In a world where people crave instant gratification more and more, whether it is instantly being able to buy your groceries online, or instantly putting a picture of your freshly baked homemade pie on Facebook, it is not surprising that people are increasingly using their mobile devices for every day duties.

Here we look at how Facebook is joining the trend and providing insightful and helpful ways for businesses to reach their target audiences, well, instantly.

With 1.35 billion active monthly users (and counting), Facebook is a very powerful advertising platform. Advances in technology mean that the way we use devices is changing, and Facebook sees the future as mobile. As of October 1^st, 2014, Facebook recorded 1.12 billion monthly mobile users, and 78% of monthly users in America have said that they only use mobile to access the platform.

Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg has on many occasions been forthcoming about their future plans, which unsurprisingly focus heavily on mobile. Facebook’s recent acquisitions of multiple mobile only platforms including WhatsApp, Instagram, Lightbox, Karma and Moves App confirm this direction. New users and audiences around the world that use mobiles to access the Internet are Facebook’s next area for growth.

Facebook’s move to mobile advertising

Facebook has many kinds of mobile advertising opportunities including mobile News Feed ads, Promoted Posts and pages and mobile app-install ads. Research shows that Facebook is installed on three out of every four smart phones. Mobile is a major opportunity for reaching audiences and is quickly becoming the device of choice for Facebook users. So why is this important for your business?

Well, mobile promises an enormous amount of data that can be captured; anything from what bus route a person takes every day, to what time they are wake up in the morning. This additional data can help fine tune your advertising campaigns, ensuring that your product is reaching the exact people you want to target.

This mobile revolution means that 19 million advertisers have already optimised for mobile, and Facebook has been introducing a host of tools for mobile advertising. Facebook’s Ad Exchange (FBX) is a real-time ads bidding platform, where advertisers can buy ads that retarget potential customers. Another offering is the Audience Network letting advertisers serve ads within partner mobile apps.

Most recently, Facebook has launched ATLAS a mobile platform that can track users’ mobile browsing activity, without the need for “cookies”, which was a previous mobile constraint. The development of multiple mobile advertising platforms isn’t just Facebook trying to diversify its portfolio, it’s a sign that mobile ads are in fact working, and in demand.

The future is mobile

For the first time in history, last year more money was spent on Internet advertising than broadcast television – and the figures are continuing to rise. Mobile advertising plays a major part in this trend. There are many players competing to lead this shift, and it’s no surprise that Facebook is one of them, as two thirds of all mobile advertising is in fact controlled by Google and Facebook.

This year mobile advertising is expected to grow over 75% to $31.45 billion, which makes up nearly one-quarter of total digital ad spending worldwide. An important thought to consider when planning your next marketing campaign.