Facebook advertising The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
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What’s covered in this report Finding your uniqueness
Optimizing your funnel
Learn how to define your unique selling proposition (commonly abbreviated as “USP”) for specific user groups.
Not every campaign launches perfectly right out the gate. Learn how to tweak your campaigns to increase ad engagement, ROI and overall user lifetime value (LTV).
Defining your core user What do your core users need? What do they like? What does your product add to their life? Cool fact: We’ve seen that targeting relevant users can increase average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) by up to 40%.
The ‘one-second rule’
Achieving scale through tools and localization You can use some tricks for quick wins, but to achieve real scale — the hundreds-of-percent kind that makes investors salivate — you need to have the right tools in your toolbox (and maybe pick up a new language or two).
Your creative gets one second to grab people’s attention. Make your ad simple and focused. Leverage high-contrast colors and objects.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
What’s covered in this report
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Chp 01: Introduction
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Chp 02: Figuring out your user
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Chp 03: My app’s unique, right?
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Chp 04: Making your first campaign
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Chp 05: Stop! Evaluate and listen
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Chp 06: Targeting requires tactics
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Chp 07: Scaling your Facebook ad ops
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Chp 08: Tapping into Asia
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Chp 09: Go forth and get your app’s users!
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The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Table of contents
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Introduction You probably don’t need to be convinced that advertising your app on Facebook is a solid idea. According to eMarketer, as of 2014, Facebook’s platform commands the highest market share in US mobile ad spend with 37%. Odds are your competitors are tapping into the platform to reach the more than 1.4 billion people using Facebook to connect and engage across the globe every month. Putting together a Facebook campaign is no small task if you’re trying to scale operations and maximize your ads’ ROI.
market share
37% mobile ad spend
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When you’re trying to get your app out there, every user — and every penny — counts. We created this comprehensive starter guide on Facebook mobile user acquisition to help everyone from indie developers spearheading their own marketing to app marketers launching their first round of campaigns. Our hope is that when you’re done with this guide, you’ll have a solid foundation to start creating campaigns. That being said, Facebook advertising is complex and constantly evolving, so while our guide will introduce the core pillars and concepts, there are tons of tricks, hacks and gotcha’s that you can (and should) research once you’re familiar with the platform.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
1.4b users
900m daily users
Introduction
SETTING THINGS UP INCORRECTLY MIGHT CAUSE YOU TO LOOK OVER SOME GREAT USERS, OR WORSE, WASTE PRECIOUS MARKETING BUDGET BY TARGETING THE WRONG PEOPLE.
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The upside is clear — Facebook is something you want to investigate if you’re looking to grow user adoption. But if this is your first foray into paid acquisition or Facebook ads in general, it can be daunting to set everything up. There’s a staggering amount of granularity you can use to target people and creative do’s and don’ts to consider.
AT A GLANCE: FACEBOOK AD STATS
60.3%
What It Means: If you want to be part of the social sharing phenomenon, look no further than Facebook’s mobile app. Facebook has the users (and the eyeballs) — which means there’s a huge captive audience for your ads.
Setting things up incorrectly might cause you to look over some great users, or worse, waste precious marketing budget by targeting the wrong people. But worry not — this is a step-by-step guide that will walk you through everything you need to know, from constructing a strategic framework to tactical targeting strategies.
Fact 01: Facebook makes up 60.3% of all social sharing that happens on mobile devices.
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Fact 02: Global CTRs increased 17% QoQ (260% YoY). What It Means: Competition may be increasing, but advertisers on Facebook are effectively reaching and engaging audiences relevant to their business.
So let’s kick it off. Below we’re going to walk you through a Facebook campaign creation process from conception to execution. Pull out your Evernote and jot some notes along the way.
