How to create interactive Press and Hold posts on Facebook?

Facebook users may have noticed a new format of posts popping up on their timeline in the past few weeks, which could be loosely described as a GIF but with sound. Ankita Sinha, Associate Account Director at Cheil WorldWide explains how you can create innovative Press and Hold format posts on Facebook for your business.

The newest ad format that's catching everyone's attention is the Press and Hold format on Facebook.

The Press and Hold format allows a user to physically press the post to “reveal” either a video or a slideshow. As soon as you lift your finger off the screen you return to the static image. Here's what it looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XKWxauXiGl4

TL;DR: With more platforms and more brands on these platforms, social media has become a crowded landscape. The consumer is being bombarded with a lot of content, thanks to advertisers. To cut through this clutter and to drives results, we’ve got to create thumb-stopping content. The content that's created keeping user's behaviour like 'touch, swipe, double tap, scroll, swipe' in mind, tends to give increased engagement.

They keep the customers from swiping past your post and missing your message.

As a business, think of all the fun you can have with the Press & Hold format. This provides you with an opportunity to surprise your audience with some interesting content behind the reveal.

The Press and Hold format is nothing but an interactive photo post and to experience it you have to be on the Facebook app on mobile.

Let's look at the step-by-step way to create a post like this in minutes. I created one for this brand that I love - 'Brava Fabrics'.

Ingredients:

1. iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 9.0 or higher. These ads can be viewed on Android devices but can only be created and uploaded from iOS (mentioned) devices.

2. Video OR Photos

3. Cover image to tell people to press & hold to see what you have inside

4. intoLive app

Also Read: When Long Format Creatives were all the rage among brands

Step 1: Open intoLive app and select video or photos

The selected video/photos are what will be revealed once people click and hold the post. You can either reveal a video up to 30 seconds in length OR you can select up to 30 photos to create a slideshow inside instead.

The app will auto create a slideshow from the selected photos in the same order. Keep all the images of the same aspect ratio and orientation to get a neat result.

Click the arrow in the top right corner to go to the next step.

Step 2: Select Your First Frame

This is the image that your audience will see before they press and hold your post.

Use an image that has directions on it telling people exactly what to do. Since this is a new format, they’ll never know what's hiding inside without directions.

This image should be the same aspect ratio and orientation as the revealed contents inside.

I made mine using Canva app. I took an image from Brava Fabric's FB page and uploaded it on Canva. I placed a transparent thumbprint (from Google) and text overlay on this image.

P.S: Canva is super simple and free to use.

Step 3: Save Live Photo

Save this to your camera roll.

Step 4: Upload on Facebook using the Facebook App

Once you upload it as a photo, you’ll notice the 'live photos' white circle icon on the image. After uploading, make sure the “Live” button is toggled on. If you don’t do this, it won’t work.

And you're done!

Do let me know if this was helpful.

Thank you for reading. :)

Disclaimer: The first video is taken from Volkswagen's Facebook channel and is not created by me. The second video is created by me using content from Brava Fabrics' Facebook page. I have not taken any permission from Brava Fabrics regarding the same. This video has been created to showcase steps involved and the final product. If you have any concerns about anything, do drop me a message, and I'll help you have it resolved.

Link: The article was originally published here