A few months ago, we reported that Facebook may have been making changes to their 20 percent ad rule, which states that any images with more than 20 percent text in them are not eligible for boosting.
At that time, a European site had made claims that the rule seemed to be relaxed, allowing for images with more than 20 percent text in them to be boosted, however, with a warning that they may not reach as many people as a photo with less than 20 percent text.
Unfortunately, no one else was able to verify this claim so, it remained that, just a claim.
However, new information directly from the source itself…
Previously, if 20% of an ad image’s area was text, it wouldn’t be approved to run on Facebook, Instagram or the Audience Network. While minimal text is still preferred, we’ve adopted a new system that allows you to run ads that would’ve been rejected under our old policy. With our new system, ads with higher amounts of text will receive less or no delivery at all (unless we apply an exception). Use the text overlay tool to determine if your ad’s reach may be reduced by too much text on the ad image before you run your ad.
Adding a relevant image of your product or service can be one of the most powerful factors in determining the success of your Facebook ads. When you use images, try to include as little text as possible on the image itself. For any text you use in your ad, we recommend that you include it in the post, rather than the image. Our research has shown that people prefer to see ads with minimal image text. SOURCE: Facebook
Some more visual insight…
What does all this mean? Well, businesses that want to boost images with more than 20 percent text in them are going to pay a premium compared to those who do not.
However, sometimes, businesses can find it valuable to promote images that have more than 20 percent text if they are attempting to get information out on an event or perhaps sharing a coupon as noted in the picture above. Those businesses may feel that paying a premium is still worth pushing the image out as opposed to not having it be eligible for boosting at all.
Well, there you have it. boost away.