While sponsored stories are the voice of the consumers, ads are the voice of the company. Marketers create the ads, controlling its content and audience. Marketers can create standard ads (ads placed on the right hand side of your Facebook page) and page post ads (promoted organic page posts).

Facebook ads are targeted to users based on their location, demographic, and profile information. Many of these options are only available on Facebook. After creating an ad, you set a budget and bid for each click or thousand impressions that your ad will receive.