While most don’t use Facebook for their search needs, the social platform includes an internal search engine allowing users to find results from across the web. As the company looks to improve and monetize its search capability, TechCrunch reported that Facebook is currently testing Sponsored Results, which could further help marketers develop a presence on the social network.
Facebook’s paid marketing features have undergone a facelift of sorts in 2012, with the company actively looking to boost visibility for the ads. The inclusion of Sponsored Results in search is essentially the same as Google’s paid search campaigns.
Users are informed that the content they’re seeing is an ad, with a notation below the company’s listing in the suggested search window.
Bringing paid content to its more than 900 million users in ways that ensure ads’ visibility is important for Facebook in terms of driving revenue. Additionally, Facebook’s organic content has already proven to be a critical component of social media marketing campaigns for brands of all kinds.
The value of organic social content was recently highlighted in data from comScore covered by Brafton. The study found that increased exposure to social content boosted conversion rates, lifting purchases from 3.3 percent of fans to 4 percent.
