TechCrunch recently reported that Microsoft’s Bing search engine landed the first advertisement on Facebook’s log-out page. The company announced the new ad spot at its Facebook Marketing Conference last week, later confirming to TechCrunch that Microsoft’s Bing would get the first spot.
Adding the feature to its log-out page ads another major source of revenue for Facebook, which has become one of the leaders in terms of revenue drawn from web marketing. With Bing being the first to advertise on the log-out page, it furthers the partnership between companies.
Facebook data is used to fuel Bing SERPs for logged in users (and aggregate Like data can influence results regardless of whether users are signed in), while Bing powers Facebook’s internal search feature. The alliance is one of many signs of the move toward a more social, personal search landscape that marketers must consider when planning SEO and social marketing campaigns.
In terms of social media marketing, Facebook’s value seems to grow every day. As more users join the network, businesses have more potential prospects that can be reached via the social giant. Beyond that, paid advertising opportunities (such as the log-out ads) are becoming more frequent on Facebook and other social networks.
Brafton recently reported that Twitter has brought Promoted Tweets to its mobile app, allowing companies buying the spots to reach the rapidly growing Twitter audience.
