A few days ago, we discussed the new Right-Hand Columns Ads format in Facebook, letting  you know that whenever a new ad format is released, there are huge opportunities to achieve amazing results for pennies.

Here’s a refresher: We all get tired of ads pretty quickly. However, at the same time, we are naturally curious and attracted by new things. That’s why new advertisement formats always perform well in their infancy, before everyone get used to them. With that idea in mind, guess which ad format is still new and widely unused on Facebook? Video Advertising!

There’s a reason for this. While big enterprises can afford the cost of professional video making, the millions of SMBs doing marketing on Facebook cannot afford costs in the thousands of dollars range just for a marketing experiments…until now! Meet Shakr, a super simple, affordable solution for creating amazing Video Ads and presentations.

We met the Shakr guys last week as they’re a fellow 500 Startups company and immediately fell in love with their product. Creating awesome video presentations of your business is extremely simple and intuitive. All you need is an idea and some pictures. Here’s a quick walk through on how to do it:

1. Go on Shakr and create an account — it’s totally free, don’t worry!
2. Browse their video templates and pick one you like. They’re divided into tons of categories, from restaurants to real estate.
3. Once you have chosen a video, click “Make My Video.”
   
4. The Shakr video editor will load. Everything is pretty straight-forward. For every segment of the video, you’ll have to load your own pictures and insert the desired text. Some templates also support uploading your own video clips instead of pictures. In few minutes you’ll be done!
5. Once you’ve completed the setup, all you have to do is wait for Shakr to render your customized video clip. It’s extremely fast and will only take a couple of minutes.
6. Watch the preview (which contains a watermark). If you like it, you can buy it in high-resolution for as low as $8  — a real bargain.

Getting your video to the right audience

Now that you have a great video to promote your business, you need a simple way to distribute your content, allowing for hundreds or thousands of people to view it. That’s where Facebook Video Ads come in handy…your newly created video can reach your perfect audience in a matter of minutes:

1. Go to your Facebook page and create a new post attaching your video.
   
2. To maximize exposure, insert a link to your website in the post’s text. Offering a discount will improve your conversions!
3. Login or Signup to AdEspresso and create a new campaign. In Step 1, select the promote a page’s post option.
4. In Step 2, Ad’s Creation, select your page and then the video post you want to promote.
   
5. In Step 3, select the right targeting for your Facebook Video Ad. If you’re a local business, you can fine tune your campaign with a granularity up to the zip code where your business is located. Run some split tests on your audience to discover who’s more likely to watch your video and click on your website. Split testing can increase your advertising ROI up to 40% and it’s as simple as a mouse click with AdEspresso.
6. Enjoy our super-simple campaign’s analytics to understand how you’re doing and optimize your campaign.

That’s it, in less than 30 minutes and with a budget as low as $20, you’ve created your first Facebook Video Ad. Awesome, isn’t it?

Now go test it yourself and let us know in the comments what results have you achieved!