Facebook expands test to show News Feed-like ads in Messenger globally

Facebook announced its beta for ads in Messenger is expanding to all markets, meaning the big ads can pop in the message feeds of the app’s 1.2 billion monthly users as of Wednesday.

The test, which first launched in Australia and Thailand, features ads that can link to the advertiser’s website or open up a Messenger conversation.

The ads look like a typical News Feed ads with a headline, description copy, image and calls to action. They appear on the Messenger home tab feed and are labeled “Sponsored.” The example below from Original Coast Clothing links straight to its website.

Ads that link to Messenger conversations can connect to advertisers’ chatbots.

This format can also be used to complement click to Messenger ad campaigns, which link to Messenger from Facebook and Instagram. Advertisers can also use the original in-Messenger ad format, sponsored messages, to reach users who previously connected with a company on Messenger.

A few things to note

Facebook Messenger ads are:

• accessible via Ads Manager and Power Editor.
• included by default as an inventory source with automatic placements for supported campaign objectives.
• available for Traffic and Conversion campaign objectives. App Installs and other campaign objectives will be supported “soon.”

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

As Third Door Media’s paid media reporter, Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She provides search marketing and demand generation advice for ecommerce companies and can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.