nashville geekEvery Social Media site has its own set of rules in regards to what you can share and how you can share it without penalty. Social media sites tend to be especially restrictive in regards to Ads. We think that is a good thing overall, everyone wants Social Media to remain “Social”; no one likes overbearing ads cramming up their news feed. That being said, keeping up with changing rules and staying in compliance can be daunting for agencies and small businesses alike. One of the most frustrating rules in social media, for us, has been Facebook’s ‘20% Rule.’ Facebook’s 20% rule states, “Ads and sponsored stories in News Feed may not include images comprised of more than 20% text.” Sounds easy, until you actually try to implement it. 20% is not a lot, and Facebook will NOT let 21% pass. We spent many months, wasting a lot of time, going back and forth from Photoshop to the ad manager before we found this helpful 20% grid tool. It lives in Facebook’s help section, but is not easy to find. Upload your image and this grid tool shows just what percent of your image is text. Here’s how it works: The simple image below appears to pass, but as you can see, it is way over the mark. 
One trip back to Photoshop and Success! We have an image that passes the test! 
Facebook’s 20% rule for ads may be limiting as far as design goes (there are plenty of articles railing against it), but until the rule changes this grid tool can save us all a lot of time and frustration. Have some great Social Media tips to share? We would love to hear ‘em! Let us know in the comments.
