Advantage+ Catalog Ads for Mobile Apps

You can set up Advantage+ catalog ads on mobile with Facebook SDKs. You should incorporate deep linking and deferred deep linking into your app to provide people using your app with the best experience possible.

Step 1: Set Up Facebook Mobile SDK for iOS/Android

Integrate the Facebook SDK for iOS or Android.

Step 2: Set Up Mobile App Events

On the web, use Meta Pixel events such as ViewContent for tracking events interactions. On mobile you can track the same events with App Events.

You must send the same three required events from your app as you do from your Pixel: ViewContent, AddToCart, and Purchase. Advantage+ catalog ads requires these events to work correctly.

For example, a ViewContent event fires when someone views a product in an app:

[[FBSDKAppEvents shared] logEvent:FBSDKAppEventNameViewedContent
  valueToSum:54.23
  parameters:@{
    FBSDKAppEventParameterNameCurrency    : @"USD",
    FBSDKAppEventParameterNameContentType : @"product",
    FBSDKAppEventParameterNameContentID   : @"123456789"
  }
];

Bundle parameters = new Bundle();
parameters.putString(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_PARAM_CURRENCY, "USD");
parameters.putString(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_PARAM_CONTENT_TYPE, "product");
parameters.putString(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_PARAM_CONTENT_ID, "1234");

logger.logEvent(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_NAME_VIEWED_CONTENT,
                120.00,
                parameters);

You can also provide a JSON array of values for product ID when an event occurs for multiple products. For example, you can send multiple products with the Purchase event.

[[FBSDKAppEvents shared] logPurchase:54.23 currency : @"USD" parameters:@{
  FBSDKAppEventParameterNameContentID   : @"['1234','5678']",
  FBSDKAppEventParameterNameContentType : @"product"
  }
];

Bundle parameters = new Bundle();
parameters.putString(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_PARAM_CURRENCY, "USD");
parameters.putString(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_PARAM_CONTENT_TYPE, "product");
parameters.putString(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_PARAM_CONTENT_ID, "['1234', '5678']");

logger.logEvent(AppEventsConstants.EVENT_NAME_PURCHASED,
                180.00,
                parameters);

Multiple Content IDs

If you have multiple content IDs, you provide an escaped JSON array, for example:

"[\"1234\",\"5678\"]"

Optional Parameters

For every app event, you can send additional parameters; you should send them when someone makes a purchase:

Using a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP)

If you use an approved Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) to report events to Facebook, you can adjust your implementation to also send the required events. While this process varies by MMP, typically it looks like this:

1. Adjust your integration to report the three required events to the MMP, along with the required parameters.
2. With your MMP, map your event names to the Facebook event names.
3. Test App Events.

Required Events for MMP

The following events are required:

You must also send two additional parameters for Advantage+ catalog ads to function:

• The ID of the item viewed, added to cart or purchased
• Whether the ID is a product or product_group

The additional parameters available are:

Note: You should also send _valueToSum and fb_currency parameters when someone purchases items.

Testing App Events

The easiest way to test if your integration works is the App Ads Helper to see the events and paramters reported to Facebook in realtime.

1. Select an app.
2. You will see two tools at the bottom of the page. Select Test App Events.
3. There are two options: either see events being reported by you or by a specific Advertising ID. In most cases, selecting Me is sufficient. Make sure you have Facebook installed on your device and that you are logged in.
4. As you perform actions in your app, events appear in the tool with their parameters.

You see these three event names if your integration is successful:

• FB_MOBILE_CONTENT_VIEW
• FB_MOBILE_ADD_TO_CART
• FB_MOBILE_PURCHASE

Learn more about iOS and Android app events.

To verify your app events function, you can check recent events in

.

Step 3: Set Up Deep Linking

By providing deep links in your product feed, anyone who interact with your ad on Facebook can go directly to a specific location of your app. For instance, when someone clicks an ad in Facebook on mobile, they see the product in your mobile app. See Deep Linking and Verify Deep Linking for more information.

Fallback to Web versus App Store

If you use deep links, you can specify fallback behavior if someone does not have your app installed. When you provide deep links in your product feed, people without your app see the web URL for the product in the ad.

Since your likely goal is to increase catalog sales, you probably want people to see product pages, rather than your app to install. Therefore, we default to web URLs, though you can specify different behavior for more control. Set the fallback behavior to applink_treatment when you create your Advantage+ catalog ad and use one of these options:

Step 4: Set Up Product Feed

Now you need to provide actual deep links for your Advantage+ catalog ads. See Product Catalog, Deep Linking for more information.

Step 5: Track Specs

To measure conversion events from both your website and mobile apps, make sure any Advantage+ catalog ads have the correct Tracking Specs set for these events:

Facebook can then track any events occurring from an Advantage+ catalog ad, regardless of if someone views your website or app. To set these tracking specs:

use FacebookAds\Object\Ad;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\AdFields;

$ad = new Ad(<AD_ID>);

$ad->{'tracking_spec'} = array(
  array(
    'action.type' => array('app_custom_event'),
    'application' => array($app_id),
  ),
  array(
    'action.type' => array('offsite_conversion'),
    'offsite_pixel' => array(<PIXEL_ID>),
  ),
  array(
    'action.type' => array('mobile_app_install'),
    'application' => array($app_id),
  ),

);
$ad->update();

curl \
  -F 'tracking_spec=[ 
    {"action.type":["app_custom_event"],"application":["101"]}, 
    {"action.type":["offsite_conversion"],"offsite_pixel":["<PIXEL_ID>"]}, 
    {"action.type":["mobile_app_install"],"application":["101"]} 
  ]' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/<AD_ID>