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Maximizing Success With Your Mobile Ads

October 15, 2019

Let's go through a few questions. Is your product being used by people with a mobile phone? Do you want to achieve success in the quickest way possible, while keeping costs down? Do you want to target specific types of people, and get rich data on the success of your campaigns? If you answered "Yes!" to any of these questions, then mobile ads are for you. Whether your product or service is a physical item that can be touched or a digital product such as an app, mobile ads are almost always the most effective way to generate results. This trend is continuing sharply upward, especially given the growth of the app economy. The stats confirm this: in 2018, worldwide mobile ad spending came in at nearly $159.88 billion. Even more incredible is that it's expected to pass $250 billion by 2021. Mobile Ads Introduction Before we dive deeper, first let's define exactly what we mean by "mobile ads". Mobile advertising includes all forms of advertising via mobile devices, and can include the following types of ads: Mobile webIn-app advertisingOther forms of mobile advertising Mobile web: these are ads that appear on mobile devices while users are utilizing a mobile-optimized web browser. For example, if you search for "dentist near me", you will most likely see an ad that shows a dentist near you with a button to call immediately. Generally speaking, these types of ads work like digital ads on any device. In-app advertising: these are mobile app ads that appear while a user is engaged in an app. The ad could be for the app itself, such as new features or functionality, or could be for another product entirely. Other forms of mobile advertising: There are many other forms of mobile ads. Some of the better-known ones include push notifications, App Store ads, and SMS campaigns. Mobile Advertising Terms There are so many terms and abbreviations floating around the mobile ad space, it's hard to keep up! We've summarized the most important terms for you to be comfortable with when discussing your mobile ad strategy: Demand Side Platform (DSP): allows aggregated media buying from multiple sources. Supply Side Platform (SSP): exchanges for content providers and publishers who want to sell their ad inventory to advertisers. Real-Time Bidding (RTB): enables the live, almost instantaneous transactions supply- and demand-side players. Ad exchange: The place where buyers and sellers of mobile ads "meet" to close transactions Types of Ads There are multiple ad formats that can be used to maximize the effectiveness of any mobile campaign. The format and platform will ultimately depend on the goals of the campaign, but we've highlighted some of the most popular ones below: Text ads: these are classic ads that appear when searching Google on your mobile device, for example. The results return ads that are relevant to your search (through keywords that have been bid upon using the Google Ads platform) that are displayed as plain text ads. For some products and services, these are the ultimate way of deploying a mobile ad budget, as you are engaging with users already showing high intent. Display ads: common across popular apps such as Facebook and Instagram, display ads use images to convey their message. Text is limited by design, and these types of ads generally show excellent engagement rates – if the creatives are compelling enough. Banner ads: these are ads that appear as an overlay on a mobile device; meaning that even though the screen moves, the banner (usually at bottom of the screen) stays in place. Banner ads are one of the oldest mobile ad formats going, and also one of the most successful – hence their enduring appeal. Banner ads offer a relatively inexpensive way of appealing to potential customers, but engagement won't be as high as with other ad formats. Native ads: Native ads are ads that are designed to look like the content they sit amongst. For example in a news app, there could be two genuine stories and then a third "story" that is actually sponsored content. Native ads generally have high engagement rates, sometimes as high even as original content. Source: Marketing Land Interstitial ads: these ad types are full-screen ads that "take over" the screen for a period of time. Generally speaking, these appear at natural "breaks" in the app experience. Pop-ups: these are smaller ads that pop up at (ideally) the right time for the user, and present a message or a call to action. Unlike interstitials, these do not take up the full screen. Video ads: video ads, including auto-play ads, are also highly engaging generally They can be distracting, however, and as such must be used wisely. In some instances distracting the user (i.e. getting their attention) is exactly what you're looking for, which is where video ads shine. Rewarded video ads: if you enjoy relaxing with a mobile gaming app, you've most likely come across rewarded video ads. These are ads that give some kind of reward to the user for watching the ad video. Rewards usually come in the form of some game-related bonuses, such as extra lives or coins. Generally rewarded ads cannot be skipped, so be careful not to overdo these and drive users away. Rich media ads: these ad types offer an extra layer of interactivity or interest for users, and are among the most engaging formats out there. They could ask a user to complete something or display with some preloaded data that takes the user's location or other data into account, making it more relevant and eye-catching. App Store ads: App store ads are a relatively new ad format that allows app providers to come up in search results when a user has searched a category or even a competitor's app. According to Apple, 70% of App Store visitors use search to find apps, 65% of downloads occur directly after a search on the App Store, and Apple Search Ads’ average conversion rate is a