One of the benefits of using Facebook for advertising is the enormous size of its network. Ads on Facebook can show up on the platform itself, other social networks like Instagram, as well as apps and websites that are part of the Facebook Advertising Network. Though there were many places for ads to show up, not all placement options were open to everyone. However, that has begun to change now that Facebook has opened up Facebook Search and Marketplace ads to all advertisers. 

Though it’s not used anywhere near as much as Google, Facebook has an internal search engine that people can use to look for people and groups that fit their interests. For the past year, Facebook has been testing running ads on the search platform, similar to what Google uses. Advertisers can have their add appear in results for search terms that have commercial intent. For example, advertisers could have their ads show up in searches related to commercial products for e-commerce, retail, or auto sales.

Facebook made this change known last week as part of an announcement for simplified automatic ad placements. Now, automatic ad placement includes these ad spots that were only available to certain advertisers involved in the beta test. 

As the company explained in their announcement, “All new ad campaigns using Automatic Placements will automatically include the Facebook Search Results placement. You can also manually select the placement when setting up your campaign. Once you opt-in, ads will be eligible to appear on search result pages, which includes general search and Marketplace search – and will both respect the audience targeting of the campaign and be contextually relevant to a limited set of English and Spanish search terms.”

Adding more places for ads to show up increases the likelihood that people will make a purchase. It’s rare for a person to see an ad once and immediately take action. It usually takes repetition to get the consumer to click. This dynamic was seen in a Facebook IQ study which found that that brands’ audiences who saw ads across Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network had 8x higher conversion rates than audiences only exposed to a single ad on Facebook.

These expanded ad options are perfect for advertisers who are planning their holiday advertising campaign. As more ad spots become available, it increases the chances for someone to click and make a purchase. The addition of Facebook Search Results placement is especially useful because these ads can target people who are using Facebook to look up potential gift ideas. 

The benefit of using the Facebook Search Results and Marketplace for ads is another thing that was seen in Facebook research on the ad placement. According to the company, “Internal Facebook research showed that opting-in to Facebook News Feed and Marketplace generally results in a lower cost per incremental lift for mid-funnel brand metrics than News Feed alone. This research also showed that consumers’ perceptions of brand favorability and brand quality remained neutral or positive.”

Advertisers need to keep in mind that the new placement options are considered part of the automatic default placement. Marketers who don’t want their ad campaigns extended to general search results or Marketplace will need to use the manual placement options and make sure to deselect Facebook Search Results or Marketplace placements.

The new ad placement options should help business owners increase sales this holiday season by reaching more customers at precisely the right time and place. 

To learn more about changes that will affect PPC advertising, read this article on how Google is allowing user-submitted photos on product reviews.