Facebook Inc. today rolled out new functionality that promises to let retailers and other marketers tell stories in organic posts on its social network without the constraints of its traditional text, image or video templates.

Facebook today announced that, as of Wednesday, retailers and other marketers who operate brand pages on the social network will be able to use Canvases to create organic page posts. The HTML5 format was previously only available to advertisers. The format lets marketers break free of the tight text, image or video-centric post constraints that limit what their posts look like and how consumers can interact with them. Within a single Canvas post, for example, a retailer can mix video, still images, text and call-to-action buttons.

When a consumer clicks or taps on a Canvas post in his news feed, the post then opens and takes over the user’s full screen.

For instance, online-only men’s shoe company Eager&Co. is usingCanvas to convince consumers that it’s different from traditional retailers. When a consumer sees the post in his news feed he sees a pair of the retailer’s shoes with the tag line “It’s simple lads. We offer bespoke, handcrafted footwear at fair prices.” When a shopper clicks the ad, he sees a flow chart that shows how the retailer cuts out the wholesaler, middleman and physical store to sell a pair of shoes for up to $130 less than traditional merchants. The shopper can then scroll down to see multiple products, as well as a tilt-to-pan photo that lets him see the shoes’ various features. The post also lets him swipe through a carousel that highlights the retailer’s free shipping, “quality without compromise” approach and 30-day return policy.

Facebook says consumers are far more likely to engage with a Canvas post than they are with those that use Facebook’s traditional formats. On average when a consumer clicks into a Canvas post, for example, he spends an average of 31 seconds.

The move to let marketers use the Canvas format within organic posts aims to make Facebook a more visual platform, says Rebecca Lieb, an independent media analyst. “The more mobile Facebook gets, the more visual it gets,” she says. “Facebook wants to give consumers a more immersive storytelling journey. It wants marketers to tell stories more visually and beautifully.”
However, crafting Canvas posts takes time, given the lack of constraints. “It takes more time to craft an effective Canvas post,” Lieb says. “But marketers who are serious about driving results will consider that time well spent.”

Letting marketers use Canvas without having to pay for ads may help the social network shake off some bad press that it is strictly a pay-to-play platform where marketers can reap the benefits of the social network only by paying for ads, says Erna Alfred Liousas, a Forrester Research Inc. analyst.

As Facebook has adjusted its news feed algorithm to favor posts that feature live videos, it may take a similar approach with Canvas, she says.