Post on 13-Feb-2017
Setting Up Your App Campaigns
on Facebook
The Complete Guide To
Table of Contents
Intro .................................................................................................... 3
App Promotion Campaigns ........................................................ 6
Design & Copy Tips for Killer App Ads .................................. 9
Finding YOUR Target Audience on Facebook ....................19
The Buck Stops Here: Tips on Pricing Models ...................26
Conclusion ........................................................................................31
The Complete Guide To Setting Up Your App Campaigns on Facebook
2www.appsflyer.com
Intro
We’ve all seen and heard how big Facebook is. Heck, It’s all around us:
at work, on the train, on vacation, at the restaurant... It’s everywhere!
But what may be the most remarkable is how well Facebook adapted
to the mobile era, in both scale and performance.
When it comes to driving user acquisition, Facebook’s mobile reach
is unrivaled. The social network has a whopping 1.39 billion mobile
monthly users and 894 million mobile daily active users. When it comes
to performance, Facebook is a consistent top 5 network performer
in retention, according to the AppsFlyer Performance Indexes (see
here and here).
And mobile is paying off for Facebook, Mobile contributed no less than
78 percent of Facebook’s Q3 ad revenue. That’s a cool $3.3 billion.
Facebook Advertising Revenue Share by Device
Mobile Ad Revenues
Desktop Ad Revenues
Q2'15 Q3'15Q1'15Q4'14Q3'14Q2'14
38.0% 34.0% 31.0% 27.0% 24.0% 22.0%
62.0% 66.0% 69.0% 73.0% 76.0% 78.0%
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Focusing on mobile app installs, US ad revenue will top $4.6 billion
this year and grow to $6.8 billion by the end of 2019, according to
BI Intelligence. “We believe mobile app install ads accounted for about
30% of mobile ad revenue last year,” the report stated. A new Kenshoo
Q2 2015 report found that marketers have increased investment in
app install ads by 346% compared to Q2 2014.
While there isn’t any definitive data on Facebook’s dominance in
the app install ad business, estimates range from 20 to 30% of the
market, which is huge for a single network among thousands out
there. According to eMarketer, “Facebook is far and away the most
important app install channel.”
With such numbers, Facebook must be doing something right. In
fact, Facebook is considered an essential component of today’s app
marketing mix.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about how to set
up your your app install, app engagement and Custom Audiences
campaigns on Facebook, while exploring targeting capabilities,
creative best practices, business models and pricing tips.
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When you’re done, make sure to read our other guide that will tell you all
about how to let data work for you on Facebook, with special emphasis
on measurement, analytics capabilities, data analysis and optimization.
THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO
MEASURING, ANALYZING & OPTIMIZING YOURFACEBOOK APP CAMPAIGNS
GET YOUR FREE COPY
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1
Facebook App Promotion Campaigns
There are two main types of campaigns for app marketers who want
to find new users and maximize the value of existing ones:
App Install Ads
Facebook launched mobile app install ads in late 2012 and
the offering quickly took off. App install ads met an untapped
need, helping developers drive app downloads.
With more and more apps in the app stores (around 1.4 million
and counting in both The App Store and Google Play), relying
on organic app discovery wasn’t going to do the trick for 99%
of app developers. That’s why user acquisition through non-
organic channels became super important.
By focusing on non-organic activities,
marketers also increased the number of
organic installs, because install volume is a
key metric in ASO (app store optimization).
So where do we start? In order to begin
running Facebook App Install campaigns,
you’ll need to fill out some basic app info,
provide screenshots, enable a Facebook
integration, and more (see app details page).
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The ads will appear in the Facebook mobile news feed (making
them a perfect example of native advertising where ads blend in
with the content). They will clearly be delivered as a sponsored
story labeled as ‘Suggested App’. Users can like, comment,
share, and of course easily install the app by clicking on the ad.
As app retention and in-app engagement are becoming two of
the most important goals for app marketers, Custom Audiences
campaigns for your existing app or mobile site users can propel
your users’ lifetime value.
