Sponsored Stories – Facebook’s Latest Advertising Tool

In January, Facebook launched a new type of advertising allowing advertisers to really focus their Facebook advertising by prequalifying those that see their ad based on the activity of their “friends”.

“Sponsored Stories” links your advertising to specific mentions of your brand/company. If a Facebook user “likes” your brand, their friends will see that “like” on the right hand side of their News Feed as well as a link to your brand’s Facebook page and an option for them to “like” you too. Or, if a user “checks-in” at one of your stores, again, that (and therefore you) will be advertised on the right hand side of the News Feed on their friend pages.

From a users point of view, initial feedback has been mixed. Many users feel that although they might “like” a brand or “check-in” at a shop, they don’t necessarly want to endorse that brand or give permission to become an unpaid part of an advertising campaign.

From an advertising perspective, however, this is a great way to essentially pre-qualify users based on their peers/friends “likes” i.e. the people they respect, share opinions with and take notice of.

It’s good to see Facebook are widening the opportunities to maximise your Facebook marketing campaign. Several big brands are reportedly signed up to “Sponsored Stories” so it will be interesting to see the results.