Not a week or month goes by when there aren’t some interesting new changes taking place on Facebook. So which are the latest ones we need to know about, and how will they benefit marketers?

On mobile, Facebook has now introduced a  “Call Now” button to ads displayed in its app, allowing users to directly contact businesses from these. The ability for customers to take direct action will greatly help brands measure accurate conversions, and this also automatically removes a part of the sales journey too. At the beginning of the year, Facebook also launched its separate Ads Manager app, allowing advertisers to manage campaigns via mobile. But just a few months ago, Facebook updated this platform, allowing marketers to now create ads straight from the app, track ad performance, edit ads, campaign budgets and schedules, as well as receive push notifications. To add to its mobile updates, Facebook also revealed at Cannes Lions this Summer, that it was testing new lead ads on mobile, making it easier for users to submit information via their smartphones. For instance, if users follow a call to action within an ad, such as “subscribe” or “submit”, they will be able to easily enter their contact information.

And when it comes to ads management on desktop, Facebook has also launched an ads “exclusion targeting” feature, meaning marketers won’t make the mistake of targeting the same groups of people on a regular basis. Instead of choosing which people to target, this new feature helps businesses decide who not to target, such as those who are already regular customers or brand advocates. This precise level of targeting will greatly help marketers waste less time, energy and money on generic ads, when they can choose to focus their efforts on new or specific audiences instead. For e-commerce businesses in particular, Facebook has also launched new product ads, based on preset templates. These select relevant images, descriptions and prices based on a product catalog and keywords you input. This eliminates the need for brands to spend time creating their own product ads, making for a helpful time saver. And best of all, these new ad formats are compatible for display in both Newsfeed and the sidebar too.

When it comes to the user experience, Facebook now allows audiences to customize their Newsfeeds, with the ability to see updates first from friends, groups, or pages of their choosing. Brands should certainly make the most of this feature, by creating compelling and engaging content that users will want to prioritize. Secondly, there’s no harm in businesses simply asking their fans to support them, guiding them over the course of several posts, for instance, to enable the “See first” option in order to receive their posts at the top of Newsfeed. Businesses should also utilize some of Facebook’s new features to make their pages more dynamic. For instance, one of the site’s latest updates is to allow brands to upload a large featured video in the “Videos” tab of their page. This is a great idea to market your brand, and the video also comes with its own analytics, showing view count and engagement levels.

Have you made use of Facebook’s latest updates yet? What benefits (if any) have you experienced yet? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital, and share your comments on our Facebook page.