Fact 03: Video ad spend increased 2.8x QoQ. What It Means: This is a great time to start testing video ads in your ad mix instead of just static images or banners. In fact, InMobi tested video ads against other media types and found it led to 13% increased retention and 60% more per-user spend in apps. Video’s on a meteoric rise, so don’t miss the train. (Want to make an app trailer or video ad? We wrote a guide about that.) Source: Nanigans
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Introduction
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Figuring out your user What kinds of things do they like (or consume)? Facebook pages give users the opportunity to follow things that matter to them, whether it’s their favorite brand, hobby or even celebrities. Think about what your target market would like and list them out. If you can, run a survey or interview some early adopters to check your list.
IF YOU CAN, RUN A SURVEY OR INTERVIEW EARLY ADOPTERS TO CHECK YOUR LIST.
User #3828
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Where do they live? Let’s say you made an app that listed events unique to Los Angeles. You’ll want to limit your campaigns to target only users within the area(s) your app serves. In this case, we’d suggest targeting the Greater Los Angeles Area (and maybe a few other surrounding cities). Optimize your marketing spend by targeting only users who would see value in using your app.
What other demographic information can you use to define them?
OPTIMIZE YOUR MARKETING SPEND BY TARGETING ONLY USERS WHO WOULD SEE VALUE IN USING YOUR APP.
What age range do they fall into? Gender? Income bracket? Education level? Relationship status? Job title/level? Spoken language? The list goes on. If you want to do a full brainstorm, we recommend checking Facebook’s Audience Insights page.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Figuring out your user
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Let’s say you have an app that streams live UFC matches and notifies the user when a match is coming to their city. Here’s an example of how you can target the right people:
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With App Annie’s Audience Intelligence (pictured above), you can key into which apps UFC fans are downloading. This can help you hone your targeting even further. Our Demographics data (not shown, but included when you subscribe to Audience Intelligence) shows that an overwhelming majority of UFC’s official app users are male. Beyond that, the Related Apps tab shows they enjoy other sports news apps, as well as first-person shooter and strategy games.
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Facebook’s Audience Insights offers some key information about your average UFC fan. Beyond Demographics (which, as you might expect, skews male), you can target fans based on sports leagues, TV networks and shows, communities and more. This is great, but since you’re making an app, you probably want to target specific apps as well — both for your Facebook campaigns and other mobile ad platforms. You can target fans of brands and apps on Facebook, but below we’ll show you how App Annie can help you target specific apps.
Using these two tools together, you can get app store-specific insights to improve your campaign targeting.
KEY POINT Better targeting = less wasted money.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Figuring out your user
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My app’s unique, right? So here’s something you probably already know from looking at ads on Facebook: Most users only spend one second on an ad before moving on. This is an extremely short window of time to grab their attention, show value, and get them to take action.
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The best way to snag a user’s attention is to provide a clear message. The visuals should depict what the user will get from your app. If you are a mobile trading card game, your ad better show a card. This seems like common sense, but you’d be surprised how an ad transforms when a few people throw their two cents in — a smiling guy, multiple tag lines, the presence of a phone… these things are all valid, but when put together, add noise that confuses your message.
KEY POINT Most users only spend one second on an ad before moving on.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
My app’s unique, right?
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So how do you achieve clarity? You identify your unique selling point, or USP. This is something you offer that your competitors don’t, or something your competitors don’t do well. It’s what sets you apart in the marketplace, but also the core of your app’s experience. The full article by AMEX goes into detail on how to execute each step and examples of well-known brands’ USPs, so check it out for additional guidance. But if you don’t follow the 5-step process to the right, you’re going to have a half-baked USP. And that means fewer clicks, which leads to fewer installs, which… well, you can probably guess the end of that story.
AMERICAN EXPRESS POSTED A GREAT 5-STEP PROCESS TO FINDING YOUR USP • L ist the features and benefits that are unique about your product or service • D ecide what emotional need is being specifically met by your product or service • I dentify aspects of your product or service that your competitors cannot imitate • C reate phrases about your unique product or service that are short, clear, and concise • A nswering your customer’s primary question: “What’s in it for me? Source: American Express OPEN forum
KEY POINT A weak USP means fewer clicks, which results in fewer app installs.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
My app’s unique, right?
