• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 15, 2012

Underscoring its efforts to ramp up monetization, Facebook has begun testing its page post ad unit in the news feed. Post page ads, which turn any post on a brand page into a Facebook ad, are meant to reach anyone, not just fans of a page. That's significant because previously a page could only advertise in the news feed if users had already “liked” it or had a friend who did. Think Sponsored Stories.

The post page ad in the news feed will look like a regular post from a page someone is a fan of expect it will include a “Like Page” button in the top right corner and be labeled as “sponsored” at the bottom, according to Inside Facebook. Facebook itself is running a limited test of the unit to gauge user response before considering a wider rollout. The company has said Sponsored Stories have generated higher click-throughs in the news feed so far than on the right-hand side of the page.