hefty 50%. The impact your ad has depends on numerous factors which will be discussed in more depth below. Chief among these is your targeting, your creatives, your social proof, and your mobile ad strategy. Ad Platforms Ad platforms are the starting point of launching your app campaign. Getting started with mobile ads generally starts with the most popular mobile ad platforms. These are: Google mobile adsFacebook mobile adsAmazon mobile adsMobile ad networksApp stores ads Google mobile ads: leveraging Google ads can instantly put you in front of billions of Google users across the planet. Google mobile ads can appear to mobile users as text ads, image/display ads, app promotion ads and HTML 5 ads built with Google Web Designer. Within apps themselves, ads can be shown as text ads, image ads, app promotion ads (including image/display app promotion ads, video app promotion ads and TrueView for app promotion ads) and responsive display ads. Facebook mobile ads: Facebook offers an excellent platform to deliver ads to users. Through Facebook App Ads, you get access to users across the Facebook ecosystem and including their most valuable properties, Facebook and Instagram. As Facebook puts it, "App ads on Facebook are the best way to get more people to install your app, use your app and take specific actions in your app – such as making a purchase or achieving a new level in a game." They continue, "To get the most out of app ads, app developers can set up the Facebook SDK (Software Developer Kit) with your app in order to reach your most valuable customers, track actions that people take in your app and measure the success of your ad campaigns". In fact one of the primary advantages of Facebook app ads are the incredibly rich analytics that you get access to, that can be used to further optimize your campaigns. We'll dive into Facebook App ads in more detail in a separate post. Stay tuned! Amazon mobile ads: Not to be outdone, Amazon are also stepping into the fray when it comes to mobile ads. Bloomberg reports that Amazon also wants in on the $129 billion digital advertising market dominated for so long by Google and Facebook. With so many people using Amazon's shopping app, it's a natural space to start offering advertisers a portal to Amazon users. The ads appear as responses to specific searches on the app. Perhaps most exciting is what's in store for voice-activated devices like Amazon's Alexa, and other wearables and IoT devices. Mobile ad networks: Ad networks such as Google Admob that essentially connect content publishers (supply side) with advertisers (demand side), most often through a real-time bidding (RTB) process. Let's say for example that a large news network wanted to monetize their mobile traffic. They would list their real estate on an ad network, and when the right user got to a page, various advertisers would bid for the "right" to show their ad to that user, with the winner paying to display their ad. Mobile ad networks enable targeting, tracking and reporting of impressions and other metrics and can target users across iOS app ads and Google app ads/Android app ads. App store ads: with Apple, there are two main options for running your Apple Search Ads campaign. Either you can use the "Basic" setup, where you decide on your goals and let the Apple algorithm do the rest or the "Advanced" installation that allows you to leverage Apple tools but keep a firmer hand on your campaign. The biggest question at this point is "How do I ensure my mobile ad is shown among the top results?". Apple actually gives some great tips to maximize your chances of appearing at the top of the App Store search results: Relevance: Your app’s relevance to the user’s search query (among other factors) determines if your ad is the one shown. Metadata: Thoughtfully craft your app titles, descriptions and metadata with highly appropriate keywords to improve your relevance for Apple Search Ads. User response: User response is an important signal of ad relevance. If customers don’t tap on an ad, Apple Search Ads will stop showing it to them. With Google, the Play Store is part of the Google Search Network. This means that running campaigns through Google Ads enables you to appear in search results within the Play Store. Using app campaigns you can save time in setup, optimization, and management of your Google Ads campaigns. Google can automatically optimize ad creatives, change bids, and allocate budget to enable you to achieve your goals at a CPI you feel comfortable with. Google notes that "this automation scales app promotion across the Google networks to find customers who are most likely to install your app" –meaning you can leverage the Google algorithm to find the right users at the right cost per user, across the formidable Google ecosystem. This includes Google Search, YouTube, within other apps and across the web. Buying Ads Ensuring that your media buying is optimized to achieve your business goals is critical. To this end, it's important to be comfortable with the various ways that mobile ads can be paid for. Common methods include: Cost-per-click (CPC): the advertiser gets charged each time someone clicks on their ad. Cost-per-install (CPI): the advertiser is charged when the original click results in an app install Cost-per-action (CPA): the advertiser is charged when a user takes certain actions (e.g. sign up) Cost-per-mile (CPM): the advertiser is charged when their ad is displayed Cost-per-view (CPV): the advertiser is charged when a set portion of their video ad is viewed The way you buy your ads will depend on the nature of your campaign, which in turn should be dictated by your mobile strategy. For example, if one of your major goals is brand awareness, then a campaign oriented around a CPM or CPV model might be most relevant. If you're looking for a performance-based campaign, i.e. that you're interested in app installs, then CPI is probably going to be your most relevant