When considering Meta advertising, it’s easy to focus on targeting, budgets, and audience data. However, there’s one piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked: your creative. It’s the first thing people see, and the only thing they’ll remember if it doesn’t resonate with them quickly.

In a fast-scrolling world, visual content is what stops the thumb. Your ad might be supported by a solid strategy, but if your creative doesn’t immediately capture attention, it won’t matter. That’s why creative isn’t just a part of your Meta ad strategy, it is the strategy.

Your Creative Is Your Most Important Asset

Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) are crowded spaces. Users are there to connect with friends, follow content they care about, and unwind, not necessarily to shop or explore services. This means your ad needs to work hard to earn its place in the feed.

The algorithm will show your ad to more people if it generates engagement. And what drives that engagement? It starts with creative. A strong image or video holds attention, tells a story instantly and makes your message easy to absorb. If your creative blends into the feed, your audience will scroll right past it, no matter how relevant your offer is.

What Makes Meta Ad Creative Effective?

First, it needs to be designed with mobile in mind. Over 98% of Meta users access the platform on their phones. That means square or vertical formats are essential, and every design element should be clear on a small screen.

Good creative also communicates fast. You can’t assume users will watch a full video or read a long caption. Your ad should make its main point in the first couple of seconds, ideally without sound. That’s where text overlays and strong visuals come in. They allow your core message to land before the user has a chance to scroll on.

And importantly, your creative should feel like you. Generic stock imagery won’t cut through. Ads that reflect your brand: your colours, tone, personality and product, are more trustworthy and more memorable.

Formats That Perform: Creative Types Worth Testing

Meta offers a range of visual formats, and choosing the right one depends on your message and your audience. Here’s how to approach some of the most effective types.

Carousel ads

Carousels are ideal for telling a story or showcasing a product range. Each panel acts as a step — whether that’s moving through service stages, highlighting individual products, or illustrating a transformation.

For example, a home renovation company might use a carousel to walk users through a before-and-after journey, with each card showing progress at a different stage of the build. The key is consistency — visual flow and a single narrative thread help encourage swiping and engagement.

Video ads

Video continues to play a major role in Meta’s content strategy. Reels and video content now make up over half the time spent on Facebook and Instagram combined. However, attention spans are short, so successful video ads are sharp, clear and fast to engage.

We often recommend videos under 15 seconds, with the product or key message introduced in the first 3 seconds. Captions are essential — most users watch without sound — and a compelling visual hook right at the start makes all the difference. Think of it as a trailer for your brand, not a feature film.

Image ads with text overlays

When used strategically, a single image can still outperform more complex formats, especially in retargeting campaigns or simple product highlights. But the image must do more than just look good.

Take a skincare brand, for instance. A clean, close-up product shot with a sharp tagline like “Real results in 7 days” layered over the image tells the user exactly what’s being offered and what to expect. The overlay should be readable on mobile, avoid placement cropping, and sit naturally within the visual, not feel like an afterthought.

Creative Best Practices That Make A Difference

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to Meta ad creative, but over time, we’ve seen clear patterns in what consistently performs. It’s not about clever tricks or trends. It’s about understanding how people engage with content and designing with that behaviour in mind.

At Arcadian Digital, we focus on visual clarity, brand consistency and content that connects emotionally. High-contrast colours, clean layouts, and real imagery (especially faces) tend to hold attention longer, but only when used with purpose and aligned with your brand.

We also know that subtle design choices, the way text is layered, the placement of a logo, or even how your product is framed, can have a measurable impact on performance. That’s why creative testing is a core part of our process. It helps us identify what resonates with your audience, so we can iterate quickly and scale what works.

When you work with us, we bring not just experience but the ability to turn insight into action, designing scroll-stopping creative that delivers real outcomes.

Strategy Gets You Started, Creative Gets You Results

It’s tempting to think of creative as the last step in the process, the thing you slap onto a well-planned campaign. But the truth is, creative often determines whether a campaign succeeds or stalls.

When you partner with a digital agency like Arcadian Digital, we don’t just run ads. We craft campaigns designed to perform. That means bringing strategy and creative together, aligning the message, the visuals and the platform to get results that matter.

If your Meta ads aren’t delivering the way they should, your creative might be the missing link. Let’s fix that.