Facebook now lets users call businesses directly from News Feed ads

Today Facebook is launching a feature that will allow business to add a “Call Now” button to newsfeed ads.

When a consumer views such an ad on a mobile device they can simply click the Call Now button in the ad and their phone will dial the business’s number directly from the app.

Facebook has been adding new features to help businesses get the most out of Facebook’s location-based local awareness ads.

The company already added a “Get Directions” button, which maps the route from the user’s current location to the business’s physical address. Facebook also added a “Like Page” button with which users can “like” the business’s Facebook page.

With the addition of these buttons, customers have more ways to interact with a business directly within in their News Feed.

“Our new local awareness objective is the first Facebook ad objective created explicitly for local businesses like yours,” the company said in a Facebook post advertising the new buttons.

Facebook is increasingly trying to become the hub where users do everything from booking a restaurant reservation to reading the news.

Earlier today the company announced a new product called Instant Articles that will deliver content directly in app. For now the social network is working with nine publishers including The Atlantic, BBC, BuzzFeed, Bild, The Guardian, National Geographic, NBC, Spiegel, and The New York Times.

Updated 7:10 PM PST: An earlier version of this story said the “Get Directions” button had been announced Wednesday, but that feature was announced October 7, 2014.