When trying to engage audiences online, you need to do what you can to avoid ad fatigue. According to recent stats, people who see ads 6 to 10 times are 4.1% less likely to purchase a product, with that number increasing with additional instances.
How can you ensure your ads stay fresh in people’s minds in 2025? Associate Director of Paid Media, Jenna Long, will get into how to complete an ad refresh that really appeals to your target audience.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why Refreshing Ad Creatives Matters
- How to Tell It’s Time to Refresh Online Ad Creatives
- How to Refresh Your Paid Social Media Creatives
- Tools That Make Refreshing Easier
- Scaling Creative Refreshes for Long-Term Success
My Expert Opinion on Ad Refresh Strategies
Over time, ad creatives can become stale as people grow accustomed to your ads, especially if your ads look much like your competitors’.
To start, what is ad creative, exactly? Specifically, they apply to the imagery and text you use in your ads to resonate with viewers. These visuals and copy should capture your audiences and effectively hold their attention, whether for your Meta strategy or other paid media platforms.
In my experience, brands often benefit from sprucing their ads up with creative refreshes, and you don’t need to undergo an entire brand refresh to do so. Playing around with different visual styles and messaging that align with your current brand can help you establish a stronger connection with your target market.
Knowing how to build a paid social ad strategy that works for you specifically can guide you to long-term success. Also, knowing when to change things up in your ads will further secure this success.
If you’re not sure when to refresh your ad creatives, here’s a quick tip: If your click-through rates dip below 1%, consider a refresh to bring that up.
Why Refreshing Ad Creatives Matters
There are multiple benefits of refreshing social media creatives and other ad formats, including:
- Increased engagement: Compelling visuals and other creative elements will revitalize your ads and keep audiences more engaged.
- Higher ROAS: Another benefit is overall increased return on ad spend (ROAS) as your ads drive more engagement and conversions, ultimately resulting in more sales.
- Data-driven optimization: Testing various creatives in an ad refresh can help you determine what’s working and what isn’t, helping you optimize ads for better overall performance.
- A better brand perception: Refreshing ads can make your brand feel more consistently fresh and differentiate you from competitors, making you look better in the eyes of your audience.
- More adaptability: As advertising trends and audience preferences change over time, you can stay ahead of the curve with refreshed ads that implement these, keeping you engaging and relevant.
Even a minimalist approach to an ad refresh could get you better results.
For instance, let’s look at ecommerce platform Shopify, which decided to keep things simple with refreshed TikTok ads.
Shopify’s latest ads feature a catchy beat, a plain black background, and text that very simply illustrates the benefits of using the platform.
It’s short and sweet, with a clear call to action at the end to drive conversions, showing that you don’t need to be overly flashy with an effective ad refresh.
How to Tell It’s Time to Refresh Online Ad Creatives
A critical part of knowing how to build a paid social ad strategy that works involves figuring out the right time to commit to an ad refresh.
Some big brands rotate their creative every 10.4 days on average! Since bigger brands often have large budgets, they are able to reach a statistical significance for data-driven analysis much quicker than smaller brands, facilitating the quick turnaround on brand creative refreshes.
Whether you’re in charge of a big brand with a large budget, or smaller brands with more restrictive budgets, making an ad refresh is something you’ll want to do at a frequency that works for your business to maintain a competitive edge.
However, there are a couple of key ways to tell when a refresh will do you good, such as:
Monitor Key Metrics
First, take a look at your ads’ metrics and measure them against your goals: If you want to maximize brand awareness, let’s say, you would want to measure frequency rates and reach using Meta’s advanced analytics and other ad tools.
Meanwhile, you might look at click-through rates (CTRs) if you want to get more conversions with your ads.
If these metrics aren’t meeting your goals, consider an immediate ad refresh.
There are many tools that can help you measure ad performance using specific metrics.
For example, in Meta Ads Manager, you can easily view metrics for Facebook ads, along with other elements of Meta’s advanced analytics. Simply go to Ads Reporting in the dashboard and look at “Account insights” to view reach, frequency, CTR, and CPC.
Going by External Triggers
There are also certain external elements that could influence an ad refresh.
An example here could include seasonal changes that involve certain holidays or tones that appeal to audiences during different times of the year. For instance, during the summer months, you might use bright colors and vibrant, lively imagery, while winter ads might feature a wintery and cozy theme.
Also, take a look at what your competitors are doing. What kinds of visuals are they using? What ads drive the most engagement among them? You may discover that many competitors are doing the same thing, giving you an opportunity to stand apart creatively.
Pro Tip: To capitalize on seasonal engagement, refresh your ads right before major holidays.
How to Refresh Your Paid Social Media Creatives
There are plenty of ways to refresh ads using Meta advertising best practices and others across platforms.
Here are a few keys to a successful ad refresh:
Changing Visuals
Change out your ad visuals from time to time, including images and video. Video ads are particularly effective at connecting with audiences, as 66% of consumers state that short-form videos keep them invested more than long-form videos.
Test different color schemes, image themes, video styles, and other stylistic choices to make your ads stand out.
One example is Urban Company, which used graphic frames that make their visuals “pop” in banner ads, lending a more unique look.
See what competitors are doing and try to look different while incorporating visual trends that appear to engage.
Meta makes it easy to update Facebook ad creative in accordance with Meta Ads best practices.
