the complete guide to setting up your app campaigns on facebook

Setting Up Your App Campaigns on Facebook The Complete Guide To

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Page 1: The Complete Guide to Setting Up Your App Campaigns on Facebook

Setting Up Your App Campaigns

on Facebook

The Complete Guide To

Page 2: The Complete Guide to Setting Up Your App Campaigns on Facebook

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

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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

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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

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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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