuten
5. RetailMeNot

Similar to these browser extensions scouring the internet for the best promo codes, our team at 5 Horizons combs through industry news to provide you with the practical information you need to succeed.

Say Hello to 5 Horizons

We’ve refreshed our look and we’re incredibly excited to share it with you.

5HD (5 Horizons Digital) is now 5 Horizons. Over the last nine years of growth, we have become so much more and it’s time our brand reflects that.

We evolved our logo to display five sides that represent our core disciplines: strategy, design, storytelling, data, and technology.

• We use strategy to create long-term plans for achieving our partners’ multi-faceted goals.
• Our team approaches each new project with an eye on the latest design trends.
• We dedicate our time to learning each of our partner’s unique voices, with storytelling at the heart of everything we do.
• Our team utilizes data to identify the insights needed to drive action and growth for our partners.
• We provide a deep expertise in marketing technology for SEO optimization, CRM management, and marketing automation. 

Our new look includes a rising sun to embody our constant need to always look towards what’s new and what’s next. 5 Horizons continues to be your one-stop shop for holistic, forward-thinking advertising and marketing.

We look forward to being your partner well beyond the horizon.

Verifying Your Facebook Domain

Verifying your website domain is simply good practice. With the arrival of Apple’s iOS 14 update, however, domain verification is now critical for Facebook advertisers.

Apple’s iOS 14 Operating System’s Effects on User Data

In June of 2020, Apple made announcements at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) about product and policy changes coming in early 2021 that would affect the user data shared with advertisers. The update went live in September of 2020. However, advertisers are just starting to realize the impact that this update will have on their efforts.