metric. A key thing to remember is to ensure that your App Store listing is optimized. You can put tons of money into ad campaigns, only for users to get to an average App Store listing and decide not to download your app. Or worse, to download the app of your biggest competitor. If you think to about it, you could be subsidizing your competitor's campaign! ASO, or App Store Optimization, is often the point on which an entire campaign turns. Great ASO can mean a super successful campaign while neglecting this can spell disaster. Finally, don't fool yourself with vanity metrics like app downloads. We've seen apps with millions of downloads and almost no active users. Focus on ROI and on providing your users with an incredible experience. This is where every great campaign starts. Mobile Ads Examples There are some great examples of mobile ads out there. Unfortunately, there are also some examples of mobile ads that were ineffective and just a waste of resources like time and money. Examples of some of the best mobile ads, in our opinion: Best Facebook ads examples: as part of our work for Samsung, and particularly their Galaxy Apps store, we've run successful social media campaigns that have achieved awesome results. Including growing downloads by 79%, increasing revenue by 36% and growing their Facebook page following by over 1,400%. Not to mention an incredible jump in brand awareness. One of our favorite ads from our Facebook campaign with Samsung was this creative. It used great coloring and a simple message to instantly show the value of Galaxy apps, and how a Galaxy Apps user can stand out from the crowd with unique content. Best display ads examples: one of our favorite examples is a campaign we ran for New York Fashion Week. The use of bold fashion-oriented color immediately grabs the user's attention, and smart creative hooks one into reading more. Users are busy and are programmed to keep scrolling. Therefore any display ad has to jump out and literally stop the user in their tracks, which this ad achieved. Minimal text and a seamless call to action meant that this campaign was an extremely successful one. Mobile Ads Best Practice: Tips When it comes to tips and best practices for mobile ads, the only question is, "How long have you got?". We've accumulated some incredible learnings and experience over the years and would love to share this with you to ensure your mobile ad success. Important factors will always include: Creatives are key: make sure you stand out!Ensure consistency across creatives (from mobile ads to App Store landing pages, and into your app itself)Optimize your App Store listing with ASO (App Store Optimization)Continuously track and optimizeIt's a good idea to set goals and KPIs and constantly track against these We've also turned to the app platforms themselves to provide you with leading tips and tools: Google offers some excellent advice when it comes to connecting with mobile users and ensuring the success of your campaigns. Create ad text that appeals to users across devices: A compelling call to action on one device tends to be compelling on other devices as wellFor call and message extensions, use local numbers if you have them available. They indicate to users that you’re nearby, which can increase relevance and user trustDeliver a seamless experience across channels using tools like remarketingAutomate bids using Smart Bidding Facebook adds the following in terms of best practice and making ads more engaging: Avoid text on images: If you can, use the text/headline/link description boxes instead. If you have to use text on your image, try a smaller font and fewer words to lower the proportion of text to image.Shorten text: People on Facebook and Instagram scan quickly. In research conducted by the Mobile Marketing Association, it took 2-3 seconds for two out of three for people to see and cognitively recognize desktop ads compared to 0.4 seconds on mobile. Keep your text short, clear and concise to get your message across.Add multiple images using the carousel format: Carousel allows you to show several images for people to scroll through at the same cost. It's a great opportunity if you have lots of product or brand images. Also, try Canvas ads.Add movement: Ads with movement stand out in the News Feed. When you make a Stories ad, you can use free templates that automatically animate your ad. You can also edit the colors, images, and fonts. You could also try these free apps: Hyperlapse - Create timelapse videos Boomerang - Loop videos Legend - Animate text Videoshop - Edit videos Adobe Photoshop Express - Edit photos Adobe Spark - Build videos from templates with text, images, photos, and narrationUse calls to action: A range of call-to-action (CTA) buttons are available for Facebook and Instagram ads. These buttons draw attention and encourage people to engage with your ad. Based on what you want people to do when they see your ad, experiment with the CTA buttons available for different ad objectives and formats. Maximize Success With Your Mobile Ads In today's environment where everyone is connected and mobile is everywhere, mobile ads are the most effective way to maximize your success. Having said that, the mobile ads ecosystem is a complex one. With the wrong mobile strategy – or an inexperienced mobile partner – you could see your budget quickly drained as you lose opportunities to competitors and with nothing to show for your efforts. That's why at Moburst, we're passionate about helping our clients and partners succeed with their mobile ad strategy. It's why we've won so many awards for campaigns we've run for our clients, and why we're trusted by the best-known names in the world. We want to replicate that success for you, too. If you see mobile ads as an important part of your mobile marketing strategy and want the best in the business in your corner when it comes to running successful mobile campaigns – get in touch with us.
