Facebook social ads new formats explained

I came across this blog post that explains the new types of Sponsored Ads introduced by Facebook last month.

The formats I'm that familiar with, but look quite compelling are:

1. Page Post Likes - when a Fan Likes a post on your Page, you can advertise that action to the friends of that Fan e.g. if I Liked a post on the Land Rover Page, Landrover could advertise the comment I'd Liked to my friends.
2. Check In - when someone checks in or claims a Facebook Deal from one of your Facebook Places, you can advertise that action to the friends of the person who checked in. e.g. if I checked in to a Starbucks and claimed a Deal, Starbucks could advertise the fact to my friends.
3. Domain - if your website uses the Facebook Likes functionality and someone Likes some content on your site, you can advertise the fact to that person's Facebook Friends.

You can see quite a clear pattern here - all use the endorsement of a friend, which is much more powerful than an ad from a brand alone.

How you feel about Facebook using you and your content in advertising is up to you as an individual, but from a marketing point of view it's a neat strategy.