Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has decided to streamline their advertising options in a quest for additional ad revenue and in response to advertisers’ complaints. Facebook plans to help marketers align their spending to their business objectives by offering solutions specifically for brand marketers, online retailers, and other types of advertisers according to Wired.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) occasionally hosts “whiteboard” talks for the press at its Menlo Park, California headquarters. Yesterday’s event concentrated on unveiling its new advertising strategy which will see the existing 37 types of ads pared to less than half that number.
“The No. 1 complaint of most advertisers was that it was too complicated to figure out which ads to use,” Andrew Bosworth, director of engineering and design for ads, said in an interview. “They’re saying, ‘We know what we want to accomplish, we want to know what tools to use.’” Simply saying that “we need to need to advertise on Facebook” is not in and of itself a social ad strategy and it is Facebook’s hopes that by simplifying the process it will build on its already substantial ad revenues. The company did $5 billion in ad sales last year.
While these changes will begin in the next few weeks, it’s expected that the process will not be fully implemented for at least six months.
The changes should also help advertisers focus on what they want to accomplish, be it more “likes,” asking people to install an app, or simply driving people to their website or brick and mortar retail location.
Facebook Plans More Social Ads
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) also intends to make its ads more social. In fact, it will make all its ads social by default. Presently advertisers are forced to purchase three different ads to get all the social signals associated with sponsored stories—signature Facebook ads link a message with what one or more of your friends like, so the three options are: page post “like” sponsored story, page post comment sponsored story, and a link page post ad.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s new shift will combine the three and place the social aspect at the top of each ad. This move was recently heralded by Andrew McDermott, vice president of product for Facebook ad firm Spruce Media, cheered that move. “By automatically including stories, or social context, in ads whenever relevant, Facebook is improving the performance that marketers will get from their media budgets,” he said in an email.