The key to engagement is relevance, so the more you know
about the actions users performed in your app, the greater your
chances of success. To learn what your users are doing, you will
need to enable in-app event tracking. This can be
done by integrating Facebook’s SDK or
the SDK of one of its official measurement
partners. Once enabled, you can retarget
these users with specific messages.
Just like app install ads, engagement ads
will appear in the mobile news feed and
provide options to Like, share and comment.
Click here for more details on how to set-up
a Custom Audiences campaign.
Custom Audiences Engagement Ads (Retargeting) 2
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Reach Extension Via Instagram and Facebook Audience Network
Facebook can extend your app promotion campaigns to other apps
including Instagram — which it bought in 2012 for $1 billion — and
apps that are part of the Facebook Audience Network, where you
can choose between banner, interstitial, or native ad formats. All
targeting capabilities, including Custom Audiences and lookalike
audiences, are available on Instagram and the Audience Network.
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Facebook’s app install ads are straightforward, and easy to build.
You can find all the details here. The key is to run ad creative that
separates your message from other, characterless Facebook ads.
This may sound trivial, but it is often the little things that make a big
difference. Let’s dig in.
Design & Copy Tips for Killer App Ads
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Make Ads People Will Actually Look At
You know how easy it is to
get lost in users’ news feeds,
right? The downside of
native advertising is also its
strength — it blends in. But
there is a way to make this
work for you. Get creative
with your images to stand
out and make an impression.
Facebook users favor visual
ads, those with high quality
images and videos.
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Consider using in-app screenshots and photo stills of real people
using the app, so users can get a sense of what it does. Also, when
using an app screenshot, show it inside a mobile device.
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Last year, Facebook introduced the carousel format, allowing advertisers
to show multiple images in one ad. Following its strong performance
— carousel link ads drive 30 to 50% lower cost per conversion and
20 to 30% lower cost per click than single-image link ads - the social
network extended the format to app install ads. Between Q2 and Q3
2015, carousel Unpublished Page Post ad spend rose by 55% — the
largest increase for any Facebook ad unit.
When running carousel ads, make sure to use the best performing
cards first. Create a consistent design to connect the different cards
together into a single story. The following is a great example:
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Last but not least, video on Facebook’s mobile properties is huge.
It’s where 75% of the daily 4 billion videos are viewed! Video ads are
also proving extremely popular — especially for gaming developers.
Video ads can show viewers what an app is truly like, often more
effectively than any text ad or image ad ever could. This gives users
a pretty good sense of what to expect from the app before they
install it.
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When users get to see the app in motion, to appreciate its value and
design, its gameplay, and its best features in action, and then choose
to install it, they are bound to stick with the app for longer.
With other types of ads, the users are taking a bit more of a leap of
faith and once they start using it, they might discover that it's not
quite what they thought it would be. So video ads give you a lot
more flexibility in showing what your app can do, delivering quality,
loyal users.
Since video ads autoplay with the sound off on Facebook, make sure
your video (or at least the first few seconds of it) are highly engaging
— even without sound. Also, know that users may not always have
access to internet speeds that can seamlessly support Facebook’s
auto play function for video ads.
The best practice for video ads is to focus on storytelling: How can
your app help the user? What will the user experience through your
app? If it’s a game, what’s the story? What’s the gameplay like? Show
them what they can expect to feel while using your app. Delivering
these points in detail will help you create a video ad with the highest
potential impact.
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Words Still Matter
Although visual is the way to go, that doesn’t mean your ad’s text
should be an afterthought. The general idea is to give the user a
summary of your app’s function in a few words.
Catchy taglines work great when your app is already popular, but
using descriptive words that leave no room for doubt is the best
approach for newer apps.
In a few words, tell them what your app is about. Keep it simple!
Also, don’t overuse capitals. You can emphasize one or two words,
not more.
