When it comes to mobile app promotion, social media platforms often reign supreme. Given that the majority of time spent on social sites like Facebook and Twitter are on mobile devices, this should come as no surprise.
- Based on a study by analytics firm Verto, Facebook users spend 14 hours per month on its mobile app. In fact, mobile now accounts for 76 percent of total time spent by users on the social network.
- According to Twitter, 80% of their 300 million+ users access the social network from their mobile devices.
So what features are the social sites adding to keep up with the newly competitive market for mobile app promotion? Here’s a list of the features to know:
Photo credit: Instagram
- Carousel Link Ads – After seeing the success of carousel link ads for driving website traffic and conversions, Facebook is now making carousel link ads available for mobile app ads. When using carousel link ads to drive traffic and conversions, advertisers saw 30-50 percent lower cost-per-conversion and 20-30 percent lower cost-per-click than single-image link ads. Early adopters of the carousel link ads for mobile app promotion have seen strong success as well. Foodpanda, a health food company, increased click-through rates by 180% and reduced their cost per install by 39%.
- New Platform – Facebook isn’t the only social platform bringing the carousel ad format to app install ads. Instagram is the newest social network looking to enter the app promotion field, and they’re bringing the same Facebook ad formats to a more millennial, mobile-minded audience.
- Bidding Improvements – Facebook and Twitter are updating the way they charge advertisers for a click to the app or click to download. Facebook announced a cost per click (CPC) update at the beginning of July. Their CPC used to take all clicks taken within an ad unit into account, including likes, comments, shares, clicks to a website, etc. On the same day, Twitter announced the ability to bid against an optimized action. This means advertisers will be able to optimize their bids according to installs, while only paying for the actual app click. As a result, cost per installs are expected to drop and help increase ROI for advertisers.
- Video Ads – Twitter recently matched Facebook’s offering by making a video ad format for mobile app installs. It’s a great way to highlight more of the app’s features and also take advantage of Twitter’s recent addition of autoplay video.
- Deep Linking – To make app install ads even more immersive, Facebook also recently introduced deep linking capabilities to its mobile app install ads. This will let advertisers send users directly to specific pages within the app after it is installed and opened for the first time. This lets advertisers bypass the additional clicks throughout the purchase path that are usually required.