New Facebook Tool Targets Users of Mobile Apps

September 22, 2016

Getting people to download your mobile apps is half the battle. Then you have to convince them to actually use the apps.

While downloads may make your app look popular, marketers know that it’s how many people who actually use the app that have the impact on your bottom line. Because sadly, the majority of people who download the app won’t actually continue to use it. Research shows that only about 6 percent of the people who download an app are still using it 30 days later.

If people aren’t using your app, they definitely are buying in-app items, they aren’t clicking on your ads, and they aren’t signing up for your lists or taking other actions to become leads.

Facebook recognizes the problem and is now offering a solution to help change that.

The social giant notes that the majority of time that people spend on mobile devices is actually spent in apps — about 90 percent. A smaller majority of purchases that are made on mobile also take place in apps — about 58 percent.

Therefore, it is important to find ways to get people to spend more time in your app and to spend money in it.

Facebook has introduced a new advertising tool, called App Event Optimization, that aims to give advertisers direct access to mobile app users in order to increase these purchases.

How the Tool Works

App Event Optimization gives developers more access to app users by allowing them to target people specifically during the app registration or other key events in the app.

Options for targeting include:

• Completion of app registration
• Initiation of checkout
• Completion of purchase
• Adding something to the cart
• Viewing content
• Achieving a level

More events are included in the tool, and as the tool grows in use, it is possible that even more events or options will be added.

Developers can choose to show their ads or special offers during any of these events, and they set their budget just the way they do for Facebook’s regular ads.

The precise targeting helps advertisers to get better results. They can tailor their ads around the events that partner best with what they have to sell. For example, an ad can display a product that complements something the person is already buying.

You can combine options to ensure you get the best targeting and the best results.

Effectiveness of the Tool

Facebook has reported that its new in-app advertising tool is getting great results for advertisers.

Specifically, Facebook said that advertiser Poshmark was able to reduce the cost per lead by 24 percent using the app. Another advertiser, Smule, said that it reduced its cost per lead by 32 percent and increased the revenue per use by 22 percent using the ad tool.

In order to use the tool and start getting these kind of results for yourself, you will need to install the Facebook SDK. You can also use the tool in Facebook’s Power Editor and in its API.

These tools help to measure the effectiveness of the ad tool in order to make improvements where needed.

Advertising Your Apps

Of course, before you can sell ads in your app, you need to also sell your app. No one is going to see your ads if they are not actually in your app to start.

While launching its in-app advertising tool, Facebook also launched two new tools to advertising mobile apps.

Facebook offers dynamic ads that show people ads during the app-installation process. The ads are specifically for items or websites that they have already visited or shown interest in, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the ads. It is a more advanced type of retargeting that you can use to promote installations of your app.

Facebook also offers canvas ads that provide a more immersive experience. These ads can show much more of what actually happens in your app in order to entice people to download it. You can use these more immersive ads to either encourage new downloads or to re-engage customers who maybe downloaded your app and then became one of the majority who was no longer using it after 30 days.

Between these two tools, you can get more downloads of your app, which will make it more profitable for in-app advertising and purchases. You can then use the App Event Optimization to target buyers in the app and get more sales and leads.

Of course, you can also use the App Event Optimization to generate advertising revenue for your app. You don’t have to try to increase your own sales; you can simply use your app as a conduit for other advertisers and collect that revenue.

Using the right tools can help you get much more out of your app, whether it is a free one meant to generate advertising revenue or it is a paid app that helps promote your brand.

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