A Call-to-Action (CTA) in the ad’s text will help you with this. What’s
a CTA? It’s the text telling users exactly what you want them to do.
For games, CTAs use the word ‘Play’. For eCommerce apps, ‘Buy’ or
‘Shop Now’ are the best ones to include in your CTA. For travel apps,
‘Book Now’ works well.
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Aside from the actual button, these ads use CTAs in the ad text as
well: 'Listen now free' and 'Book a weekend getaway.’ 'It’s a no-brainer
really. A lot of app installs have been lost to the novice mistake of not
including a CTA in the ad text in addition to the ad's button.
Another thing to remember is to use the language that’s appropriate
for your target audience. Will they respond to a more whimsical
tone? Or will short and direct descriptions work best? Or maybe
your target prospects are in the US, but their primary language isn't
English. Adjust accordingly.
Constantly switch creatives: Fatigue is real — if you show the same
ad to to the same users over and over, the eCTR/eCVR is going to
drop and your reach will decline. Keep it rolling!
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What’s Next?
Facebook is constantly testing new ad formats. It has recently began
to test a new immersive format where the ads look like normal
sponsored posts, but open full screen when tapped, allowing the
user to scroll through content like text, photos and videos.
It’s like a brand’s mini-site but will load more quickly and be more
interactive because the content is native to Facebook. The social
network said they are testing both branding and direct response
messaging, seeking to drive action or emotional responses rather
than a short-lived click to a site or app.
Hungry?
In the mood for some shopping?
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Facebook is also taking on Google’s YouTube, testing a beefed up video
platform within its mobile app, where users can browse videos shared
by friends, pages and publishers they follow alongisde recommended
content. It is safe to assume video ads will eventually be included.
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Facebook’s mobile targeting capabilities are among the best in the
business, hands down. It’s no surprise considering the enormous
amount of data the social network has. Here’s a glimpse of what’s
on the table:
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Finding Your Target Audience on Facebook
Too many options can also be confusing, but the more targeted your
buy, the more effective your ads, so what’s the best way to go?
Phase 1: Start by defining your audience in broad terms
You probably have some general understanding about your target
audience. For example, if you're an m-commerce app selling cosmetics
and operating in the US, it is safe to assume that women aged 18-54
from North America is the general target market you should focus on.
However, if you're a game like Candy Crush, you’re targeting a much
broader audience so finding quality users can be much harder as it may
involve multiple parameters. In gaming, it is especially important to find
your “whales”, as studies have shown an extremely small percentage
of players contribute the majority of a gaming app’s revenue.
Remember, you can always refine your audience targeting based on
the types of users your are attracting.
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Phase 2: Run low budget test campaigns
Fierce competition among mobile apps has led to a rise in costs. So
before wasting a lot of money, start with a soft launch. This will help
you identify your most valuable users without breaking the bank.
The soft launch should result in a relatively small group of acquired
users (5K-10K daily active users is usually a good target) that can
be analyzed.
One of your primary soft launch goals is discovering the
lifetime value (LTV) of your average user (or users
in your newly refined target market). Once you
know your LTV, you can figure out how much
you are willing to pay. Basically, you’re looking
to meet the golden rule of app marketing:
LTV > CPI. As long as this condition is being
met, you’re on track! Remember, as you refine
your custom audience targeting and your user
engagement and retention, your LTV should rise and your CPI should
decline, so don’t be put off by low profit margins in a soft launch.
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What kind of targeting should you apply from the get go?
1) Demographic targeting: Reach audiences using
demographic attributes such as age, gender, education,
work, relationship status and more.
2) Behavioral targeting: Reach out to customer segments
based on behavior patterns including demonstrated
interests, purchase intent, travel status, and events.
3) Interests targeting: Facebook knows a lot about their
users’ interests, particularly from the pages they like and
the type of content they engage with. As a result, interests
targeting can get really granular. Interest targeting can
also let you target your competitors’ fans, which can be
very effective.
