How should I write the copy for a Meta ad for a local newsletter?

On one new operator's first ad, the big problem was way too much text. I'd make the top line one sentence and cut even the "see more."

What template do you use?

1. Top: an engaging question. "Are you tired of missing all the fun events in your town?"
2. Middle: a geographic callout, kept on one line and visually emphasized.
3. Bottom: a short call to action. For a membership offer, my preferred last line is "Apply for Membership."

What are your standing copy rules?

• FREE in the first sentence, capitalized, if the newsletter is free.
• Say what it is. Lead with the thing, not a clever tagline. A line like "no name tags, no pitches" works as a subhead, not a headline.
• Name the place. Spell it out so people think "this is for me." If your newsletter's name doesn't include the towns you cover, put the city names in the copy. A name without cities is a structural problem for city-level ads.
• Use non-round numbers. 7,500 or 46,000 subscribers, not 10,000 or 20,000. Round numbers sound made up. And make sure the number is true.
• Fewer words. I saw one ad so wordy that nobody would read it all.
• Match the tone to the audience. For one event community, an "old money" look was wrong; casual professional was right.

Where should text sit on the video?

Small, dead center, with lots of space above and below. Facebook and Instagram have so many placements and sizes that text near the edges gets cropped, which is way worse than small text. On one ad we moved the text higher so it didn't sit low on the video, removed the logo, and lightly darkened the text background without hiding faces.

Don't animate text in word by word. It can work once you have someone's attention, but scrollers read the first two words and they're gone.

What about direct-address headlines?

For a business-owner audience, a direct-address format pulled from a competitor's best ad beat our softer, longer concepts: "[City] founders doing $1 million. Read this." We dropped bubble-style text boxes for plain rectangular ones on that account.

Should I copy someone else's ad copy?

At first, yes. I've told people starting out to copy my ad text close to verbatim, then adjust once it's running. Test two copy variants at once on the same background video so the only difference is the words.