What’s New on Facebook Ads? (Q4 2019)

Digital Marketing / September 09, 2019

Digital is always evolving. There are always new features to test or new tools to make us more efficient. As a marketer, it can be hard to track constant feature updates or new launches. To make it easier for you, we’ve collected and synthesized some of Facebook and Instagram updates from the last few weeks. These new releases are related to optimization, ad management, and security issues. Let’s dive right in!

Lead Generation in Messenger

61% of surveyed users agreed that messaging is the easiest way to contact a business. Facebook launches an effortless way for brands to chat with customers through Facebook Messenger. The new feature lets businesses set up an automated question experience. Clicks on ads open Messenger and start an automated workflow of preset questions. 

Useful for both e-commerce and B2B companies, Lead Generation in Messenger let brands converse with engaged users right away and qualified (or disqualified) leads based on a premade chat flow.

Discover best practices for Lead Generation in Messenger here.

Ads in Explore (Instagram) are now available globally. 

A few days ago, we discussed the launch of Google’s Discovery Campaigns which allow advertisers to show ads through the Google Discovery Feed. Instagram’s Explore Tabs serve a similar purpose: it delivers unseen content to users based on their interests. Moreover, according to Instagram, more than 50% of accounts browse the Explore tab monthly.

With Ads in Explore, Advertisers can reach their target audience in a new way through engaging and trendy visual assets. It’s definitely worth a try!

Learn more on Ads in Explore here.

Users See and Control the Data That Apps and Websites Share With Facebook

Did you know people use, on average, 40 apps monthly? That’s at least 40 apps that have access to a user’s personal information and can share it with other platforms. It can get overwhelming for users to track who has access to what information. 

In order to be fully transparent, Facebook developed a new feature called Off-Facebook. When turning the feature on, Facebook won’t know which websites a user visited and it won’t be able to use this data to target its ads. Discover how this feature can impact digital marketing initiatives here.

The feature is now live and running in a few countries.

Branded Content Ads on Instagram

According to eMarketer, 60% of brands in North America use influencer marketing in their marketing mix. In response to this increase in popularity for influencer marketing, Instagram is launching Branded Content Ads.

Instagram has come up with a sophisticated way for creators’ content to reach a bigger audience. Brands can now sponsor their ambassador’s content directly through the Facebook Ads platform. Branded Content Ads offer more authenticity considering the content is promoted from the influencer’s handle, and not the brand’s handle. Therefore, Branded Content Ads might have a bigger impact on customer behaviours. 

Plus, it might be much easier for advertisers to measure the impact of an influencer campaign with Facebook Ads’ tools.

As of right now, advertisers have the ability to promote a creator’s organic post in feeds, and story ads will be available globally in the coming weeks. 

Facebook wants to be more transparent

Starting November 7, Facebook will be showing more information about Facebook Pages and the people who manage them. The following information will be available in the new Page Transparency section, and also in the Ad Library: 

• The date the Page was created.
• The primary country locations where the Page is managed. This applies to all Page roles.
• The number of people who manage the Page in each country.
• The Page’s previous name changes.
• Any Page merges that happen on or after September 6, 2018.
• The confirmed business or organization that has claimed ownership of the Page.
• Any confirmed businesses or organizations that have been granted access to help manage the Page.

As of now, this update will only concern Facebook Pages who have large audiences in the US or who are running ads about social issues, elections or politics in the US.

This update is in line with Facebook’s desire to be more transparent. The update that allows users to see active ads directly from a Facebook Page is also an example that illustrates this desire for more transparency.

Our digital marketing agency can help your brand take advantage of these new features on Facebook and Instagram. See what else we can do to bring your social ads to the next level.