Facebook Marketplace vs. Exchange Ads: 3 Important Differences
If you are one of the thousands of marketers who utilize Facebook advertising, it may be difficult to keep up with all of the new changes Facebook has implemented this past year. Facebook currently offers two main categories of ads. The first category includes Marketplace Ads which consists of Sponsored Stories, Like Ads, Page Post Ads, Domain Ads and more. The second category of ads is Facebook Exchange (FBX) Ads. FBX is a rather new offering which allows auction buying of Facebook ad inventory through real-time bidding (RTB) to serve more relevant ads based on consumer intent. Essentially FBX allows marketers to gain a presence in front of users who have already expressed interest in their brand.
With the many options that Facebook advertising now offers, it is important for marketers who use display advertising to know the difference between the array of offerings and platforms. Here are three important differences between Marketplace ads and FBX ads that were outlined by Search Engine Watch.
1. Marketplace ads are generally purchased on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis and are available to the public. In contrast, FBX ads are offered to only a limited number of Demand-Side Providers (DSPs). Once an advertiser is working with a Facebook-approved DSP, ads are purchased in a dynamic cost-per-thousand (CPM) auction with real-time bidding.
2. Traditional Facebook Marketplace ads are built entirely around Facebook's massive collection of data. With FBX, advertisers must target according to the data they already have based on a user’s online behavior.
3. Marketplace ads are powered by "social intent data," which is a way of determining what people want to buy by looking at all the information they share with Facebook. FBX, however, doesn't rely on social intent data, but rather on "transaction intent data" and "search intent data". Transaction intent data is comprised of all the information people reveal when they interact with other sites across the web while search intent data is comprised of the keywords that users enter into search engines.
Marketer Implications
RTB gives marketers a more sophisticated method to target consumers. The addition of FBX gives companies another platform to consider when planning their advertising campaigns. Digital marketers now need to take special consideration into whether they want to buy ads through the Facebook platform, third-party buying platforms or DSPs. As always, testing is extremely important as the data will ultimately show which platforms will more effectively help a brand meet its goals.
As Facebook works to improve the advertiser experience, marketers who do not take advantage of these new targeting options will miss out on an opportunity to ultimately gain more customers. The introduction of the multiple advertising options for digital marketers will now allow businesses to reach their consumers in a more efficient and targeted manner.
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