by Ashley Haugen
@AshleyKaia
Facebook users could soon be faced with a lot more advertising, although they won't be your typical ads. At its Marketing Conference on February 29th, Facebook unveiled "Premium ads," a new plan to increase ad revenue and hopefully appease those questioning how Facebook was going to monetize it's 425 million mobile users.
"Premium ads" will appear in four locations: In the timeline of a company or brand's Facebook page; on the right-hand column of the user's homepage; in the user's News Feed; and on the Facebook log-out page. Most of this is already familiar to us, with the exception of the new "log-out" ad and the updated algorithm Facebook will use to create a larger social graph.
In order for a Facebook advertisement to show up on your News Feed or elsewhere, either a friend has to interact with a brand's Facebook page (by Liking that page or posting something on that brand's page), or you yourself must be a fan of a brand's Facebook page. If you are a fan of a brand on Facebook, that brand will now be able to post sponsored content (or, an advertisement) next to your News Feed. The reason behind this? Research shows that ads have a much higher success rate if they show social engagement.
According to Facebook, over 37 million people log out every day. This new ad space will utilize the log out page real estate, very much like the highly prized back page of magazines. And instead of CPC or CPM, Premium ads are based on impressions and reach, similar to TV ads.
In addition to the new places you'll find ads, Facebook is encouraging marketers to make the ads appear less like explicit advertisements and more like regular updates or Facebook posts. This way, of course, the advertisement can slip seamlessly between the updates and posts of your friends. Advertisements will increasingly strive to become more and more like regular Facebook updates or posts.
