• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 30, 2013

Facebook on Tuesday announced the global rollout of Promoted Page Likes, which are meant to provide an easier way for businesses to promote their pages. Similar to Promoted Posts, they help page owners add new fans without having to go through ad dashboard. Instead, companies can create ads directly from their page by clicking the Promoted Page Likes option in the admin panel.

Users select a daily budget based on how many people they want to reach and can target ads based on proximity to their business or city, state or country. The ads, which can run in both the mobile and desktop news feed, are bought on a cost-per-click basis.

Promoted Page Like ads were first introduced in beta in the U.S. in December 2012. They’re geared to small and medium-sized businesses that use Facebook for marketing but don't necessarily have the budget to work directly with a Facebook rep or want to invest the time to master the ad platform themselves, according to Inside Facebook.