As usual, the Facebook Ads service has recently launched diverse updates whose characteristics could affect your Online Marketing campaigns. That’s why we’re sharing the 6 Facebook Ads Changes you need to keep in mind to carry out successful Facebook Ads campaigns from here on out.
Facebook Ads, A Constantly Expanding Service
First off, we should take a look at some statistics in order to get a better understanding being that the Facebook Ads service has endless growth each year. According to official sources, the Facebook Ads platform now has more than 3 million advertisers around the world.
Out of the number of people dedicated to advertising on Facebook, 70% come from areas outside of the United States according to a report from the website expandedramblings.com. Finally, out of all the existing Facebook Pages, 6% fall back on advertising on Facebook.
While the data presented here takes every Facebook Ads service into account, it should be noted that Facebook Ads allows you to create two types of advertisements: those that direct people to external websites and those that support pages on Facebook, such as events or applications.
Facebook Ads: 6 Changes You Need to Keep in Mind for Your Online Marketing Campaigns
1.- Facebook Pages Have a New Design
A few weeks ago the Facebook team officially presented the changes applied to Facebook Pages. These modifications’ goal is to improve usability, optimize readability of each business’s information and facilitate access to buttons, applications and other elements on Fan Pages.
Here are the main changes:
General Update to Pages’ Appearance
With the newly applied modifications, profile pictures for Facebook Pages no longer overlap with the cover photo. The selected photo is now automatically positioned on the upper left section of the page.
As for image sizes, Facebook has indicated they haven’t changed: 160 x 160 pixels for profile pictures and 828 x 315 pixels for cover photos.
Buttons Are Now a Larger Size
Other Facebook Pages changes have to do with button size, especially for Call to Action buttons. Now, said buttons appear in the upper right hand side of Fan Pages and have a much large size in order to improve their visibility and effectiveness of proposals.
New Location of Tabs
The menus have also been affected by the changes, being that as of now the Fan Page Tabs will be located on the right side of the Page. According to the developers team, this modification’s goal is to improve navigation through a cleaner design.
2.- Users Can Control the Facebook Ads They See Every Day
Among the new configuration changes, one thing that stands out is the new personalization options provided by Facebook Ads. In fact, people can now establish the factors they want to be taken into account in order to select an advertisement’s target audience.
In other words, you now have the possibility to see under what categories advertisers are displaying their advertisements . This way you can add or eliminate interests in order to increase the relevancy of the Facebook Ads you see every day.
To Personalize your Facebook Ads, you just have to go to the Settings menu and then click on “Ads”.
Under this tab there is a series of options you can configure by pressing the “Edit” button located on the right.
The last of these options, titled “Ads Based on My Preferences”, is what you should explore in order to thoroughly personalize your Facebook Ads.
Lastly, by going to the option “Ads based on my preferences” and clicking on “Visit Ad Preferences” the interests panel and other options will appear for personalizing Advertisements shown to users:
3.- Facebook Ads Will Be Visible Despite Ad Blockers
On another note, the Facebook team has recently published their plans for combating ad blockers such as AdBlock Plus, and other tools that allow users to block advertisements from the pages the visit on the Internet.
So, it doesn’t matter if users have ad blockers installed on their browsers, Facebook will still continue to work to display advertisements despite these tools. Great, right? Especially if you work in an industry where users are aware of these tools and use them.
4.- Facebook Videos Have New Statistics
Facebook videos keep gaining ground every day, and that’s why the developers are now offering new metrics to advertisers with the goal of allowing them to better know their audience. In regards to this, they’re released 10 new parameters for analyzing the impact of audiovisual content.
Some of the most interesting are:
Audience’s Demographic Data
Now you can find out the age and gender of the people viewing your videos as well as their geographical location. This way you have the possibility to analyze your audience by taking into account where the majority of your public comes from and their characteristics so you can improve your content’s relevancy.
Engagement Information for Your Live Videos
Thanks to this update you can now see a graph (in real time) on your audience’s engagement during your videos live transmission. This allows you to analyze what part of the video received the largest amount of favorable reactions from your audience (comments, shares, etc.).
Data on Your Video’s Views Based on Shares
Lastly, you now have the possibility to find out how many people view your videos from your Facebook Page and how many have seen them because other users have shared them. Furthermore, you can find out the number of minutes viewed, number of views and more.
5.- Custom Audiences Based on Browsing Time
Some great news for Facebook Ads is the new criteria for creating custom audiences on Facebook. Now advertisers can use the amount of time people spend browsing their sites as a parameter.
In other words, you now have the possibility to create advertisements in order to show them to the people actively participating on your website This way you can more effectively guide your investments towards the people interested in your commercial proposals.
6.- Facebook Live Incorporates New Features
Facebook’s live streaming service, “Facebook Live“, doesn’t seem to be slowing down in terms of user popularity. In response, the developers have present new features to enrich the experience of those using this service on a daily basis.
The main updates to Facebook Live are:
Now you can watch live videos in full screen
A few weeks ago Facebook Live videos could only be seen on part of screens. However, thanks to this update its now possible to view Facebook Live videos in full screen and read the reactions in real time, as shown in the image.
In case you prefer to just watch the video, you can hide the comments by sliding your finger to the right of the screen. To get them back, simply slide your finger to the left. Some sources say that this feature will only be available for a limited time, so take advantage of it!
Facebook Live transmissions can now last up to four hours
Lastly, it’s now possible to create live videos up to four hours long (max). This can be very beneficial if, for example, you give Webinars on extensive themes, you have a lot of material to cover or you’ll be working with various speakers in the same video.
That’s all for today! Implement these 6 new Facebook Ads features in your Social Media Strategy in order to keep your campaigns up to date and get the max out of your investment.
To learn more on Facebook Ads, I recommend taking a look at the following articles from our blog:
- The power of video marketing: 7 tips for publishing Facebook videos your audience will love
- 7 changes you should apply to improve your organic reach on Facebook and have a happier audience
- The New Facebook Algorithm: what is it and how will it affect your campaign?
- 9 new Facebook functions you should know about and tae advantage of in 2016
- 5 tips to increase your sales on Facebook
Was this news on Facebook Ads surprising? Which of the new updates seems most beneficial to you? Tell us your opinions in the comments section. And please, remember to share this blog post with all your contacts. See you next time!?