You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

Facebook Is Working on a New Ad-Type Called 'Click to Message' This feature will play a huge role around Pages and could provide vital consumer feedback for businesses.

By Jillian D'Onfro

entrepreneur daily

This story originally appeared on Business Insider

JaysonPhotography / Shutterstock.com

Facebook first revealed the broad strokes of its master-plan to make money from its chat product, Messenger, during its last earnings call.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company planned to let people and businesses start messaging each other ad-free. Then, once it became natural for both people and businesses to communicate that way, Facebook would start finding ways to squeeze money from the businesses.

Today, on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, ad exec Andrew Bosworth pulled back the curtain a bit further, revealing that Facebook is working on a new ad-type called "Click to message" ads.

The idea is that businesses would design ads about their company or product, and then Facebook would place a little "Message" button at the bottom. If a person saw the ad and then felt compelled to click the message button and send the business a question or comment, then the business would pay for that ad click.

Voilà! Facebook would be using these ads to make money from the usage of Messenger.

"It's a huge part of our larger strategy around Pages and 'call to actions,'" Bosworth said.

No more websites (or phone calls)

Earlier this month Facebook completely overhauled its Pages product for small businesses, adding new call-to-action buttons that will let businesses encourage potential customers to book appointments or browse products. It also made it possible for all businesses to use the Messaging tools.

Facebook says it wants businesses to start thinking of their Pages as an alternative to creating designated websites.

"We want Pages to be the most viable online presence for businesses," Bosworth said, noting that unique visits to Pages are up 40% year-over-year, and that in the last month alone Pages have seen one billion monthly active unique visits.

Similarly, he noted that Facebook has noticed more phone-call fatigue than ever: People would rather get their questions answered via a quick text exchange than by picking up the phone.

"If Pages can trigger real business outcomes for people, that's a huge opportunity," he says. "Click to message" ads might be a big way to make that happen. Bosworth says that people use messaging with businesses to ask questions about products or look into reservations.

Although Facebook hasn't rolled out this new "click to message" ad format yet (it's in the testing phase), Bosworth remains optimistic:

"We think they could be really popular."

Jillian writes for Business Insider's Technology vertical. She graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in magazine journalism and information management and technology.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Told Meta Engineers to 'Figure Out' Snapchat's Privacy Protections: 'We Have No Analytics on Them'

Recently unsealed court documents detail "Project Ghostbusters," Meta's project to work around Snapchat's end-to-end encryption to intercept data.

Business News

Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Multibillion-Dollar Crypto Fraud

Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan said that the loss amount to the victims of Bankman-Fried's crimes surpassed $550 million.

Growing a Business

The Brand Whiz Behind Sun Bum Is Famous For Making Boring Products Fun. Then, This One Stumped Him.

Everything Tom Rinks touched turned to gold until he took on a brand launch at Target that fizzled. Then, he found a creepy doll on Ebay, and he saw a way forward.

Thought Leaders

How To Improve Your Soft Skills and Emotional Intelligence in 7 Easy Steps

Using these simple but effective approaches will help a person in their business, life and relationships.