Starting in April 2014, Facebook will no longer support “Sponsored Stories” as a part of their Facebook Advertising options.  Previously, sponsored stories were auto-created ads that leveraged users’ activity (connected to a brand) and displayed this activity to the users’ friends.  Rather than showing in the right-hand column with the standard ads, sponsored stories were displayed within a user’s news feed. Now, the social context that was previously included with sponsored stories will be automatically included in all Facebook ads.

In addition to the standard Facebook display ads, advertisers will still be able to run “Page Post Ads/Boosted Posts”. Boosted posts expand the reach of a page’s posts (status updates, shared links, events, videos, questions, or offers) to reach a larger audience.  These boosted posts can be done on a post-by-post basis for a single day or multiple days.

Facebook is also improving its targeting options by allowing advertisers to more precisely target only a cross-section of your target audience.  For example, instead of advertising to moms or people who like dogs, you can target “moms who like dogs.”

The criteria for Facebook’s advertising targeting includes:

• Geographic location
• Demographics
• Interests/likes
• Behaviors

With this strict criteria, Facebook advertisers are able to more precisely target their audience and should see a better return on their advertising investment (even though it will remain a fairly cheap advertising platform).

Update:  Facebook is currently in the process of adding the option to use one of five “call-to-action” buttons. The five choices are “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” “Sign Up,” “Book Now,” and “Download.” Once the advertiser chooses their desired option, the button will display on the bottom right corner of their ad. The button’s purpose is to take a user to a relevant page on the advertiser’s website.

For more information, or for help setting up a Facebook advertising campaign, please contact info@theprmg.com  or call 1-855-PRMG-123.