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Making your first campaign Facebook offers their free Power Editor to create campaigns (which we recommend using if it’s your first-ever attempt). If you followed AMEX’s 5-step process in from the previous section, you can take an image — or video — your designers created that highlights your USP and plug in all relevant targeting information. Voila, you have your campaign’s framework. One quick caveat before you attach that image, though. Make sure you’re using creative that’s both engaging and relevant. If you just go for humor or surprise like a lolcat or a scantily clad girl when your app has nothing to do with those things, you might get clicks, but very few people will convert.
IF YOU JUST GO FOR HUMOR OR SURPRISE LIKE A LOLCAT OR A SCANTILY CLAD GIRL WHEN YOUR APP HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE THINGS, YOU MIGHT GET CLICKS, BUT VERY FEW PEOPLE WILL CONVERT.
Long story short, avoid clickbait. Best case, users will install your app and then quickly uninstall it when they realize it has nothing to do with the ad they clicked. Worst case, you’ll upset users and damage your brand’s reputation, probably sparking a few blasts across social networks. Remember how 60.3% of all mobile social sharing takes place on Facebook? You’ll be part of that number in a not-so-great way. Remember the goal of Facebook campaigns: You want conversions, not just clicks. You want good users. The ones who were meant for your app the moment they picked up a mobile device. The ones who will buy your app’s Premium version, subscribe or make in-app purchases.
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Making your first campaign
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FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN QUICK-START GUIDE 01 The 20% rule
04 Make your campaign in Power Editor
When you’re making your design brief, keep one big thing in mind — your creative can be at most 20% text. Covering it with copy and callto-action text won’t pass approval.
The whole campaign creation process within Facebook’s Power Editor is very straightforward but with many configurable options, so instead of outlining everything here, we’ll refer you to the Facebook Help Center for their step-by-step guide.
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02 Size up your creative Before you or your designer get cranking on making an image, make sure it’s the correct resolution. Facebook provides a summary table for all the common sizes, but if you need a visual reference, their Ads Guide displays each ad type.
Tip: Confused about a particular feature or setting? Facebook Help Center is the go-to resource when creating and managing your campaigns. And who better to give help than the source itself?
03 Integrate Facebook’s SDK Warning: Engineer or Mobile Developer likely required. To get the full benefit of Facebook Ads, you should install Facebook’s SDK into your app to track app events. You definitely want to see data post install, so don’t skip this critical step before launching your campaign.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Making your first campaign
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Ad review board We’ve put together some Facebook ads for you to reference when you’re making your own. In the advertising world, sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. See why we think some ads rocked — and why some need to go back to the drawing board. THE AD
WHAT WORKS
WHAT COULD IMPROVE
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• L ighter foreground elements contrast against darker store background
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• C learly demonstrates USP in both copy and image — flipping through ads for deals
• Lacks use call-to-action in creative or copy • U sers probably won’t bring iPad shopping — they will use phone instead
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• B oth “UrbanSitter” and creative clearly explain service
• Headline below creative cuts off early • Hanging ellipses (...) under copy
• I mage “pops” with to vibrant orange outfit • G ood understanding of target audience — emotional connection to image
• Good use of color to make creative pop • C all-to-action on creative, plus arrow pointing to “Install Now” to direct user action
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
• T oo many buttons — play button, SPIN, arrow might confuse • T oo many ALL-CAPS words in copy — focus on one key word instead
Mobile inspiration board
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THE AD
WHAT WORKS
• I mmediately demonstrates core gameplay
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• P layer count generated automatically by Facebook demonstrates game is popular (user validation)
WHAT COULD IMPROVE
• No app icon in upper-left • C opy-heavy description violates onesecond rule
• H ighlights user can play for free in copy and creative
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• Colors pop and provide contrast
• Confusing ad copy • Image has difficult-to-read text • No call-to-action • Value proposition is unclear
• I ncorporates well-known Final Fantasy brand and characters
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
• Busy image with no central focus • G ame appears 3D, but is actually 2D with pixel art
Mobile inspiration board
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Ad review board continued THE AD
WHAT WORKS
WHAT COULD IMPROVE
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• Highlights availability on Google Play
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• D ark creature on dark background — hard to see • Copy has capitalization and spacing errors
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• H igh copy-to-image ratio breaks onesecond rule
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• C ontext-relevant — shown during tax season
• V iolates one-second rule — too much copy
• C ontains time-sensitive incentive (15% off), creating sense of urgency.
