Yesterday morning, I received an email from Facebook's person for DC-area political organizations. The message previewed a few things that political page managers would like, but one is huge change for Facebook.
Problem: It Was Hard to Give Facebook Money
Prior to yesterday, it took a lot of steps to spend money on Facebook. Content creators had to click a few times to get into a complicated "ad manager." Creating an ad campaign took configuring targeting, creative, budget, and other parameters. Only then could we give Facebook our credit cards. Dollars-per-campaign was high, but this obstacle made it tough for users to convert into customers.
Gamechange: Customer Need
What content creators want is the chance to put their stuff in front of people. What's the use of making awesome posts and pictures, without the ability to ensure they get in people's newsfeeds?
Facebook built a new sales option, centered directly on this need. And it has the potential for a huge win, because it instantly allows people to pay Facebook for placement.
Look At How Easy it Is
Facebook put the option to pay for that right where you make a post:
For $30, I could ensure that Heritage Action's weekly review post gets in 3,000 people's news feeds. That's exactly what I need.
This Change Has Huge Potential
I'll bet that Facebook's dollars-per-campaign metric falls, but way more people begin paying Facebook money. Facebook closely connected an easy option to become customers with their customer's need. With bazillions of people on the platform, Facebook's chance to monetize this interaction represents a huge opportunity.