Considering that for a very long time, Facebook only allowed marketers to advertise to users using the side bar of the Facebook home page, the amount of advertising that has recently been appearing in the News Feed may seem a bit over the top. For a company that started off hesitant of allowing any advertising at all, it now seems as though the News Feed is filling up more and more with different types of ads. So far, we have things like Page Posts, Sponsored Stories, and more recently Promoted Posts. Now, there may be an addition coming to this group of News Feed ad types, and they will be in the form of Facebook Exchange ads.
As of right now, Facebook says that they are simply doing “a small alpha test” to see how these Facebook Exchange targeted ads will perform in the News Feed. Facebook Exchange ads have been great so far for marketers, allowing them yet another way to target consumers on Facebook. Here is the reason Facebook gives for starting tests to include these ads in the News Feed:
We wanted to give advertisers and agencies the opportunity to deliver highly relevant ads in News Feed, the most engaging place on the web. Previously, advertisers could run standard ads on the right hand side of Facebook on the desktop. Starting today, advertisers can run Page post link ads on the right-hand side of Facebook and in News Feed on desktop. As they do today, these ads will point back to specific landing pages to help direct-response advertisers drive conversions.
There will of course be mixed opinions about adding another type of ad to the News Feed. Facebook users probably will not notice much of a change, considering that Facebook writes, “Introducing Facebook Exchange in Desktop News Feed will not change the number of ads people see in their News Feeds.” But then that brings to question where Facebook will find the room to include these ads. Essentially, the only way to make room for Facebook Exchange ads in the News Feed without changing the amount of ads users see is to get rid of some of the ads that are already there.
Chances are, Facebook will push the free advertising types out-of-the-way a bit, like Page Posts for example. Facebook seems to be making a change to their reputation as the best place to advertiser for free to a huge audience. Now, advertising with Facebook is starting to come with a price tag, but at least it isn’t a hefty one. Maybe such a successful advertising destination coming at no price at all was just a good thing that had to come to an end at some point. Either way, adding Facebook Exchange ads to the News Feed will probably make them more successful overall, with the News Feed being “the most engaging place on the web.”
As long as Facebook users don’t mind News Feed ads, which they don’t seem to, and marketers continue to see some sort of success using them, Facebook’s evolution over time will continue.
