Facebook to Release New, Upgraded Premium Ads

Anne Garcia - February 28, 2012

The social network, Facebook, will be updating their advertising capabilities to increase user engagement and purchase intent. Facebook is set to announce the new ads at a February 29 media event in New York.

The new ads on Facebook will be social by default, meaning they will automatically show users when their friends have already Liked the advertiser. In addition, the new ad formats will draw their content exclusively from posts to brands’ Facebook pages, instead of written advertising copy from the advertiser.

Other changes to Facebook ads include:

• Larger ad formats

• More interaction with the ads; users will be able to comment under ads

• Six new premium ad types: Photo, Video, Question, Status, Event and Link

• Advertisers will have the ability to change ad content on a daily basis by creating a new post on the brand’s Facebook page

The social network believes that the future of online advertising lies within content, rather than the messaging, and ads that are endorsed by the people you know have a better chance of capturing your attention. The company says that the new ads will produce more engagement, better recall, and a significant increase in purchase intent.

Facebook says that Marketplace and self-service ads will not be affected and that reporting and metrics will not be upgraded.