4 of the Biggest Changes to Facebook Ads in 2015

The world of Facebook Advertising is constantly changing. This year in particular has been big for the social media giant, as it continues to expand its paid marketing offerings. Whether it’s improved tools for advertisers or new ways to find and engage users, Facebook hasn’t stopped for a second in 2015.

In this post, we’ll take a look back at the biggest changes for Facebook ads in 2015 and how they benefit advertisers.

Ad Manager Improvements

In June, Facebook released a new version of its Ad Manager interface, which included new features designed to make advertisers’ lives easier. A few of the improvements include:

Integrated Reporting – Instead of having a separate section specifically for reporting, Facebook has combined it with the main overview page. Any report that could be pulled from the reporting tab can still be created, but now it’s integrated into one, easy-to-use tool.

Easier Ad Editing – Before, advertisers had to go into each individual ad set or ads in order to make edits to them. Now, target audiences, ad copy, and images can all be edited on the main overview page quickly, without ever having to leave.

Even better, advertisers have the ability to bulk edit ads and ad sets in a campaign, allowing for more efficient editing. With easier ad editing, advertisers can now, for example, make a geographical change and remove one country from all ad sets.

Cleaner Design – Overall, the design of the Ad Manager interface has improved significantly. Campaign, ad set, and ad data is laid out for better visibility and access. This means less time searching for data and more time for optimizing.

Improved Local Advertising

One of the biggest benefits of Facebook Advertising is the ability to create audiences as specific or broad as need be. While advertising at a local level is simple to do, Facebook has recently introduced new features that allow companies to effectively advertise to users nearby.

Referred to as “Reach People Near Your Business” ads, has giving advertisers the ability to reach out to users in ways never possible in the past. While the ads officially launched at the end of 2014, Facebook continues to add new features this year in order to further improve customer communication. Currently, there are three unique call to action buttons available for the ads:

• Call Now – This allows users to call a business directly
• Get Directions – Using a map application, users will be given directions to a business
• Send Message – This will allow users to send businesses a private message, which can be responded to

By utilizing these new buttons, advertisers can get closer to their audience on Facebook than ever before.

Faster Form Submission

One of the more difficult aspects of Facebook advertising has always been getting information from users. Currently, this requires implementation of ads that sends users to a website. From there, users would have to find what they are looking for and fill out a form. The process could be lengthy, ultimately leading to user abandonment.

In June, however, Facebook announced it was testing out “Lead Ads.” Like the name suggests, these ads are designed to get companies viable information about their customers.

The first step to any ad that requires a form submission is an enticing offer that gets the user’s attention. Facebook takes care of the rest by making the form part of the process as easy as possible. In fact, it only takes two clicks from the user. Advertisers can now get users’ names and emails, which they can use in other, more direct forms of advertisements, such as email marketing, or Facebook’s very own Custom Lists.

Smart Phone Application

At the beginning of this year, Facebook released an iOS version of its Ad Manager, with the Android app launching in June. With this app, advertisers can now manage their ad programs on the go. A good amount of the functions found on the desktop version can be used here, including:

• Edit Ads – This includes photos, text, budgets and target audiences.
• Pause Ads
• Review Metrics – Date ranges include 1 day, 7 days and all time.
• Create New Ads – Currently, users can create Boost, Local, and Website Ads.
• Edit Billing Information

While the app omits certain features like expansive reporting and the ability to create all ad types, it’s perfect for advertisers who want to make quick changes on the go. The Internet never sleeps, so giving advertisers the ability to monitor ad performance at any time is a huge improvement to the platform.

Conclusion

Facebook Advertising is in the mitts of another great year, with new features and optimizations already being implemented. The lives of advertisers are becoming easier with improvements to the Ad Manager interface and the brand new mobile app.

Beyond that, advertisers can now offer companies new opportunities to reach their audience with lead and local ads.

With all these changes happening so far in 2015, it’s exciting to think what the rest of the year will bring for Facebook Advertising.