Bing Ads is Testing Social Extensions in PPC Ads

The Digital Essentials, Part 3

Developing a robust digital strategy is both a challenge and an opportunity. Part 3 of the Digital Essentials guide series explores five of the essential technology-driven experiences customers expect, which you may be missing or not fully utilizing.

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The latest ad extension you may start seeing on the Bing network is the social extension, which directs users to the business’s social accounts or to promoted conversations and hashtags. The intent is to help advertisers drive more followers to their social channels. As social marketing becomes more popular as an effective targeting strategy, businesses are trying to find ways to grow their social networks. Bing has decided to test a new way to do so.
Social networks included in this extension are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumbler.
Bing Ads claims “using social extensions in combination with other ad extensions can symbiotically increase both your ad’s CTR and your customer engagement.”
This feature is still in beta, so businesses interested in adding the extension will need to speak with a Bing Ads rep to make this option available.
It seems to me that this extension would be more effective for companies with lead gen goals than revenue. If you want searchers to visit your website and make a purchase, offering links to your social media will distract them from the goal of purchasing. However, if it’s more important for a company to grow its social networks to develop relationships with potential customers first, then this could be a great way to do so.
It’s important to keep in mind that these social extension clicks will be sending users to a landing page outside of the company’s website. That’s going to make tracking and reporting a bit more difficult.
At the very least, this extension is another opportunity to increase the size of your ad and take up more space on the search results page, pushing your competitors farther down on the page.