• Can’t read what’s on iPad
One last thing that may help guide you when you’re creating your ad: creative is much more important than copy. That is a very telling statistic — users want to see, not read. Tune your ads accordingly.
ACCORDING TO ELIAS SANDLER, FOUNDER AND CPO OF ADQUANT, AD CLICK IS DETERMINED 90% BY CREATIVE AND ONLY 10% BY COPY.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
KEY POINT Creative is much more important than copy.
Mobile inspiration board
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Your campaign’s live and metrics are populating on your Advertising Analytics dashboard. You’re seeing clicks and installs, but you might be unsure if the results are hitting your business goals. Well, before we get into evaluating KPIs, let’s review common ones in the ad industry:
C lickthrough Rate (CTR) IMPRESSIONS
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Stop! Evaluate and listen The percentage of people that clicked your ad.
CTR
Installs The number of installs for your app.
Conversion Rate (CVR)
Relevance Score (RS) Relevance Score is a metric Facebook implemented to ensure your ad is relevant to the user. A strong RS correlates to a strong CTR and CVR, which means overall good user engagement with your ad. This enables Facebook to show the right ads to the right demographic, thus creating a relevant and pleasant user experience on newsfeeds. By delivering more relevant ads, Facebook is doing marketers like us a big favor — it’s saving us ad spend. Whatever your business goal is, your KPI should reflect it, and you should optimize against it. If you’re purely interested in driving installs, a low CPI and high CVR is important. If you’re trying to increase brand or product awareness to your Facebook Page or external website, then you want to focus on a high CTR.
WHATEVER YOUR BUSINESS GOAL IS, YOUR KPI SHOULD REFLECT IT, AND YOU SHOULD OPTIMIZE AGAINST IT.
The percentage of clicks that installed your app and completed a conversion action (like creating an account, performing an in-app action or purchasing something).
CVR
INSTALLS
$
CPI
Cost-Per-Install (CPI) How much you paid to get one person to install your app.
EQUATION KEY CPI =
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Spend Installs
CTR =
Clicks Impressions
Stop! Evaluate and listen
CVR =
Installs Clicks
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When you’re evaluating your campaign, you’re probably not looking at one KPI in isolation. CTR is inevitably linked to CVR, and when you take both into context, they tell a very important story. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t just go on forums and use other marketers’ CTR and CVR benchmarks as comparison points. There isn’t an “industry standard” for what constitutes a high or low CTR or CVR — the numbers can change drastically based on what you’re advertising (and who you’re targeting). As you create more campaigns, you’ll start noticing patterns, and those can become your benchmarks. In your initial campaigns, however, you’ll want to focus on optimizing ROI and user LTV across your campaigns until patterns emerge. Let’s go through some scenarios you might encounter with your campaigns:
High CTR, low CVR What happens when lots of people are clicking your ads, but nobody’s installing? Before we answer that, look on the bright side — you have an attention-grabbing ad! However, either your ad isn’t terribly relevant to your app, or your landing page or call-to-actions aren’t working.
