The most exciting news in social last week was Facebook's formal announcement of its Audience Network, which now allows all Facebook advertisers to extend their ads to mobile App's. Advertisers will also be able to take advantage of the targeting intelligence of Facebook to reach potential customers.Facebook has essentially created a mobile ad network to generate higher reach and increase revenues. Think Google AdSense, which brings Google's Search Intelligence to publishers, and made up 22% of Google's revenue in 1Q14.Here's a quote from one of Facebook's engineers, Tanya Chen,

“The Audience Network shows people the right ads by extending Facebook’s targeting to third-party apps,” Chen goes on. “This means the ads match the interests of people, just as they do on Facebook. It also means people are more likely to engage with the ads.”

Current ads that are available to run are:

• Mobile App Install Ads
• Mobile App Engagement Ads
• Link Ads driving to a website

And, the ads can run in 3 creative formats:

I think the core benefit to advertisers is that the Audience Network extends the reach of a target audience. In essence, target audience segments should now have a longer life span and won't burn out so quickly. In addition, executing a buy across the mobile app network is also easy as it uses the same ad specs as newsfeed ads.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.