Google Tests Social Ads, Turns Google+ Posts Into Display Ads To Show Across The Web

Today, Google introduced a type of promoted post in Google+ that allows brands to turn their social content into ads that are distributed on the Google Display Network. Toyota USA, Cadbury UK and RITZ crackers are among the test partners participating in the closed beta. Brands can take content posted on Google+ and turn photos, […]

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google-plus-logo-tiltToday, Google introduced a type of promoted post in Google+ that allows brands to turn their social content into ads that are distributed on the Google Display Network. Toyota USA, Cadbury UK and RITZ crackers are among the test partners participating in the closed beta.

Brands can take content posted on Google+ and turn photos, videos and even Hangouts into display ads. Rather than have the ads served only within the Google+ context — as with social ads on other networks such as Facebook and Twitter — advertisers can distribute their social content across the web through Google’s Display Network, which includes some 2 million sites. google +post ads +Post ads are designed to be interactive, with the call-to-action being “Click to Expand” to a full-screen lightbox. Users can follow, +1, comment, ask questions, re-share content or join a live Hangout from the ad unit. google-+post-ads-expandable Google says +Post ads are seeing expansion rates 50% higher than the industry average for rich media ads, but otherwise hasn’t provided any other performance details. The program is running in beta. Interested advertisers can apply here.


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About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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