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Getting The Most Out Of Mobile App Analytics

October 14, 2019

One of the most powerful tools available to anyone in the world of mobile apps is mobile app analytics. You can get real-time stats on almost any metric you can think of, and use them to optimize and improve, as your app conquers the charts - and the world! There's also a danger lurking here, however. With so much information available, it can be difficult to know where to start, or how to sort useful information from the rest. In this post we'll take you through the basics and more advanced elements of mobile app analytics, we'll approach the app analytics challenge from different perspectives, and we'll give you actionable tools and insights to ensure that you leverage your mobile app analytics to their full potential. What Is Mobile App Analytics In simple terms, mobile app analytics is all the information available to you about how people interact with your app, and how your app performs. Mobile application analytics is critical to crafting incredible mobile experiences for your users, and ensuring that as many users as possible are exposed to your app's awesomeness. They allow you to optimize your app experience, ensure potential users are not being disappointed along the way, and that current users are kept engaged. Just like any website has analytics available (through, for example, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager), every app also has tremendous amounts of data available that can be chopped, sliced and diced to give you an informed view of how your app is doing. For example, one of the metrics that can be measured is app crashes. If you suddenly see through crash reports that crashes have dramatically increased, you can know immediately that something is wrong, and fix it immediately. Need help with promoting your app?Our ASO experts and Marketing specialists are here to help you achieve success. Contact us! In the world of mobile, everything is related, and each element is a critical part of the greater whole. To take the previous app crashes example, this type of problem can impact your app's ASO (App Store Optimization), as both the Apple and Google app stores take post-install metrics into account. Appsflyer app analytics So without good mobile app analytics, you might see downloads dropping without having a clue what's causing the decline. With good analytics in place, you'll immediately see that your App Store Optimization is being impacted, and identify increased crashes as the root cause. There are three primary uses for mobile analytics: Engagement metricsPerformance metricsRevenue metrics Engagement metrics Engagement metrics show how users interact with your mobile app, and generally look at how often or a length of time that users take (or don't take) action with regards to your app. Engagement metrics are important because they essentially show how much users like your app. If there's high engagement, you're doing something right (although there's always space to optimize!). Low engagement shows that elements of your app need improvement. The engagement has a high correlation with revenue – but more importantly perhaps, it can show where potential revenue lies. For example, if you have users highly engaged with your app but low revenues, it probably means you should open new revenue streams, like ads or in-app purchases. Engagement metrics also show the "stickiness" of your app, which is indicative of long-term success. Highly engaged users will keep coming back for more and will likely lead to further high-quality users. Some key engagement metrics (and ways to improve them) are: Active users: generally measured in terms of daily active users (DAU) or monthly active users (MAU), this metric shows how often users actively used (usually meaning that users opened) your app – on a daily or monthly basis. The key value of this metric is that it is much more valuable than vanity metrics such as app installs. You can have 25m mobile app installs, but only 2 active users, as all the others just stopped using your app. On the other hand, some apps have an extremely high active user count, on both a daily and monthly basis, and these tend to be the most successful (no surprises there!). Improving this metric: the simple answer here is just to make sure that you've built a great app. Then again, we're sure you have, so the next things to look at will be: Ensuring the app works smoothly with no crashesIncorporating sticky elements within the app to keep users coming back (for example a daily prize that needs to be claimed)Gently reminding users to engage through relevant push notification Retention rate: this metric demonstrates how many users come back to your app and how often. After using the app for the first time, some users will never use it again, while others will keep coming back. Need help with promoting your app?Our ASO experts and Marketing specialists are here to help you achieve success. Contact us! Generally, over time, users will drop off, and this is indicated with the retention rate metric. A high retention rate shows that you are adding value to users and that they reciprocally value your app. Similar to retention is churn, which shows the rate at which users abandon the app. Improving this metric: here again, a good quality app experience is key to high retention and low churn rate. Performance metrics Application performance metrics are all about a great experience for your user, from which all other areas of app success flow. An app that performs – both in terms of technical performance as well as meeting user expectations from a function perspective – is an app that is well on its way to tremendous success. Load speed: there are few things more frustrating than an app that's really slow to load, or that doesn't load at all. Load speed and page loads are critical to user experience and is something that app developers need to be highly aware of. Improving this metric: designing for specific platforms often leads to improved performance, instead of a "one size fits all" app design that while shorter to develop can cost on the performance side. For a more detailed