Increasing-Downloads-with-Facebook

Facebook Advertising and Marketing for Mobile and Apps

With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a goldmine for marketers. It’s never been this easy to reach a massive audience of your choice. Over 96% of marketers believe that Facebook is the most effective marketing tool. Most of the Facebook users fall in the age group of 18-34, the favorite demographic of marketers, as this age group is more likely to buy and take action.

But here’s a fact that makes Facebook even more useful if you are looking to promote or market your mobile app: over 70% of Facebook’s traffic is coming from mobile devices. People using Facebook from their phones could stumble upon your app and install it instantly without any friction if they feel your app will be useful for them. If executed correctly, your mobile app marketing strategy on Facebook allows you to reach literally millions of people. 

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Facebook Messenger

Using Facebook to Maximise App Downloads. How to Use Facebook for Mobile and App Marketing

Facebook Messenger is extremely useful when it comes to app promotion and mobile marketing. Over 1.3 billion people use Facebook Messenger. Messages sent via personal chats have a higher impact as compared to general ads and generic messages. According to MobileMonkey, Facebook Messenger messages have open rates of up to 80%, which is huge when compared to email or any other marketing medium for that matter. Messenger messages have click-through rates of 20%. Marketing costs on Facebook Messenger are up to 50% less than Facebook ad campaigns, while Messenger conversion rates are 5 times higher than Facebook’s desktop ads.

You can use chatbots on your Facebook page to promote your app with your answers to user queries. You can also make a customized option of “Use App” while giving options to people in Messenger to install your app. This will increase awareness around your app and drive installs.

Facebook Groups

If you don’t want to spend money on Facebook ads, there are several ways you can do your mobile app marketing for free on Facebook. Facebook Groups is the most powerful free tool to promote your app. There are over 1 billion people on Facebook who regularly participate in groups. There’s nothing stronger than having a community around your brand, and Facebook Groups offers just that. 

To promote your app in Facebook Groups, identify your target audience, niche and the type of groups your potential app users would be interested in. Join those groups, take part in conversations and subtly promote your app by solving other people’s problems and answering their questions. You can also create a Facebook Group for your business page.

Video Ads on Facebook

Instead of using static images, you can also use video in your Facebook app installs. Video instantly gets attention and conveys your message more conveniently.  According to the Content Marketing Institute, over 66% of the audience prefers video to reading text, while 89% of marketers believe video gives them higher ROI.

With Facebook app install ads, keep your videos short, concise, engaging and make sure you convey to the viewer why they should install your app on their smartphone. You can also show how your app works in a video. This will show users how they can use your app to solve their problems.  Here is a good example of that:

The best way to leverage the immense potential of Facebook for your app campaigns is to use app install ads. Facebook specifically launched these ads for companies that want to increase their app downloads and installs. Facebook app install ads equip you with three things that you can use for your maximum advantage.

  • A short message in which you can hook your audience
  • A picture or video summarizing your app
  • A direct call-to-action button that takes the user directly to Google Play Store or Apple App store.

Once your app is registered and everything is set up, you can go to the ads manager and open “App Dashboard” to create an app install ad. We will see the best ways to execute Facebook’s app install ads, but first, let’s quickly take a look at what do you need to use app install ads on Facebook.

  • Registration of your app with Facebook’s Developer site. This will help you optimize your app install ads for the best performance.
  • Setting up Facebook SDK for tracking, measurement, and optimization of clicks.
  • A Facebook business page.

Best Practises for Facebook App Install Ads 

C:\Users\fahad_saleem\Desktop\app example1.jpg
Source: JDate. This Facebook ad campaign shows how a catchy image is key.

You should always use a catchy photo for your Facebook app install ads. It is one of the most important things that could make or break your ad results. Facebook allows a limited number of characters for text in app install ads. Make sure to write the best copy possible, with an attractive caption. 

C:\Users\fahad_saleem\Desktop\app example2.jpg
Source: JobPose. This advertisement shows how quick and clear messaging is key on Facebook.

Notice how the caption in the ad above (Find a job in your city fast) conveys the intent of the app without any confusion. Using direct captions like these will increase your app installs.  You can also change the app promotion text for different audiences. For example, this ad targets people looking for jobs in “Retail and Hospitality”. You can also target the audience looking for other jobs with a different text. 

C:\Users\fahad_saleem\Desktop\app example4.jpg
Source: Qloo. This is an area that could be further enhanced: the title and description.

You should use all ad elements optimally. Notice how this app just says “Qloo” in the caption. You should avoid wasting space like this. Instead, write a catchy caption to attract the attention of the user. For example, in this case, we could write, “Looking for Great Movies and Music for This Weekend?”


Facebook Targeting for the Best Results in App Promotion Campaigns

Perhaps the biggest reason why Facebook is the leading platform for marketing is the number of targeting options it provides. You can choose your audience based on their interests, demographics, professions and even the type of devices they are using. This level of control is a great opportunity if you want to use Facebook marketing for your mobile app promotion.

For example, if your app is just for Android, you can exclude all iPhone, iPod and iPad users from your target audience. You can also choose for mobile OS versions. If you think your app is just for the latest OS versions, you can exclude users with older versions. This will save your budget and refine your target audience for maximum results.

C:\Users\fahad_saleem\Desktop\target 4.png

You can also create your custom audience sets by using a number of options. For example, if you have a website, you can use your web traffic data and target your web visitors on Facebook. You can also specifically target your existing app users. You can also upload your own user data files and create an audience for increased targeting.

Targeting people based on their interests is very useful in mobile marketing on Facebook. You should use all demographics and interest options provided by Facebook and customize it at a granular level. While retargeting your audience who have already installed your app, you should exclude the people who are active users of your app. You can also create lookalike audiences to clone your best existing customers. 

Final Thoughts About How to Master Facebook for Apps and Mobile

There are a plethora of paid and free options in order to capture your target audience’s attention, interest and spend on Facebook. However, it is one of the most competitive advertising landscapes. Additionally, Facebook only delivers a specific kind of audience: Facebook users, and not all businesses, such as B2B for example, will find their key target audience using the Facebook audience network. Additionally to this, many of the ‘free’ Facebook marketing and advertising options are very time-consuming, thus the cost-benefit factor might not be worthwhile for your business goals, especially if this is to support a launch, globalization or scale-up strategy.


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