As people continue to connect to Facebook using different connection speeds and device types, plus as video consumption moves to mobile - video can also be challenge advertisers. slideshow is both a video creation tool and a new ad format which helps advertisers tell brand stories in emerging and high-growth countries plus can be used by small businesses who do not have the resources to create videos.

“We are constantly working to build ways for people to connect through Facebook regardless of connection speeds and device types. This also means helping marketers reach people in the best way, and that means creating solutions to make this possible in different environments,” says Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Facebook Africa.

“slideshow is a new tool and ad format to help businesses big and small take advantage of video more easily while using less of a person’s data plan. The power of visual communication is real: we’ve already seen strong results from Coke in Africa, and look forward to working with more businesses in Africa as we roll out over the coming weeks,” adds Ntshingila.

Here are some of the additional benefits slideshow creates for advertisers and people:

  • Gives all businesses the ability to create video assets: slideshow reduces the need for video production time and resources. Businesses can use its own images or simply pull stock imagery from Facebook’s library;
  • Reach more people with video on all devices: the smaller file size helps advertisers reach more people with eye catching video ads regardless of device or connection; and 
  • Takes up less data: a 15-second slideshow can be up to five times smaller in file size than a video of the same length.

Recent slideshow tests includes Coca Cola in Kenya and Nigeria ran a video ad to raise awareness of the new season of their show, Coke Studio Africa.

To extend the reach of their ad to people within their target audience who were on slow connections or features phones, they took high-resolution screenshots from the video, uploaded them in sequence along with some basic text and ran the story as a slideshow on Facebook.

The results were encouraging: they reached two million people - twice their goal - and raised ad awareness by 10 points in Kenya.

For more information, click here.