4) Targeting your existing users via Custom Audiences:
Facebook offers app marketers the ability to retarget
users they know (have some data about them), to drive
app retention and in-app engagement. This is done by
matching emails or phone numbers with users who have
a profile on the social network. You can also create a list of
users based on their mobile advertising IDs (like Apple’s
IDFA, Google’s Advertising ID). You can collect these
mobile ad IDs when users open your app.
For example, you can show women’s fashion products to
users who added women’s fashion products to their cart
but did not complete their purchase; or, offer an incentive
to players who made at least two in-app purchases but
have been inactive for 14 days.
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5) Lookalike targeting: An extremely effective user
acquisition method. The logic behind lookalike targeting is
that people who ‘look like’ your top users (similar behavior,
interests, demographics, etc.) will likely drive value just
like the original audience.
For example, let’s say you know that women aged 35-45 in
the US who are interested in baking and are in a relationship
have a high lifetime value. Facebook can then use this data
to find new users that look like your top users.
While the above options are not necessarily specific to mobile
app marketing, these certainly apply to mobile. The following
parameters, however, are unique to mobile targeting:
6) Device targeting: Engage audiences based on the user’s
device characteristics, including manufacturer, model,
operating system, and connection type. For example, if
you’re selling luxury products, you can target users who
own the latest high end devices like the iPhone 6 Plus or
Galaxy S6 Edge, and are likely to be more affluent.
The key takeaway here is that you should always be up
to date with the newest devices coming out. OS version
is also very important, as you don’t want to target users
with an OS version that is not supported in your app. Last
but not least, if your app’s size is significant, make sure to
only target users with a WiFi connection.
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7) Location-driven targeting: Thanks to the geolocation
signals a mobile device can send, you can target users in
key locations by country, state/province, city or postal
code. You can even define a specific store, shopping mall
or airport by setting a radius from a location based on
various filters as follows:
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Phase 3: Take a data deep-dive
The third phase of building your target audiences, is an ongoing
process of gathering information about your users, learning from
these insights and fine-tuning accordingly. Ultimately, you’ll want
to go from a couple of general segments to being able to actually
define smaller sub-segments based on the projected value they will
deliver via your app.
Last but not least, never rest on your laurels. Your target audiences
may change and you need to make sure you never drop the ball. So
you have to measure, optimize, measure, optimize and then measure
again to make sure you’re on track. For (much) more on mobile data
and measurement, make sure to read this guide.
Simplicity rules
One of the most important reasons why Facebook enjoys remarkable
popularity among marketers is the ease with which marketers can
set up, refine and optimize their campaigns on the
platform. All you need is a credit card, a Facebook
Ads Manager account, a standard 300 by 250
creative and some light copy and you’re good to
go. When you can adapt or go live in practically
any geo or city within minutes makes a huge
difference for ‘too-much-work-not-enough-
time’ marketers.
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Facebook offers advertisers a variety of pricing models. Let’s explore
the following table to better understand your options:
Pricing Model
Description Pros Cons
CPM
Advertiser pays for every 1000 impressions
Effectiveness at scale and lower cost (assuming you know your audience)
Works for every audience size
Wasteful and costly if you (a) don’t have a well defined audience, or (b) do not have the right creative or copy (failing to drive installs)
OCPM
Facebook’s default model lets the Facebook algorithm optimize your goal (whether app installs or engagement) while you pay for impressions.
Easy to use (automatic)
Performs well (the larger your audience, the better Facebook algorithm is able to optimize)
Can prove costly
Lack of transparency means inability to derive actionable insights or build your own audiences on other networks
Not suitable for small niche audiences as Facebook won’t have enough data to work with
CPC
Advertiser pays a pre-determined price every time a user clicks on an ad
Good for brand campaigns more traditional marketing like generating leads (rather than installs), driving users to a landing page, and brand promotion
Not a good fit for performance campaigns
CPA
Advertiser pays a pre-determined price for a pre-defined action (i.e. app open, in-app purchase)
Control
Performance
Risk free
Can be difficult to scale. Facebook will show ads only to users who they determine are likely to take the desired action.
