Targeted advertising for mobile apps: what’s the difference



You have a mobile app and you’re wondering what kind of advertising to run to monetize your development as quickly as possible? Targeted advertising on social networks, of course.

  1. It’s a multi-million dollar audience. To be exact, 2.81 billion people use Facebook services (Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram) every day.
  2. Local and targeted targeting. One-third of the world’s population provides data on their location, age, gender, marital status, and algorithms determine device types, payment options and interests.
  3. Minimum budget. You can run ads with any budget, and the algorithm will calculate impressions. Facebook has no restrictions on the budget for an advertising campaign.
  4. Powerful marketing tools. With their help you can constantly optimize the campaign, change creatives, test new options, analyze the effectiveness.

What are the features of mobile app targeting?

1. Choice of target.

For mobile app or game ads 3 targets are available:

  • traffic;
  • conversions;
  • installation of the app.
Targeted ads for mobile apps. Targets for advertising

Fig. 1 – Goals for mobile application advertising

The “Traffic” target is suitable for the market launch, the launch of a new feature, or the complete upgrade of the application. This target is introductory, for a user to switch from social network to your page in App Store or Google Play.

While the app is new, it has few downloads and reviews, the system does not promote it in search results, so at the start you just need to attract traffic. This is advised by experts who have experience in promoting applications and games in Google Play and App Store – for example, professionals aso.

The “Conversion” goal is for in-app purchases, that is, if your app is free, but the user can buy something inside (a subscription, full toolset, and so on). When promoting a specific option rather than the app as a whole, select the “Conversions” target.

The “Installing the app” target is a universal one; it can be used to introduce your product, promote a utility or an individual feature, or to advertise products within the app.

2. Settings.

In Facebook Ads Manager, when launching an advertising campaign, the basic settings are standard. You choose language, region, define audiences, add creatives and budget. But there are items you can set up only for mobile app ads.

Type of mobile device.

In the preparatory phase, you register your product with Facebook for Developers to integrate it into the system. You must download the iOS and Android version.

When launching your ads, select the type of mobile device according to the downloaded version. Also keep in mind that if your utility is only for iPhone, and is not supported on iPad and Mac, exclude those options in the device field.

Targeted ads for mobile apps. Application match field

Fig. 2 – App compliance field

Network connection speed.

Your app or game may be so versatile that it doesn’t require an internet connection, but in most cases it doesn’t. So narrow down your audience and only show ads to those who have optimal connection speed so that they will enjoy using your product! To do this, just fill in the field “Network connection”.

Targeted ads for mobile apps. Selecting a network connection speed

Fig. 3 – Selecting the network connection speed

Number of clicked ads of mobile applications that the user used.

By filling in this field, you limit the display of ads to those who have never or only clicked on mobile app ads a few times. Most likely, these users don’t respond well to this kind of content and aren’t your target audience.

Targeted ads for mobile apps. Advanced targeting options

Fig. 4 – Advanced targeting settings

Connections > Show ads only to those who have already used the app.

In this field, you can select and exclude people who use your app. Be sure to use the checkbox when setting up ads for the “Conversions” goal, and you can also test this option for the “Traffic” goal using the appropriate creatives.

Targeted ads for mobile apps. Setting up links

Fig. 5 – Setting up links

3. Creatives.

Promoting a mobile app or game is quite difficult because it is not always possible to predict the interest of a particular user. Therefore, testing, and again testing for completely different groups of audiences is a must.

There are only 3 ad formats to choose from for mobile app advertising:

  • one photo;
  • one video;
  • a circular gallery.

We recommend using video or animation, as well as gallery (carousel).

Video is the best way to present your product, to show it from the inside. Thanks to this format, you can clearly demonstrate the interface and functionality of the utility and present the characters of the game. In the format of the video is much easier to convey information than to describe it in text.

To summarize: targeted mobile app advertising has a number of features. However, it is the one that brings advertisers a high conversion rate for an optimal budget.
Thanks to the huge audience of Facebook users, locale settings and specificity of interests, you can see the results from advertising in the near future.

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