Facebook’s 5 Million Advertisers Get New, More Robust Tools

Facebook now counts more than 5 million active advertisers, of which 1 million — 75 percent outside the U.S. — signed on in the last seven months. E-commerce, media and entertainment, and retail are the most popular verticals. To make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to advertise, Facebook introduced a new suite of tools. Within Ad Manager, one-click will reinstate high-performing ads. A new “studio” allows businesses to build ads via a mobile device, and Facebook also expanded its small business council.

VentureBeat reports that nearly 50 percent of those 5 million advertisers are creating ads on mobile devices, prompting the Silicon Valley company to provide “the tools and resources needed to switch over.”

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“Technology has created amazing opportunities for people and small businesses, but it can also be challenging for small businesses when you think about limited time and resources when trying to reach new customers when every consumer is reaching for their phone,” said Facebook’s Katherine Shappley, who oversees SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) in North America. “We really want to empower those small businesses to embrace the mobile world.”

To support these advertisers, Facebook updated its Ad Manager app, adding “robust ad management capabilities on mobile,” based on advertiser feedback, says Shappley. In addition to adding the one-click option to reinstate high-performing ads, “Facebook has also expanded the interest types that can be targeted and given businesses the ability to compare ads,” and will now also “suggest actions that can be taken to improve ad performance.”

A new inbox for businesses, unveiled in November, consolidates messages across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, and now will be available on the desktop as well as mobile devices.

Facebook also debuted “cross-border tools that can be used to connect a business with people in other countries.” One such tool, dubbed international lookalikes, “matches marketers with people in new countries who resemble the company’s best customers.” A second is “worldwide region targeting that pairs campaigns with the most efficient conversions.” Businesses can also “create customized campaigns in each country through country snapshots and an insights playbook.”

Facebook’s Blueprint online courses, which offer education about advertising on the site, has been taken by more than 1 million people in 150 countries, half of them from small businesses. Shappley says more new courses will be added soon, “including courses around how to monetize video, make copyright correction on the platform, and more.”

The 5 million advertisers represent 8 percent of the “65 million businesses that have a presence on the social network.” “Small businesses are a vital part of those communities,” Shappley said. “With 65 million business Pages on Facebook and 8 million profiles on Instagram, we have the privilege of connecting the largest online small business community globally.”

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