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Get efficient installs with video creative and CPA buying for mobile app ads

October 21, 2013ByRadu Margarint

Today we're offering two new capabilities to mobile app ads that will improve the efficiency of your app installs.

Use video creative to engage new customers and get more installs

Now you can use video creative in your mobile app ad aimed at driving installs to bring your app to life in Facebook's mobile News Feed. Potential customers will be able to click play to watch a video featuring your mobile app before installing the app. Video creative has proven to be an effective way to drive engagement in News Feed, and we look forward to helping developers use their video creative to find new app installs. DoubleDown Casino was one of our early partners to test video creative in mobile app ads. "In our early tests, we found that using video in our mobile app ads resulted in increased install rates and decreased costs per install," said John Clelland, Vice President, Interactive Marketing for DoubleDown Casino. "We've seen tremendous success with mobile app ads and are looking forward to using video to make them even more engaging with rich media like video."

As always, compelling creative is critical to effective mobile app advertising. We recommend videos that showcase the best features of your app, including use of lifestyle or product shots along with in-app screenplays.

Bid on cost-per-action (CPA) to improve your mobile ad performance

Facebook has simplified the buying process for mobile app ads by giving you the option to bid and optimize for mobile app installs. Previously, we offered advertisers the option of bidding on cost per click (CPC) or optimized cost per impression (oCPM). Developers can now set a cost per action (CPA) bid to better manage their budgets while maximizing installs. Through CPA bidding, developers are only charged when a user downloads and installs their app, offering greater control over spend on mobile app ads. Based on internal Facebook tests, buying on CPA drives, on average, 20% lower cost per install than buying on CPC.1 In order to bid on CPA, you need to be measuring installs for your ad campaign. You can measure installs either by integrating with our SDK or working with a mobile measurement partner. Learn more about our measurement options and the benefits of CPA buying.

Over the next several days, we will gradually roll out the video creative and CPA buying options out to all developers and advertisers who are measuring installs.

Get Started

Go to our comprehensive tutorial to learn how to drive installs with Mobile App Ads and how to get started with these two new features in Power Editor, Ads Create Tool, or via your Preferred Marketing Developers.

Our mobile app advertising solution focuses on 1) getting the right people to install your app, and 2) then making them return and remain active within your app. We recently introduced the ability to drive engagement and conversion within mobile apps so that you can keep your existing users coming back. However, the features announced today are focused specifically on driving users to install your app.

Check out our most recent case study from Facetune on driving installs with mobile app ads. We will continue to add and improve features to drive mobile app installs, engagement and conversion.

1 Based on an internal test of eight advertisers over two months.