PALM DESERT, CA ? A Facebook executive at eTail West said that marketers should move their advertising into Facebook?s newsfeed, which not only appears on mobile devices, but is also an engaging place on the site.

During the ?The Intersection of Facebook and Ecommerce? session, the Facebook executive spoke about the marketing opportunities that are available on the social media giant. Additionally, the presentation included examples of brands that have used Facebook for both mobile and desktop campaigns.

?We think a lot about this ? move your advertising into the newsfeed because it is the most engaging place on Facebook,? said Nicolas Franchet, head of ecommerce at Facebook, Menlo Park, CA.

?It is the only place to get into mobile and compare that to your other channels,? he said. ?The way that you do this is through elaborate test-and-control approaches.?

Social is mobile
Mobile is increasingly growing as a key driver in Facebook?s revenue.

The company offers full-page post and link-page post ad units that show up in a user?s news feeds, which are the only ads that show up on Facebook?s mobile application and site.

Therefore a marketer?s best bet at targeting both desktop and mobile users is through the newsfeed ads.  

Additionally, Facebook claims that the newsfeed is up to 10 times more engaging than the right-hand side of Facebook?s Web site.

In addition to newsfeed ads, Facebook also offers ad units for marketers looking to drive app downloads. The units only appear on mobile devices and can be targeted by operating system. Users who click on the ads can download apps without leaving Facebook.

The session presented a case study from Fab.com. Fab uses Facebook for a variety of advertising initiatives, including increasing app downloads.

Per Fab, Facebook?s ad units for mobile apps are five times more effective than other app download methods that the company has used.

Fab is also seeing 50 percent of its daily log-ins coming from Facebook.

Facebook also has domain ad formats, which are the most basic type of Facebook ads that appear on a desktop site.

There are also advertising opportunities with photo page posts and offers.

Offers let brands push a discount or offer to a consumer. Once a user claims an offer, the offer then shows up in a user?s newsfeed. Per Mr. Franchet, 75 percent of total claims for offers are coming from friends of a brand?s page. Offers began rolling out in September and approximately 42 million users have claimed an offer since then.

When it comes to fans, brands need them to build loyalty. Fans provide social context to sponsored stories to their friends, which can be effective at finding loyal users.

Mr. Franchet

Social opportunity
Facebook claims to have one billion users, 680 million of which access the platform from a mobile device.

Additionally, more than 60 percent of users come back to Facebook daily.

The average desktop user spends 6 hours a month on Facebook via a desktop. Mobile and desktop usage combined is equivalent to 11 hours of usage per month.

Facebook also claims that it has a 90 percent or more targeting accuracy.

Brands who advertise on Facebook can measure clicks, conversions and views.

Consumers nowadays turn to their friends and family on social sites to help them search and buy products. In fact, Facebook claims that 50 percent of its users say that friends and family recommendations are important to buying an item.

Forty-two percent of Facebook users rely on their friends and family to choose between things that they are buying.

Digital marketing
Despite the growth in digital, the basic fundamentals around marketing have not changed much when it comes to acquiring new users and building loyalty, per Mr. Franchet.

Customers want a seamless experience across all marketing. For example, consumers want to be in-store, shop from a mobile application, price compare on a Web site and return an item back in a store.

Therefore, marketing cannot have a cookie-cutter approach and has to be tailored to the end user.

To help retailers acquire sales and loyalty, Facebook offers a retargeting platform via Facebook exchange.

Additionally, marketers need smarter ways to measure digital initiatives.

?This is a multichannel world, and we want to prove to you that Facebook is more effective as a channel than many things that you are doing,? Mr. Franchet said.

Final Take