Wrong call-to-action
Wrong landing page
Sometimes you can just give users mixed signals. You got the user to click, so your Facebook ad call-to-action piqued their curiosity, but when they got to your page your button just wasn’t tantalizing enough. Play around with different text, colors, sizes, and more. Increase the button size, make it stick out more against your website’s background, and flex your copywriting muscles (a dating app might use “I’m Ready to Fall in Love” instead of “Download Now”).
If you feel your ad and app align, then the problem probably lies in your landing page. Getting the user to your landing page (or app store page) is only half of the battle. If your landing page’s message differs from your ad’s message so much that the user got confused or felt tricked, they won’t complete the desired action (installing, signing up, etc.).
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Wrong ad creative If your ad has no relation to your app (“Maybe putting that Transformers-looking thing on our navigation app’s banner was a bad idea after all.”), that means you win… a trip back to the drawing board. This time, come back with four or five clearer and more relevant images you can test.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
FIXING HIGH CTR, LOW CVR Sequentially change ad creative, landing page and call-to-actions until you see an uptick in CVR.
High CTR, low CVR
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Low CTR, low CVR What if you’re seeing low clicks and low landing page navigate away because your app’s conversion? In this case, you’re facing a situation value proposition doesn’t speak to them. The where one (or more) of the following is true: good news here is that your problem’s very apparently at the early end of the funnel, and • Wrong user group: You’re advertising fixing that should fix the corresponding CVR. your app to a non-relevant user group. In short, if you tweak your ad so your CTR • Bad creative: You’re using creative or increases, you can decrease your bid per click copy that just isn’t engaging enough (look (while still getting shown to a similar volume of above for some examples on what not to do users), which means you’re spending less to with your creative). acquire your users, which ultimately leads to a higher Relevance Score. • Low relevance: Your ad’s Relevance Score is low to Facebook, so it’s being hidden below other, more relevant ads. Basically, your ad isn’t striking the right chord and the few people who tap through to your
AdEspresso writes, “If a Facebook ad has a great design and is targeted to the right audience, it’ll have a very good CTR and
engagement. This will lead to a lower CPC and to a higher Relevance Score.” Tracking these three metrics is a great way to ensure you’re on the right track with your campaigns. More users, less budget. All by optimizing your ads.
FIXING LOW CTR, LOW CVR Raise your Relevance Score by tweaking your ad (or copy) to resonate with the audience you’re targeting.
KEY POINT Tweak your ad CTR increases Bid-Per-Click Decreases
+
Higher Relevance Score (Data credit: AdEspresso)
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Low CTR, low CVR
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Targeting requires tactics So you’ve researched your user, thought of ways your app stands out, and made your first campaign (and troubleshot some of the issues if you didn’t hit it out of the park on the first try). Now your campaign’s out in the wild and your daily active user (DAU) count is climbing. You’re past your first major hurdle, which is the “getting started” part. Now you need to look at optimizing things.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF OPTIMIZING, AND DOING IT REGULARLY.
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Research
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USP
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Campaign
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OPTIMIZE
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Fortunately, there’s a lot to optimize. Anyone who does user acquisition as their full-time job can tell you just how important this phase is. If your ads go untouched — especially on a platform as fluid and changing as Facebook — you’ll see your once-awesome campaign’s budget evaporate with little growth to show for it. Don’t underestimate the importance of optimizing, and doing it regularly. Next are some Facebook-specific techniques you can leverage:
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Targeting requires tactics
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Lookalike audiences
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Once you have an audience built up on your app (or brand’s) Facebook page, or you have an email list to pull from, you can start using Lookalike Audiences. Facebook will automatically figure out who your top audience is through metrics you set, then go out and find people similar to them so you can target them with your ads. To leverage Lookalike Audiences, first you need to create a Custom Audience with all your existing users. From Custom Audiences, you can locate hundreds of thousands of users who have never engaged with you but have a high likelihood of wanting your app. (Think making one is too much work? AdEspresso estimates advertisers can lower their new customer acquisition cost by 73% by setting up Custom Audiences.)
