A Caveman’s Guide to Facebook Advertising

If you’re looking to spice up your Facebook ads, you need look no further than what would have caught the eye of primitive man. Huh? While yes, many things have changed over the centuries, but you’ll be interested to know that attraction hasn’t actually changed very much since the days of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

So if you are looking to draw more people to your Facebook ads, take these caveman lessons:

Lesson #1: Notice fire

Back in cave days, a healthy respect of fire was good for survival. Today if someone yells "FIRE" in a public space, you can expect people to react in panic, even though the fire can’t be seen. The mere mention of it induces anxiety and alertness. Since fire has been important to man’s existence, we still have strong responses to the colors today. If you have any doubt about this, recall the colors of traffic lights and signs: red, orange and yellow.

Coincidentally enough, when the same colors are found in Facebook ads, we take notice. They command urgency, attention, and are tempting to click.

Lesson #2: Notice when something is out of place

Is that a saber tooth tiger in my peripheral vision?!

YIKES!

Isn’t it wild to know that the same survival mechanism that allowed early man to detect danger is still around helping modern man? Well, you can use this to your advantage if you want to interrupt the flow of your fans checking out interesting pictures of their friends and ongoing updates in their News Feed. It is instinctive to notice something that is "out of place." Advertisers can use this by including something in the image that shouldn’t naturally be there.

Here are some examples of captivating our attention by making our minds do a "double take." This ranges from covering an image, using a well-known image in another way, or putting a border around the ad.

Lesson #3: Primitive Man Likes a Happy Woman

Primitive man needs a mate. (Grin.) He wants a companion and children, so he is drawn to an attractive, smiling woman. Shockingly this kind of image does wonders on Facebook, across markets and genders. This isn’t a flippant, "sex sells" comment; both men and women tend to find the picture of a happy woman reassuring and respond to physical beauty.

While we may feel so "evolved", it’s fun to think many of the same forces of attraction have been within us for centuries. Tapping into primitive man may actually help us to find ways to attract modern man (and woman, of course).

Knowing what attracts attention on Facebook is just the beginning of creating well- converting campaigns. What have been the images for your best converting ads? Would a caveman have approved? I look forward to hearing what has worked for you.