These days it doesn’t seem like two seconds can pass without Zuckerberg and Co announcing another addition to the ever-burgeoning, world beating Facebook. OK, so this little feature was devised by advertising agency Leo Burnett as oppose to in house, but the social network’s head honchos needed to give the green light, and in doing so have again shown themselves to be pro-marketing.
Cutting to the chase the all new Facebook ‘comment’ ad unit should have a significant impact on those frustrated with the limitations of using Sponsored Story advertising to try and entice members of their fanbase. Because now when such advertisements are placed the user will have an opportunity to comment, and engage with whatever brand is trying to do the selling. Once that happens things really start to get interesting, or at least we all think so here on Mount Street.
By leaving a remark the individual will move the ad from the paid for section (right hand side of the screen), and place it in the middle of their goldmine, or as most call it, the news feed. From here this will be visible to everyone in their network, whether they are already fans of the company or not. That means one well-targeted commercial that tempts consumers into responding can be amplified across hundreds of accounts with one tiny action. If that happens ten times in a campaign then we shouldn’t need to explain that the overall reach will be boosted significantly, even though the initial uptake, in reality, is relatively low. This bolsters the increasingly popular view that Facebook offers the best value for money advertising in terms of visibility and organic reach. Plus it should help increase business usage, in turn pushing the company towards the target of a $100billion valuation before its stock market flotation, which is expected early next year.