App promotion campaigns on Facebook — what to pay attention to when creating?

While using Facebook, from time to time we come across ads that urge us to download an app. A short description, a screenshot from a smartphone and an „Install Now” button. It would seem that there is no philosophy to this. However, it is clear that app promotion campaigns differ in some ways from outreach or sales campaigns. And our blog wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t cover each type of campaign. In this article, I will discuss how to effectively promote an app on Facebook, what metrics are worth monitoring and what to pay attention to when creating an advertising campaign.

Why promote apps on Facebook?

Promoting apps on Facebook can bring many benefits to app developers. As one of the major social networks, Facebook boasts more than 2.9 billion active users. Promoting an app can reach a significant portion of the population! Thanks to ad targeting tools, we can choose the groups of users that we think will convert the most. Facebook is, above all, a huge marketing potential. In addition to campaigns that strictly promote the application, we can use those that will build its image or increase its popularity. Everything in one place, including analytical tools, planners and „human” support.

How to create a campaign to promote an application on Facebook?

The beginning is no different from creating other types of campaigns. In the ad manager, select the table icon on the left side of the window (when you hover over it, it will be signed as „Campaigns”), and then click on the green „+Create” button. This will result in a window where we will have to indicate the campaign’s purpose. We are interested in „Application promotion”. 

It is worth mentioning that we have two paths to choose from: automatic (Advantage+) and manual (App Ads). I will describe both types of campaign creation in more detail below. All you need to know at this stage is that the Advantage+ option gives us much fewer options in terms of campaign configuration while reducing our workload. 

Avantage+ application campaigns (semi-automatic configuration)

When we choose this option, we are putting some responsibilities in the hands of the algorithms. Here, we won’t independently indicate advertising locations or target audiences (except language and location). The reports we will be able to view will include only simplified data, with no breakdowns of users by demographics or ad placement. 

Campaign Settings

The campaign wizard is simplified. The first stage, or campaign settings, include:

1. Specific ad categories: this segment is of interest only if your application is related to credit (e.g., banking applications), employment (applications where we post job offers), real estate (real estate sales/rentals), and social or political topics. Then select the appropriate category. This is required, if we do not indicate the correct category, Facebook will reject our ads. Why were these categories singled out? Mainly in the framework of non-discrimination of social groups — campaigns that have these categories set, can not limit targeting to specific users (for example, by age or gender). In addition, political campaigns have a disclaimer in their content: „Paid for by…” 
2. Campaign information: here, we indicate the purchase type „Auction”, so the campaign will focus on acquiring conversions. The „Reach and Frequency” option does not support the purpose of the application, so selecting it in this case will be inappropriate. Lower down, we can change the campaign type to manual settings, but since, in this case, we are working with the help of algorithms, we leave „Advantage+ app campaigns.” Once the campaign is enabled, of course, we have no way to change this option.
3. Campaign for iOS 14 or later: by enabling this option, we want to promote the application, which is aimed at users of Apple devices. Ads will not display on iPhones running older than iOS 13.7, and will use SKAdNetwork, an interface that allows us to measure the number of events and conversion paths without revealing any user- or device-level data.

That’s it as far as top-level configurations are concerned. With manual configuration, there would be other options, which I will describe when discussing manual campaigns.

Ad set settings

The second stage is the ad set settings. These are divided into the following segments:

1. Application: This is where we indicate the application we want to promote. First, we select its location (usually Google Play or AppStore) and then the specific app. It’s a good idea to connect the app to your advertising account before launching it; otherwise, you’ll get a „no connection” message when searching, which will affect the user activity data provided to the campaign.
2. Audience group: We only have language and location to indicate, so when promoting the app to one market, we will not use multiple sets of ads in one campaign. Sometimes, we can also indicate the age of the target audience, but it is usually set automatically based on the app’s attributes.
3. Optimization settings: Here, we indicate the ad target and budget spending strategy. The purpose of advertising is typically application installations. It is also possible to get specific actions in the app, but for this, we must have implemented Pixel and properly implemented events. Below, we can set the maximum rate of obtaining a conversion (installation or event); however, be aware that a rate that is too low will limit or completely deprive us of the desired results.
4. Budget and Schedule: a segment present in every type of campaign. Here, we set the budget (daily or total) and the schedule for displaying ads.

Ad settings

At the very end, you should set the ads. Given that we can’t edit target groups or placements here, ads are the main element whose different variations are worth testing. By creating several types of ads, differing, for example, in text or format (photo, video, carousel), we will find the creation that brings the best results after some time. But how to create an ad, and what do we need? According to the scheme adopted above, we have several windows to complete:

1. Identity: Here, we complete everything instinctively. We indicate our fan page, our Instagram account, and the app (which can be autocompleted).
2. Advertising configuration: when promoting an app, we do not select the catalogue as the source of advertising material. We will always indicate manual upload to upload images or videos ourselves, which we will later use in creating the ad. 
3. Advertising material: a standard field present when creating any campaign. It is responsible for the content of our advertisement. This is where we indicate which image or video we want to use, set the text, headline, and call to action to be used in the ad. Good practices for creating a Facebook ad are described in another article
4. Destination: here, we indicate where we want recipients to be directed when they click on the ad. It can be an application or a specific place in it.

When all the fields are completed, we can publish our campaign. I intentionally omitted some fields, such as ad names or languages, in the description because we complete them instinctively.

Application ads (manual configuration)

If you decide to go the classic route, which marketing agencies more often use, you will encounter additional options. Since I described some functions above, I will only mention the additions and differences between the semi-automatic and manual wizards.

Campaign settings

In the first step, in addition to the options described in the passage about Advantage+, we have two additional „windows”:

1. A/B Test: If we enable this option, we can test ads with different creatives, audiences, and placements. This is an extensive topic, which we described in another article 
2. Advantage campaign budget: Even when creating campaigns manually, we can assign some tasks to the algorithms. This option distributes the campaign budget among sets of ads based on the likelihood of better results. In addition to this option, downstream, we have the option to use other types of Advantage optimization.

Ad set settings

There are also differences when creating an advertising set. There appears to be the ability to upload dynamic ad material (images, headlines, and text, which Facebook will „mix” on its own to create the most effective ad) and to use a product catalogue (which we don’t usually use in-app campaigns). 

The Audience Group field is much more extensive. It offers more ad targeting options, such as interests or behaviours, allowing you to reach more specific users.

Additionally, at this stage, we can choose where our ads are displayed. We can choose from a mass of placements divided into platforms and categories. Of course, we can leave this task to the algorithms, but it’s worth testing different layouts ourselves (and don’t give up on the „News” placement—it’s usually the main source of conversions!).

Ad settings

The advertisements’ creator differs only in the Monitoring segment, located at the bottom of the page. After pointing to the appropriate Pixel (provided it is properly configured), we can track the site events following the user’s interaction with the ad.

Summary

If you want to gain additional users for your application, it’s definitely worth reaching out to Facebook campaigns. However, there are many variables to consider when setting up your campaign. Incorrectly chosen placements, target groups or budgets will make the results unsatisfactory. Creating an app promotion campaign from the „technical” side is not complicated, and it only differs at some stages from campaigns that generate traffic or reach. However, it is definitely different to plan it, select creatives or configure events in Pixel.