Facebook has been rolling out new advertising products and iterations of older ones in the months leading up to its IPO. Source: Christopher Heine, ClickZ.com Incisive Media

1. Facebook: 7 Big Advertising
Stories Leading up to the IPO
By Christopher Heine
ClickZ
May 18, 2012

2. $100B Journey
Facebook's IPO, valued at $100 billion, is the
latest milestone for those watching the social
media giant's advertising-related moves.
Following are 7 of the biggest Facebook
developments during the first 5 months of
2012 from the lens of digital marketing news.

3. GM Takes Antisocial Stance
General Motors made headlines when it made a
rather vague on-the-record assertion earlier to
WSJ.com that it was done buying Facebook ads.
Still it called to attention that Facebook needs to
pay heed to budget-minded advertisers - not
just big brands with big budgets.

4. Instagram Purchase Bolsters
Mobile Aspirations
Facebook has been routinely
criticized by users for its less-
than-stellar mobile app.
The purchase of Instagram
could make Facebook more
mobile friendly to users and
advertisers alike.

5. Premium Ads Get Mobile
Distribution
Facebook announced multiple ad products at fMC
in February 2012. A key revelation: mobile ads
were finally part of the eight-year-old social
media company's marketing services.
For Premium Ads purchases, companies started
getting promotions delivered in mobile users'
news feeds if they or their friends liked the
brand.

6. A Low-Risk Groupon Alternative
At fMC 2012, Facebook
unveiled Facebook
Offers- a deals platform
For now, it’s free.
In constrast Groupon and
other deals players like
LivingSocial and Google
Offers take up to 50%
percent of the sales cut
when consumers
redeem vouchers.

7. Improved Page Insights
• Facebook Page Insights analytics are now
shown in real-time. Previously,
marketers had to wait up to several days
to obtain them.

8. Improved Page Insights
• New metrics are also tracked: People
Talking About This, Friends of Fans, and
Weekly Total Reach.
• A dashboard feature lets marketers see
analytics for up to 500 brand posts.

10. Logout Page Becomes
Ad Real Estate
Since March 2012, Facebook offered ads on
Facebook's user logout pages.
One advertiser, Ford Mustang, greeted
people with an image of the sleek 2013
Mustang, in black. It was a still of the
video, that could be activated on the
logout page.

11. App Center Holds Ad Potential
Facebook’s App Center, unveiled May 2012, offers
a platform where its users can search for
mobile and web apps while also seeing
recommendations based on their social graphs.
Julie Renwick, director of mobile for ad agency
Ogilvy North America, characterized the move
as "a game shifter."