What’s Right for You, Facebook’s Sponsored Stories or Promoted Posts?

Does one of Facebook’s featured ad types work better for your audience? Let’s take a look at your options

Hearing the term “Sponsored Stories” makes me immediately think about digital publishers. Aren’t we all sharing some form of story, after all? Under this basis, it would seem that sponsoring a story and targeting your core audience with it is a good idea. But does your audience pay attention to paid promotions, or do they want something more organic? Although also a paid option, Promoted Posts appear to be more organic because of their placement.

Have you considered using Sponsored Stories or Promoted Posts while marketing on Facebook? Have you already used either of these promotional methods and want to share your results? The Mequoda Daily community would certainly enjoy hearing your first-hand accounts.

For now, there is background information below on Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories, and some information on what’s worked best for a few brands.

Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories

Facebook ads act in an unusual way. For instance, if you’ve ever “liked” a brand page, how often do you see updates from that company? Unless you frequently interact with that company, you won’t see the updates in their newsfeed long after your initial “like”.

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Brand marketers using Facebook are able to increase the reach of their posts, by purchasing Promoted Posts. When running a Promoted Posts campaign, the audience members who “liked” you in the past but stopped engaging with your content will be exposed to your post. The post will show up in their news feed and create the opportunity for new engagement. According to Jake Ludington on the HasOffers website, his experiment with Promoted Posts has led to an increase in “the number of times the same person is presented with a post, because the total number of views for a Promoted Post always exceeds the total unique views.”

Sponsored Stories are a bit different than Promoted Posts. Unlike Promoted Posts, which show up in the news feeds of audience members who have previously “liked” a brand page, Sponsored Stories appear in the designated ad spaces throughout the right nav on Facebook. The advertisers determine the audience that experiences Sponsored Stories, as they choose specific targeting criteria.

Advertisers opting to use Sponsored Stories may find some of their current fans receiving their promotions, although this isn’t always the case. Users who fit the selected criteria will be the only targets, and throughout the campaign, these users will be exposed to the story multiple times.

Which is better?

I’ve come across case studies of marketers comparing Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories to see which performed better. Interesting enough, the case studies have opposite results. It seems the preference depends on the audience and the content being promoted.

In a post from SEOmoz comparing the two, Promoted Posts had more favorable results. In this case study the tester focused the promotional efforts on a free guide to SEO and it helped to invigorate a community content-seekers who had fallen inactive.

From these observations, Sponsored Stories will likely get you a bigger campaign reach by focusing on targeting specific criteria. Promoted Posts, on the other hand, will help you reconnect with audience members who have “liked” you in the past. Your campaigns should take this information into consideration before you choose which advertising method to use.