Have you noticed recently that you’re starting to see a lot more “sponsored” stories in Facebook? Facebook has slowly been working on changing the way advertising occurs in member’s newsfeeds and many users have seen a spike in postings titled “sponsored story”.
“Sponsored stories” are an advertising method many companies (large and small) are starting to take advantage of. It allows companies to get the word out about their company through word of mouth. However, a sponsored story does not contain an actual advertisement, nor does it even promote a website or product. It is a way for a company to gain more exposure by showing friends that they know people using the services of a company.
Let’s look at an example. A friend on your newsfeed “checks in” at Starbucks. You however, didn’t see the post because you checked your newsfeed too late and other content had buried the story. Well Starbucks obviously would like to have you not miss this “check-in.” So they have worked out a deal with Facebook to promote all people that walk into their coffee shops. They make sure that the check-in lands and lingers for much longer on the page of all the friends of the friend that checked-in at Starbucks. This posting is marked as a “sponsored-story”. From there, friends can like or comment on the story, and the company can now forward all of these comments to fans on their company page.
To take this one step further, you should combine these postings with a “Promoted Post” to truly optimize your Facebook marketing and advertising efforts. We will post later this week the best way to go about using the two together, but by using the two together you can promote actual content, and not just a check-in to a very large audience.
For nearly three decades, Chris Marentis, Founder and CEO of Surefire Social, has been responsible for driving innovation and sales growth for large media and e-commerce brands as well as start-ups. With a long-history of counseling local businesses about their marketing efforts, Marentis provides insight on what it takes for small businesses to succeed and thrive in today’s evolving digital environment. His notable career includes creating the foundational blueprints for online marketing, e-commerce and content branding for AOL’s Interactive Marketing group, where he served as Senior Vice President. While CEO of Clearspring Technologies, Marentis developed one of the most widely adopted venture-backed Web 2.0 technology platforms. Marentis is a frequent speaker at local digital marketing conferences and a contributor to SMB and technology-focused publications.