You can’t run CPA campaigns from day 1, as its engine needs time to learn
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The Buck Stops Here: Tips on Pricing Models
Since each model has its pros and cons, you should carefully weigh
your options. Although there are many variations to consider, here’s
a general set of best practices to follow:
If you know your audience well and have a good feel for what ads
will generate the best conversions, CPM is your best bet. This will
keep your media costs low, and give you optimal control over your
messaging flight and frequency.
If not, you can start with OCPM for a limited period to gain some
knowledge and experience. Although the Facebook algorithm keeps
insights in the box, you can still learn about your audience when
running OCPM, by structuring multiple campaigns with multiple ad
sets and monitoring what’s working and what’s not. That will give
you some understanding on your what drives your users’ actions.
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You can also add CPC to the mix when you get started, especially
with a really low starting bid. If you have powerful creative, you may
generate a lot of installs at a low rate.
Once you have a good idea about who your audiences, messaging
effectiveness and the average cost to acquire a loyal user across
different segments, you should split your campaigns: have 2 sets
running CPA and 2 sets running CPM. This gives you the ability to
strike a balance between cost and scale. It’s important to regularly
run some CPM alongside CPA, as CPM campaigns will serve as a
benchmark for your true cost so you know if your CPA goal is too
high (or low).
Another key factor to consider is your relevancy score. Facebook
wants ads that are relevant to its users. Your relevancy score plays
a major role when deciding which ads will be shown to which users,
and at what cost. As such, if your relevancy scores are 5x higher than
your competitor, and you bid only a fifth of what your competitor is
willing to pay, Facebook would still serve your ad.
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However, as Samuel Chan, CEO of HyperGrowth (a ROI-centric media
buying and consultation company) notes, "Relevance score has a
greater impact in performance-driven ads, ads meant to deliver a
specific action like mobile installs. Advertisers that use Facebook
for branding campaigns are less impacted by relevance score, from
a cost and delivery perspective."
According to Chan, "The relevance score is calculated on a daily basis.
Learning the positive and negative signals that contribute to your daily
relevance score is a critical component to ad optimization. Positive
signals include video view completions, likes, shares and comments
on your ads, click-through rates, conversions etc. an ad gets. If your
ad is hidden or reported, however, your relevancy score will take a
major hit so create ads that are engaging and deliver real value."
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When it comes to budget allocation, a good rule of thumb to divide
your UA campaigns is as follows:
•Allocate40%tolookaliketargeting(youcandothisfrom
day 1 with Facebook’s Custom Audiences API).
•Allocate40%tointerest-basedtargeting. *Roughly10%ofthisbudgetshouldbeusedtestingnewinterests.
•Allocate20%tobroadtargetingtodrivescaleanddiscover
newlearnings(youmaynotknowthatthere’sactuallyagood
match between, say, your app and users from Chicago who
like books and pets and just can’t get enough of your app).
But be careful not to overlap! Whether you’re setting up 5 campaigns,
each with 20 ad sets and then 5 ads in each set, or just running a
single campaign with 4 ad sets and 4 ads in each set, the trick is to
have as minimal overlap in your targeting as possible.
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Conclusion
Facebook is the most popular media source for app marketers
who want to promote their app today. The combination of data,
native ad formats, targeting options, visual-centric creative,
performance, scale, flexibility and ease of use have made this social
network essential to many app marketers. But knowing where to
start and how to make the most of the multiple options Facebook
offers can make a real difference in your app campaigns.
About the Author
Shani Rosenfelder is a senior marketing manager
at AppsFlyer — the leading mobile attribution and
marketing analytics company. With over 10 years of
experience in key content and digital marketing roles,
he brings vast knowledge about the ecosystem and a
deep understanding about what marketers are after.
Follow Shani on
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