A few weeks ago, Facebook officially launched its own version of pay-per-click advertisements to marketers looking to reach the network’s vast number of users. According to TechCrunch, Facebook’s public speakings of the launch were minimal, but they did send out announcements to some marketers about the release of their new search marketing feature.
According to Facebook’s message to marketers, their Sponsored Results gives companies the ability to buy ads in search results, ultimately bringing more traffic, awareness, and leads to your App, Page, or Place. The ads also give you:
1. Extended distribution of your message that includes placements on one of the most used features on Facebook; search.
2. The ability to target what people are looking for, by appearing alongside related Apps, Pages, and Places.
3. Flexible customization of landing destinations, such as a specific tab on your Page.
Unfortunately, companies are not able to point offsite using this product, but they will have the ability to point to specific Pages, Tabs, and Canvas Applications.
As stated previously, the advertisers taking advantage of the new search ads can target searchers who are looking for specific apps, Facebook Pages, and places, and they have the ability to point those who click to a company app, page, custom page tab, or page post. These PPC search results are marked as “Sponsored” at the top of the ads.
Furthermore, users also have the option of hiding certain ads by clicking the ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner of the ad. Doing so launches a pop-up with a question asking why the user is choosing to hide the ad (options include: uninteresting, misleading, offensive, repetitive, etc.).
Although advertisers don’t have the ability to point the ads off of Facebook, they can appear higher in organic search listings for a given search. This gives “Sponsored Results” ads the potential to steal traffic from competitors. It's going to be interesting to see the continual changes that Facebook is making to their advertising platorm; although, I think they have a while before catching up with the Google AdWords giant.