For those that felt Facebook ads and sponsored posts just weren’t cutting it, some new leaked documents from the social network detail their plans to change how premium ads are displayed starting February 29.
In leaked documents obtained by Gigaom, Facebook will reportedly be upgrading its premium ads. Facebook claims that the new ads will have a much larger reach than their previous ads. The main change being that ads will now resemble normal Facebook page posts.
The ads will originate from the product’s page in the form of a post. Facebook says that ads will be larger which allows “more points of engagement for users. The new ads will also feature “more prominent placement of social context.” Some stats about the new ads they are throwing around include 40 percent increase in engagement, 80 percent more likely to be remembered and 16 percent increase in fan rate with “significant increases in purchase intent.”
The old, or as they say “classic,” premium ads will be discontinued on February 29. Links to sites off Facebook and marketplace ads will remain unaffected by the changes.
The new premium ad system will work as such:
The brand in question creates a page post from six different types – status update, photos, videos, links, questions or events. The post is then turned into an ad that will display on the right side of the page where ads are currently displayed now. If the person viewing the ad has friends who like the page in question, the ad will expand showing their friends’ likes. There will also be a spot for fans to interact directly with the ad through commenting.
There are also tools that will allow brands to display ads only to fans or non-fans of the product in question.
Some people might not like Facebook allowing advertisers to disguise their ad as just a normal Facebook post, but I think it’s absolutely genius. The main point of social networks is to get more personal and a brand getting personal with their fanbase, even through ads, is a win-win for everybody. Besides, the ad will still say “sponsored post” so it’s not like they are really trying to trick you.
If you still don’t like the idea of sponsored posts parading around as normal Facebook posts, just install AdBlock Plus and stop complaining.
You can check out the leaked presentations below for more details:
Do you like Facebook’s new premium ads? Or do you think they should have just stuck with the classic way of making sponsored posts? Let us know in the comments.
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