Mobile-only Featured Stories: How Many Facebook Users Actually See Them?

Desperate to prove its worth to its new stockholders, Facebook is now on a serious monetizing mission.  The company could stand to improve in many areas, but the one it looks to be starting with has more potential than any other – mobile. If Facebook is able to get advertising brands on board, it could gain the leverage it needs to take those essential steps forward in the mobile arena.

Recently announced was the ability for marketers to purchase “mobile only” ads. This is in contrast to the previous arrangement, which forced them into buying ads that would be displayed on both the mobile and desktop versions of the Facebook platform. These ads, known as Sponsored Stories, have been available since earlier this year, but just introduced is the freedom for businesses to choose where they want to distribute their ads.

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Better Visibility for Advertisers:

Sponsored Stories are much different from standard Facebook ads. With this product, advertisers are paying to promote a post made by a user’s friend. When the post is rolled out, it shows up in the user’s news feed right along with all the other posts they see. The mobile only option should definitely come in handy for marketers. Mobile is an area with a lot of potential and it is nice to know that you can target this, and only this platform with your advertising efforts. But the biggest benefit here is visibility as Facebook has recently introduced technology designed to help
marketers reach a bigger portion of their audience.

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The chances of mobile users seeing featured stories are quite good. The chances of them responding positively to that content well, that is still up in the air. Well over 400 million people are accessing Facebook through a mobile phone. Will they welcome these user-friendly ads with open arms, or view them as a nuisance? Facebook is no doubt hoping that its featured stories concept is accepted by the user base. Brands that invest in this new advertising option will be pulling for the same.

Seizing the Mobile Moment:

The launch of a mobile-only version of Sponsored Stories could be the start of something big for Facebook. It has been revealed that the company generated $3.2 billion in advertising revenue in 2011, with most of it coming from desktop ads. Nearly 500 million of its more than 900 million users are connecting through mobile and with the size of this channel expected to keep growing, some experts believe Facebook is on pace to start raking in the dough sooner than later.

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For now, Facebook’s mobile strategy is shaping up to be a win -win for both the company and its advertisers. It will be up to both parties to present these ads in a compelling way that does not take away from the user experience.