Facebook gives brands more ways to convince you to sign up for news

Facebook’s lead ads are getting an update. The company announced that several changes are coming to the ad format that lets people easily sign up for more information around a specific campaign. Starting today, advertisers can tweak their ads so that they’re more contextual, both with a new information card and images, thanks to the new carousel format.

Additionally, Facebook has added desktop support for lead ads, increasing the format’s exposure to more people regardless of device.

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Since the feature’s launch seven months ago, Facebook claims advertisers have “seen great success, receiving more high quality leads at a fraction of the price compared to other channels.” The latest changes come just months after it was integrated with CRM platforms like Salesforce, Eloqua, and Marketo. Today’s updates aren’t exactly major releases, but they are designed to help marketers gain insights into the right people they should reach — it’s all about improving sales. Potential customers don’t need to fill out any detailed forms to express their interest. Instead, they just tap on a couple of buttons and enter in their email address to subscribe for more information.

Sometimes more information is needed to entice people to sign up — let’s be honest, some campaigns are easier to understand than others — which is why Facebook has introduced a context card to the mix. It’s an optional tile that will appear after someone clicks on the ad, but before taking any action. “Context cards help businesses ensure that the leads they receive are high-quality,” the company explained in its blog post.

Beyond that one extra screen, brands can also take advantage of a new carousel format available for lead ads. Now advertisers can showcase three to five images and headlines within their ad before someone clicks through.

Until now, lead ads had only been available on mobile, but now you’ll start to see them on desktop. Even though Facebook is a mobile-first service, there are still people using it on the Web, so making this ad format available across all devices will help brands maximize their campaign’s reach and impact.