Facebook Announces New Type Of “Like” Ad, Provides More Robust Analytics

Facebook took some time at “Advertising Week” in New York to announce a new type of ad format as well as a new analytics tool meant to encourage brands to post more “compelling content.”

Based on the new format an ad will expand if a friend “Likes” the brand. Once expanded the new user will be able to see other comments about the brand while adding their own comment.

The ads are added to “Sponsored Stories” and “Social Ads” which tell you if a friend interacts with a brand.

According to Facebook their own research with Like Ads supporting a Starbucks campaign showed that fans spend 8% longer interacting with the new ad format compared to other formats currently offered by the social network.

Along with the “Like” ad Facebook has rolled out a new feature for their “Pages Insights” analytics tool, a new metric called “People Talking About.” The new tool shows brands whether or not their ad is creating compelling content people want to talk about.

Facebook also promised during their keynote speech that they will also continue to highlight other page metrics including “Likes,” “Friends of Fans” and “Weekly Total Reach.”

The “Friends of Fans” metric measures the actual number of friends a brand has which can help brand owners determine their campaigns true reach.