Facebook's Social Ads

Emily Riley | November 07, 2007, 02:38 PM

It seems that the most high profile announcement so far this week was the new Facebook advertising platform. I had the good fortune to not only attend but to moderate a panel that was filled with flagship advertisers. The hype surrounding the event was a little over the top, but I do think that their new offering is a kinder, gentler way for advertisers to “join the conversation” on social media. Essentially, advertisers bid on the rights to send targeted ads to Facebook users - who can through the ads - become “fans” of the product or brand. Once they are fans, information will be sent to their own friends through the Facebook feeds. Through a few different options (called “Pages” and “Beacon”) advertisers can create their own fully working profile page complete with widgets as well as offer some Facebook feed information to be sent from their own pages based on fan activity. Ebay is an early Beacon partner, which allows for long term opportunities for “fans” to alert their friends whenever they have something for sale on the site, for example. When used wisely, the features can actually be very practical. For example, being able to buy the same movie ticket as a friend you plan to go out with on Saturday. Some advertisers will have to try harder than others to generate their initial fan base. Obviously movies, games and the like will spread more easily than financial services. But in the face of that, Chase is actually one of the first advertisers, and made a good point: For the money, even if the reach stays relatively small, the interactions are genuine and not easily replicated with any other form of advertising at this point.
For the record, Facebook also will allow for much more interesting targeting, not just on initial registration information like demographics, but also stated likes and dislikes, etc.