Here are some ways MarketingLand says you can target these users:
• Similar to mobile app users Target users that engaged with your app in a certain way. Be it downloading something or making in-app purchases, any trackable activity can be a trigger to make users targetable.
• Similar to Facebook page fans You probably have a Facebook Page with some fans, so put them to work for your app. Find other people out there that look similar to your current fans.
your website), but you can reach people similar to those who previously made purchases on your website. E-commerce apps should find this particularly useful. (Source: MarketingLand)
Explore the full list of targeting options when building your own campaign. There are tons of users out there waiting to enjoy your app, and Facebook’s happy to do the legwork to find them if you give them a little guidance.
• Similar to website purchasers This is more niche (and requires you to have a Facebook Conversion Pixel installed on
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Lookalike audiences
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Advanced targeting methods
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When you put together your user research, you probably listed out all the standard demographic information, but Facebook offers even deeper targeting options that go above and beyond what you might expect if you come from a traditional advertising background. Here’s some advanced targeting you should consider to bump up your KPIs:
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New device owners
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“Happy Birthday!” “Merry Christmas!” “Hey, my contract’s up!” These sentences should be heavenly bells to your ears because they all mean someone’s getting a new phone. And a new phone often means someone has no apps. What better time to get yours in front of their eyes?
Negative targeting Just looking to get new users? Well, you definitely don’t want to target existing ones with your ads. This lets you ignore people who previously engaged with your page, letting you put more budget towards those who haven’t. Retargeting can be useful, but make sure it aligns with your current business goal.
Don’t fall into the common trap most new advertisers do and think these settings apply worldwide. Each region will have its own quirks that do or don’t work. It’s all about testing and monitoring.
The list doesn’t end there, so make sure you review all the Advanced options on Facebook’s Audience Insights tool and think about how you can use those settings to hone in on your ideal users.
TARGETING OPTIMIZATION IS A GREAT WAY TO SAVE PRECIOUS BUDGET DOLLARS, SO MAKE SURE YOU TAKE TIME HERE TESTING AND EVALUATING YOUR SETTINGS.
Page engagers Use your own page, or a competitor’s, to your advantage. If someone Likes a Facebook Page, you can target against that. Go complementary (someone who likes Pop Secret popcorn might also like your movie review sorting app), or be competitive (you’re in competition with another task tracking app — highlight your USP and run ads to their page fans).
Targeting optimization is a great way to save precious budget dollars, so make sure you take time testing and evaluating your settings.
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The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Advanced targeting methods
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Scaling your Facebook ad ops Scale. What’s it mean? It’s working smarter instead of harder. If you’re ramping things up, you’ll start adding more campaigns, more apps, more countries — the complexity will start to get overwhelming. That’s where tools come into play. Pretty soon you’re going to need tools outside Facebook’s Power Editor to efficiently track and manage your campaigns. Which tools you’ll want to use vary based on how much budget you’re allocating towards ads each month. Here’s the rundown:
Any budget dvertising Analytics - Our own free tool that A hooks into most major ad platforms, including Facebook. Track all your KPIs, including Impressions, Clicks, Installs, CPI, CVR, CTR, Ad Spend, Ad Revenue, with the dashboard. You can then link this data with your App Analytics dashboard to do even deeper analysis.
Connect to Advertising Analytics
$0-$20,000/mo acebook Power Editor - Up to $20,000 F per month (as a rule of thumb), Facebook’s own tool should be more than sufficient to launch and track multiple campaigns with efficiency. At this point, keeping your money dedicated to running ads outweighs the cost of finding paid algorithm-driven tools.
$20,000+/mo AdQuant - Considered a massively souped-up
Facebook Power Editor thanks to how it takes your ads and runs them through algorithms to help you efficiently secure valuable ad space. Here’s what’s possible with AdQuant: • L aunch dozens of campaigns with small iterations between each (such as separate mobile app install campaigns aimed at females aged 15-24, 25-34, etc.). • L everage its sophisticated Facebook bid optimization algorithm to ensure you’re not overpaying for ad space.
