Sponsored results, new advertising format on Facebook

Yet another new advertising format for Facebook ! This time, it is the search bar which will be invested. After classic advertisements, sponsored news, promoting posts on fan pages, Facebook will therefore offer additional space for advertisers.

The social network intends to hunt on Google land with these brand new « sponsored results », which indeed strongly resemble Adwords, these ads on search results pages. It is Techcrunch which unveils this new format, specifying that this is for the moment a simple test for Facebook, who will decide on its sustainability or its abandonment based on user feedback. Sponsored results will begin this evening.

What is it about ? When you search for a fan page, an app, or even a place with the Facebook search bar, there may be advertisements in addition to natural results. Concretely, an advertiser will be able to buy a keyword, exactly like on Google, and its advertising will be added to the classic results.

 

Cependant, there is a limitation, and it's big : with sponsored results, no question of targeting a keyword that is too broad, tel « shoes » ou « game ». Facebook will only allow advertisers to purchase a word corresponding to a specific entity already present on the social network. Par exemple, it will be possible to target a particular brand like « CityVille ». Hey yes, sponsored results will be there to divert the potential audience of a product towards its competitor… It might be fun. As for the price of this new advertising format, Facebook announces that it will be cost per click.

 

Sponsored results will not be visible on the full search results page, but only when you type your query in the bar, in the suggestions. A reduced location therefore. Other restriction : this advertisement will only refer to content present on Facebook, whether it is a simple publication, a fan page or even an application. But there will be no possibility of leaving the social network to promote your website for example..

 

Sponsored results potentially represent a financial windfall for Facebook, provided that advertisers invest in this new space. The search results are already not very reliable, Facebook having not yet found an ideal engine model, I wonder how this will evolve !

 

Published by Anne-Laure Raffestin