Facebook ad formats getting more social

(via www.clickz.com)

Facebook has launched “Sponsored Stories” ads, which let marketers utilize messages from their “likes” community for paid promotions on the site. The ads contain word-for-word Facebook user posts, while appearing in the right-hand column with other paid promotions on the website.

A bevy of launch partners have already readied campaigns involving the new ads. They include Coca Cola, Levi’s, and Anheuser Busch, as well as nonprofits like Amnesty International, UNICEF, Autism Speaks, and Women for Women.

Jim Squires, marketing products manager for the Palo Alto, CA-based social giant, told ClickZ that Sponsored Stories will be available on the site’s self-service platform in a comparable manner to other ads. They will be purchased on an impression- or per-click basis, he said.

For a brand like Starbucks, an endorsement that looks like this:

May appear in an ad unit like this:

“Essentially, the recommended approach is to use [them] in conjunction with a campaign you are already running,” Squires said. “So, you say, ‘I want to add Sponsored Stories to this.’ In that case, when a Sponsored Story is able to show, it is showing [instead of] the controlled advertiser message.”