Advertising Analytics $
$0-$20k/mo Facebook Power Editor
$
$20k+/mo AdQuant | Nanigans | AdParlor
• C reate optimization rules and ad delivery schedules so you’re only bidding at certain times of the day (or days of the week).
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Scaling your fb ad operations
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• Quicker optimization, plus the ability to port data across services to track cost-per-signup, cost-pertutorial-completion, or cost-per-levelcompletion (common tracked metrics among app and game companies).
AdParlor - Yet another self-serve Facebook PMD tool for Facebook. Here are its key features: • B ulk upload targeting and creative variations quickly to test and efficiently scale out your marketing campaigns.
Want proof that paid optimization tools can make a difference for your user acquisition?
• U tilize real life triggers such as weather warnings to launch custom ads
With AdQuant, we saw our install volume increase 5x in just 2 months. Thanks to the amount of testing and iteration we were able to deploy with our campaigns. Tools can take your campaign scaling efforts to the next level.
• C ompatible with the Twitter advertising platform assisting advertisers to increase scalability through a simplified campaign creation process.
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Nanigans - Another top self-serve Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) tool. Nanigans features the following: • A top-of-the-line Facebook predictive optimization algorithm. • U tilizes user set LTV goals to maximize your bids and stretch your spend further
WITH ADQUANT, WE SAW OUR INSTALL VOLUME INCREASE 5X IN JUST 2 MONTHS.
• C reative testing feature allows users to quickly test thousands of creative and copy variations ensuring you are delivering your best ad to your users.
KEY POINT Tools can take your campaign scaling efforts to the next level.
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Scaling your fb ad operations
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Tapping into Asia You might understand your domestic market best, but if you just focus on what you know (like your own country — or continent), you’re missing huge opportunities. Southeast Asia is mobile gaming’s next booming region. China just overtook the United States in iOS downloads. The industry expects another two billion mobile device owners — many from Asia — to emerge before this decade’s over. The lesson?
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If you’re ignoring APAC, you’re ignoring a massive user base. Besides missing this huge population of users, you might be losing market share to a competitor who is advertising in Asia. But if you think you can just copy-paste your campaigns and switch your Country filter to Asia, think again. Advertising rules where you live don’t necessarily apply elsewhere. Think this Japanese Mario Kart DS ad would work in America? Possibly, but unlikely. You can target
IF YOU’RE IGNORING APAC, YOU’RE IGNORING A MASSIVE USER BASE. English speakers overseas, but there’s no question — localization (both copy and content) is the quickest route for scaling your campaigns. Below is a quick-reference table to show how you should tweak your ads for major Asian markets for optimal engagement:
JAPAN SAMPLE APP AD
COPY SUGGESTIONS
• T ranslate your ad’s copy into Japanese • T horough, descriptive copy is okay (the one-second rule doesn’t apply)
(Source: Facebook)
CREATIVE TIPS
• Include cute characters • Utilize anime or comic style creative • Include Japanese celebrities in creative
• M ention well-known Japanese brands in your copy (especially gaming ones for game apps): Square Enix, Capcom, Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush, Mario, Dragon Quest, etc.
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Tapping into Asia continued
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SOUTH KOREA SAMPLE APP AD
COPY SUGGESTIONS
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• Translate your ad’s copy into Korean
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• Include words like: • Free • Hot • Hit • Top Ranking • #1
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CREATIVE TIPS
• Follow similar creative rules as Japan (above) • Develop comic style characters • Stress 2D or manga style graphics, MMORPG characters/roles • Feature player-versus-player (PvP) images • Avoid provocative or sexual imagery — Facebook will decline it
(Source: Facebook)
As you might imagine, other countries in Asia have their own copy and creative “rules” you need to follow. If you plan on targeting those regions, research their ads and mimic them. If you need more information about Facebook’s presence and suggestions for specific Asian countries, contact them for access to their full documentation.
