A Look at Facebook's Premium Ads

Last week Facebook officially announced its new premium ads at the fMC confab, its marketing conference. While there were several announcements, including Timeline for brand pages, the most relevant one for this column was the official launch of the social media platform's new premium ad units. The new units put a brand's page and relevant posts in front of the right audience and amplify its relevance and trust with "social context" by including an individual's connections who also "Like" the brand. Based on internal Facebook testing, premium ads are 80 percent more likely to be remembered, drive 40 percent higher engagement and significantly increase purchase intent. Aside from the obvious lift in performance, what makes the launch of premium ads so significant and what should marketers do to maximize this opportunity? First and foremost, premium ads are a potential game changer. They combine the strengths of Facebook (connections, conversations and community) with the triad of marketing disciplines (paid, earned and owned media). As a result, they should be extremely popular with marketers interested in taking the conversation to potential fans. In addition, premium ads will play a role in potentially helping Facebook to maintain and grow its lead as the top U.S. display advertising company. Premium ads are spouting a wave of new startups, which is great for the industry and economy. Forbes recently highlighted several social media players scrambling to support premium ads. While their approaches differ with various buy, build or partner strategies, activity is significant, as illustrated by the following: Buddy Media's acquisition of ad buying software company Brighter Option; Wildfire Interactive's integration of Adaptly's ad buying technology into its platform; and GraphEffect's new platform enhancements designed to recommend new target audiences and help brands identify and optimize the most valuable and engaging content to feature in their premium ads. For marketers interested in leveraging Facebook advertising to grow their community, the game plan is relatively straightforward: prep for a test; review and identify potential conversations to feature; and partner with a solution provider who can help you optimize the most valuable and engaging content to feature. In addition, look to add retargeting tags into the mix. Premium ads are all about leveraging your social posts and social context to drive acquisition and encourage engagement. Adding a retargeting strategy is the perfect complement to help seal the deal and ultimately understand conversion and attribution for your efforts. Will premium ads be a game changer and keep Facebook on top? If the emergence of new solutions together with the promise of combining paid, earned and owned media with a double-digit lift in performance is any indication, the answer is yes.

Social Commerce

A Look at Facebook's Premium Ads

Michael Della Penna

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Michael Della Penna