Testing New Formats
Try various formats for your ads that blend copy and visuals in exciting ways.
As mentioned, one way to go about this is by transitioning from image to video ads. In some cases and on specific platforms, you’re likely to find that videos connect more with your target audiences.
You may also use animated ads that combine multiple images in sliders or a dynamic image ad.
Some Meta creative best practices here include using video ads that highlight your brand early on (ideally within the first three seconds), including subtitles for muted video ads, and including a clear call-to-action button.
Also, try different types of ad content, such as product demos showcasing a particular product, lifestyle shots showing how your offerings can enhance people’s lives, or behind-the-scenes footage showing your team and specific employees hard at work.
Updating CTAs
Update your calls-to-action as needed to boost conversions. Buttons and CTA text should be clear and indicate the specific action.
An example of a brand adhering to Meta advertising best practices when it comes to CTAs is HubSpot. This ad includes what looks like a clickable button within the ad image as well as a “Learn more” button at the bottom.
Viewers can then use HubSpot’s AI Search Grader after clicking this ad.
Tools That Make Refreshing Easier
In learning how to create or update ad creatives for an ad refresh, the following are some of the best tools for a creative strategy:
For Design
There are a few essential tools that can help you develop social media creatives that adhere to paid social best practices:
- Promo.com: Promo makes it easy to create video ads using images from Getty Images and iStock. PromoAI can help create, schedule, and publish video ads on Meta and other platforms. A free trial for Promo.com is available.
- Canva: When designing ads that comply with Meta creative best practices and those of other platforms, give Canva a try. This platform includes over 100 million images, videos, and ad elements, and it makes it easy to optimize ad creatives based on your specific needs. You can also try Canva with a free trial.
- Vimeo: Create high-quality Facebook ad creative in the form of videos with Vimeo’s many templates. In addition to using its existing library of templates, you can easily create your own.
For Analytics
Here are a few of the best tools for a creative strategy with Meta ads and other platforms for measuring analytics:
- Meta Ads Manager: View analytics for Meta ads exclusively using this tool, including reach, frequency, CTRs, and CPC. In the process, track the performance of campaigns and see what you need to do for continual optimization.
- Google Analytics: See what ads are driving traffic to your website, including social media and Google Ads.
- HubSpot: Using the HubSpot platform, you can monitor the performance of ad campaigns in the context of paid social best practices.
For Automation
To simplify your ad refresh, you should also use various automation tools like:
- DCOs: Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) tools like Hunch and Smartly can help you save some time when creating personalized ads. They use inputs like user location, gender, age, and buyer behavior combined with AI to match the right creative to the right audience. One brand was able to use Hunch’s localized ads to decrease its customer acquisition cost (CAC) by 62% and its cost per lead (CPL) by 82.4%.
- Scheduling Tools: Optimize your ad schedule to maintain an ideal level of frequency using various scheduling tools. Many scheduling tools like Buffer can also help you track metrics to gauge performance.
To decide which tools are right for your ad refresh, begin with one tool and integrate more over time. The most essential tools can keep your refreshes cost-effective and optimized at the start. Eventually, you can afford to use more for even more streamlined processes.
Scaling Creative Refreshes for Long-Term Success
When you complete your ad refresh, there are some steps you’ll want to take to scale your efforts and get the best results.
To effectively implement a refresh, here’s a checklist to help you with the process:
1. Regularly Scheduling Cycles:
Start by determining how often you need to undergo an ad refresh. With your early campaigns, you may find that you only need a refresh once every four to six weeks. As your brand grows and you have more flexibility in your budget and creative development, you may want to increase your refresh frequency.
2. Balancing Cost-Effectiveness With Innovation:
Only implement the tools you need at the beginning to keep the process affordable. For example, you may use one key design tool along with a couple of analytics tools like Google Analytics and Meta Ads Manager for smaller initial campaigns. As your campaigns and budget grow, you can start using more tools to innovate while maximizing profitability.
3. Checking Metrics Against Goals:
Regularly check your ad metrics and social media KPIs as they compare to your goals. If your ads don’t help you achieve your short- or long-term business goals, refresh as soon as possible. After each refresh, track performance metrics and compare them to previous efforts to see where your ads stand.
4. Creating a Library of Creatives:
Keep the creative process simpler by building up a library of images, copy, videos, and other elements. You may then use DCOs and other automation tools to make full use of this content in dynamic ad campaigns.
5. Testing Creative:
Conduct A/B tests to see which ad creatives get the best results. For instance, you might run two versions of an ad with a different image for each or run one static image ad and another in video form.
Want to succeed with your next campaign? Plan your first refresh today and set reminders for future updates.
Complete Your Next Ad Refresh With Ignite Visibility
If you would like to optimize your Meta strategy and learn more about how to create ad creatives that fuel success, Ignite Visibility is ready to help. We can develop high-quality paid social media campaigns that meet your goals and integrate them into a complete data-driven digital marketing solution.
Turn to us today for:
- Top-quality image and video ads that appear on Meta and many other platforms
- Refresh campaigns that continually change up your creative for better engagement and more conversions
- In-depth analytics to assess performance
- Integration of ads into SEO and other marketing channels
- And more!
Discover what all we can do for you when you reach out to us. Get started on your next ad refresh!