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Go forth and get your users! You’re now equipped to create and run your app’s Facebook campaigns. Not only that, you have some must-know tactics and tools to keep your spend low and operating efficiency high. Facebook advertising is, ultimately, a mix of science and art. We just provided the science. This guide should serve as a framework for all the campaigns you put together in the coming weeks (or months!). Paired with other resources and sites that specialize in Facebook, you’ll be unstoppable against your competitors. Many startups are running into Facebook without a map, and you can use this to your advantage to secure great ad placement at a much lower cost. Pair this guide with our other app store reports and guides and you’ll be lightyears ahead. Your app business can benefit from knowing category, country and company trends, while your app marketing team can pull insights from our guest posts with the industry’s top companies and influencers.
KEY POINT Pair this guide with our other app store reports and guides and you’ll be lightyears ahead.
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING IS A MIX OF SCIENCE AND ART.
So what are you waiting for? Your users are waiting.
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Getting started with App Annie
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Already an App Annie user? Great! But you might want to read on if you haven’t tried our full suite of free analytics products. First time hearing about us? Long-time user who just hasn’t clicked “Register” yet? Well, you’re just seconds away from putting everything you just learned to use. Here’s some free stuff you’re missing out on:
Store Stats Registering gives you unlimited, free access to Rank History charts, our Keywords/ASO Tool, Ratings, and Reviews. Seriously important information you can use to analyze your own apps — or your competitors.
Advertising Analytics Pair up Advertising Analytics, which aggregates and tracks your ads on all the major ad platforms, with App Store Analytics and you can get an unparalleled understanding of your entire app business. All on one platform. Cut down on your spreadsheets and speed up your ad campaign analysis. For a list of all our supported ad platforms and metrics you can track, check our tour page link above.
APP ANNIE’S ANALYTICS PLATFORM - ALL FOR FREE 1 2 3
App Store Analytics Track all your apps’ critical metrics across all major global app stores on one dashboard. Sick of logging into each app store to aggregate your data? Have a team that’s clamoring to look at your app’s analytics, but you don’t want to give them full administrative access? Got the coding chops to take an API and create your team’s own killer custom dashboard? You’re going to love this.
App Store Track your own apps’ actual sales, downloads, and reviews.
Advertising Analytics Aggregate all your advertising data from major ad platforms into one dashboard.
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Store Stats
Index
Follow the rank, pricing and placement of any app.
Provides industry specific top charts with rankings by revenues and downloads.
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About App Annie
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App Annie is the largest mobile app intelligence platform, providing developers and publishers with a 360-degree view of what they need to know to build, market and invest in their apps. App Annie is used by over 800,000 apps to track their performance, and over 400,000 mobile app professionals including 94 percent of the top 100 publishers - rely on App Annie to inform their business decisions, including Electronic Arts, Google, LinkedIn, LINE, Microsoft, Nexon, Nestle,
Samsung, Tencent, Bandai Namco, Universal Studios and Dow Jones. App Annie is a privately held global company headquartered in San Francisco with 12 global offices in cities including Amsterdam, Beijing, London, New York, Seoul and Tokyo. The company has raised $94 million in funding from e.Ventures, Greycroft Partners, IDG CapitalPartners, Institutional Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital.
KEY POINT For more information, visit appannie.com or follow @AppAnnie on Twitter.
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About the authors & special thanks This guide was a group effort between many experts in the mobile advertising industry. Special thanks go to Facebook, AdQuant, AdEspresso and Nanigans for their valuable input, research and resources.
AUTHORS
FABIEN-PIERRE NICOLAS
NATHAN DINH
CHRISTOPHER BRAL
VP of MarComms & Community
Mobile User Acquisition Lead
Content Marketing Associate
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About App Annie | About the authors & special thanks
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