How to Change Facebook Ad Thumbnail
Your Facebook video ad thumbnail is the single most important frame of your entire video, yet it’s often an afterthought. A blurry, confusing, or just plain boring thumbnail can stop a great ad dead in its tracks before anyone even hits play. This article will show you exactly how to change your Facebook ad thumbnail and share some best practices for choosing a winner that stops the scroll.
Why Your Facebook Ad Thumbnail Matters More Than You Think
Think of your thumbnail as the cover of a book or the poster for a movie. It’s a tiny piece of real estate that does a massive amount of work. It’s your first and best chance to grab someone’s attention as they scroll through an endless feed of content.
Here’s why it’s so critical:
It Stops the Scroll: In a crowded feed, a compelling thumbnail is a visual speed bump. An eye-catching image, a clear shot of a person’s face, or bright brand colors can be all it takes to make someone pause and consider your ad.
It Boosts Click-Through Rates (CTR): A great thumbnail piques curiosity and makes people want to know more. This leads to more people clicking to watch your video, instantly improving a key performance metric for your ad campaign.
It Sets Viewer Expectations: The thumbnail gives users a clue about what the video contains. Is it a product demo, a customer testimonial, or a funny sketch? A clear thumbnail ensures the people who click are genuinely interested in your content, leading to higher engagement and better ROAS.
It Reinforces Your Brand: Consistently using your brand’s fonts, colors, and logo style in your thumbnails helps build brand recognition over time. Even if someone doesn’t click, they’re still exposed to your brand in a professional way.
Best Practices for Creating a Scroll-Stopping Thumbnail
Before you jump into Ads Manager, you need a thumbnail that works. Facebook’s auto-generated options are rarely your best bet. Designing a custom thumbnail gives you total control. Here’s what makes a good one:
1. Use a High-Quality, Clear Image
This is non-negotiable. Your thumbnail must be sharp and clear, especially on mobile devices where it will be viewed most. Avoid blurry screenshots, dark scenes, or low-resolution images. If the thumbnail looks unprofessional, users will assume your product or service is, too.
2. Feature a Human Face
Humans are wired to respond to other human faces, especially ones that show emotion. A shot of someone smiling, looking surprised, or demonstrating a product is far more effective than an image of the product by itself. It builds an instant connection and makes the ad feel more personal.
3. Add Bold, Simple Text Overlays
Add a few words of text to give context or state a clear benefit. A question like "Tired of X?" or a bold claim like "5-Minute Setup" can provide the hook someone needs. Keep the text minimal, easy to read, and positioned so it doesn't cover the most important parts of the image. While Facebook has relaxed its "20% text rule," its original spirit still holds true: less is more, and readability is key.
Example: For a video about a new project management tool, a thumbnail with a smiling person looking at their laptop, with the text "End Meeting Chaos" overlaid, is far more compelling than a generic screenshot of the software's interface.
4. Stay On-Brand
Use your brand's colors and fonts. This simple step creates brand consistency across your ads. When a user sees a particular color scheme or font style, they should immediately associate it with your brand.
5. Create Curiosity
Don’t give everything away in the thumbnail. Show an intriguing "after" shot, the peak of an exciting moment, or a thought-provoking visual that makes people click to see what happens. Just be sure the video delivers on the promise of the thumbnail to avoid disappointing viewers.
How to Change Your Facebook Ad Thumbnail: Step-by-Step Guide
You can change your video ad's thumbnail during the ad creation process in Meta Ads Manager. This is the recommended method because editing an already-live ad can cause issues (more on that later).
Inside Meta Ads Manager (During Ad Creation)
This is the best place to set your custom thumbnail when building a new campaign.
Step 1: Navigate to the Ad LevelStart by creating a new campaign as you normally would. Select your objective, set your budget at the ad set level, and define your audience. Once you get to the final "Ad" level, you'll set up your ad creative.
Step 2: Upload Your VideoUnder the "Ad Creative" section, select "Add Media" and then "Add Video." Upload the video file you want to use for your ad.
Step 3: Select the "Edit Media" OptionOnce your video is loaded, you'll see a preview of it. Hover over the video and click the "Edit" button that appears, or look for an option that says "Edit Media." This will open Facebook’s media editing tools.
Step 4: Choose Your ThumbnailIn the editing window, find and click on the "Thumbnail" tab. Meta gives you three main choices:
Automatic: Facebook picks what it thinks is the best frame. This is almost never the optimal choice.
Manual: This option lets you scroll through your video and select a specific frame to be your thumbnail. This can work if you have a great shot within the video, but it doesn't allow for text overlays or external branding.
Upload: This is the best option. It allows you to upload a custom-designed image created specifically to be your thumbnail. Simply click "Upload" and choose the JPEG or PNG file from your computer.
For custom uploads, Facebook recommends an image that matches the aspect ratio of your video (e.g., 1:1 for a square video or 9:16 for a vertical Story). A resolution of at least 1080x1080 pixels is best to ensure it looks crisp.
Step 5: Save and PublishAfter you've selected or uploaded your new thumbnail, click the "Save" button. You’ll see the new thumbnail appear on your ad preview. Finish setting up the rest of your ad (headline, primary text, CTA button) and then click "Publish" to send it for review.
Common Issues and Important Considerations
What if My Ad Is Already Running?
Changing the creative on a live ad — including the thumbnail — is generally not recommended. Doing so can cause Facebook's algorithm to reset the "learning phase." Every time an ad runs, Facebook gathers data on who responds to it, which helps it optimize delivery. Editing the creative forces it to start that process over again. You will also lose any social proof (likes, comments, and shares) that the existing ad has accumulated.
The better way: If you need to change the thumbnail on a live ad, the best practice is to duplicate the ad. From Ads Manager, select the ad you want to change, click "Duplicate," and then edit the thumbnail on the new, copied version. Publish it as a new ad and turn off the old one. This preserves your original ad's history and allows you to test the new creative cleanly.
Thumbnails for Dynamic Creative
If you're using Facebook's Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) feature, you upload multiple assets (videos, images, headlines), and Facebook mixes and matches them to find the best combinations. In this case, you don't pick one single thumbnail. Instead, you can upload custom thumbnails as part of your image assets, and Facebook’s algorithm will test them along with everything else.
Final Thoughts
Your video thumbnail is a small detail that has an outsized impact on your ad's success. Taking a few extra minutes to create and upload a custom thumbnail — one with a clear, emotional human element, bold text, and on-brand styling — can dramatically improve your click-through rates and campaign performance.
Of course, a great thumbnail gets the click, but truly understanding what drives results requires connecting the dots across all of your marketing data. Analyzing performance is often tedious as we spend so much time jumping between different ad managers and social media platforms, manually collecting data into spreadsheets. We created Graphed to automate all of that. It connects to your marketing sources like Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and Shopify, letting you build real-time dashboards and get answers just by asking questions in plain English — no more wrestling with CSVs or learning complicated software.