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Facebook is currently testing a new interactive method of advertising on its site that it plans to make available later this year. Jeremiah Owyang, a Senior Analyst with Forrester, made the announcement on the Forrester Blog for Interactive Marketing Professionals.
In his post, Jeremiah calls the new concept “WidgetAds” and explains, “Facebook's 'Engagement Advertisements' emulates natural activities of members -- in hopes to increase interaction, network spread, and brand preference.”
He shares the three new styles of ads that parallel how people already interact on the social networking site:
- Comment Style – Allow users to leave comments on the ad
- Virtual Gifts Style – Allow users share virtual items created by the brand
- Fan Style – Allows users to become a “fan” of the ad, pushing notifications in their news feeds
This is another step in Facebook’s attempts to innovate in the social media space where successful monetization has been an issue, and it highlights the importance of accepting failure and moving on when blazing new trails.
Remember Beacon? Knowing that Facebook could track them outside the realm of Facebook was too much for its members. Soon after, Facebook opened its development platform to application developers, which pushed the development of widgets forward by leaps and bounds.
You can’t be perfect, but you can be successful. And when blazing trails, mistakes and success are both likely. Facebook’s new take on advertising is certainly new territory. If it takes off, the big question remains: What might this mean for brands' advertising and marketing strategies?
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