look at ways to improve app speeds, see this piece from DZone. Crashes: as mentioned previously, crashes can really take a toll on your app's success. They will negatively impact user experience, retention and churn, and even app store rankings. Improving this metric: staying on top of your crash reports is really important. Nip the problem in the bud as soon as you find an element that is crashing regularly. Revenue metrics It's money time! Revenue metrics can give detailed insights into where to focus your attention and app marketing efforts, and continually optimize to keep your revenue flow pumping strongly. Some key revenue and revenue-related statistics to stay on top of are: Lifetime value and cost of user acquisition: lifetime value, or LTV, show how much a user is worth, on average, over the course of their lifetime with your app. Customer acquisition cost, or CAC/CPI (cost per install), shows how much it cost, on average, to acquire a particular user. The greater the gap between your LTV and your CAC, the wider your profit spread. Improving these metrics: as with mobile app analytics in general, the more specific you can be, the better. Therefore, break your user base down into cohorts, and look at the above metrics based on everything from geo to acquisition channel, user behavior and different types of target user. No doubt you will unearth some gems, such as a particular geo that has an exceptionally high LTV with a low CAC. You'll then be able to optimize in these areas without having to reinvent the wheel. Average revenue per user: if your user base is increasing and your revenue is increasing, everything is great, right? Well, not so fast. This is where average revenue per user comes in. This metric (revenue over number of users) is an excellent sensitivity metric in that it can indicate early if there's some kind of issue. In the above example, it's possible that even though revenue and users are up, average revenue per user is down. This means that you are not generating the revenues you can be from your increasing user base. Need help with promoting your app?Our ASO experts and Marketing specialists are here to help you achieve success. Contact us! Improving this metric: ensure that you are keeping your revenue streams updated in terms of your growing user base. Relying on the same revenue streams might not be cutting it with new users or even old ones. Keep diversifying your revenue streams to ensure that average revenue per user keeps climbing and that adding more users is, in fact, worth it from a business perspective. Apple Analytics and Google Analytics Now that we've looked at general mobile app analytics, we turn our attention to app store analytics available from the app store giants, namely iOS and Android, or Apple and Google respectively. Both of these platforms provide detailed app analytics that can be used to optimize your app performance. Apple app analytics Apple analytics, through App Store Connect, shows all the major app metrics for your iOS app analytics, such as downloads and retention. They also show: Impressions: how many times your app was viewed in the Featured, Categories, Top Charts, & Search areas of the App StoreSessions: when the app has been used for at least 2 secondsSources: including App Referrer, App Store Browse, App Store Search and Web Referrer Google app analytics Google Analytics for mobile apps also provides rich data for analysis. The main features of Google analytics mobile app tracking include: Analysis of operating systems and device modelsNumber of users and sessionsSession durationUser activitiesIn-app payments and revenue metricsAbility to create customized analytics reportsHeat maps showing user navigation pathsIntegration with Google Play for conversion trackingFiltersAbility to define goals Google analytics app tracking helps you understand your Android app analytics and refine and optimize across all your metrics to ensure the success of your Google-listed apps. Web app analytics Similar to the above analytics options, there is also web app analytics. A web app works through a smartphone browser, as opposed to a mobile app that's installed directly on the device itself. Also related is a single-page app or SPA. An SPA is a type of web app that dynamically rewrites the current page, rather than loading entire new pages from a server. Web app analytics tools track pages and virtual pageviews and give powerful insights into key metrics. Google Analytics single-page app and web app functionality has been enhanced recently by Google's App + Web functionality. As Russell Ketchum, Group Product Manager, Google Analytics writes: "Currently, many businesses measure app engagement with Google Analytics for Firebase and website engagement with Google Analytics. While each of these products separately offers powerful insights, getting a more unified picture of engagement across your app and website can be a manual and painstaking process. To make this simpler, we’re announcing a new way to measure apps and websites together for the first time in Google Analytics." Mobile Analytics Tools There are some excellent mobile app analytics tools out there to assist you in achieving app success. Included among these are free app analytics tools and open source tools that can ensure you're up and running immediately. Some of the best tools out there for app analytics include: App Annie: the gold standard of app analytics, including competitor research. There are some free tools available here, but the core product has some not insignificant costs attached Mixpanel: gives excellent insights into user behavior and how users are interacting with your app. The starter pack is free and the next package up starts at $779/year. Pendo: a product-focused analytics tool with great engagement and visibility features Amplitude: a well-known product analytics tool used by some big-name companies Need help with promoting your app?Our ASO experts and Marketing specialists are here to help you achieve success. Contact us! Mobile App Analytics: Metrics To Drive App Success Mobile app analytics is the beating pulse of your app offering. Keeping these metrics healthy is a full-time job, that requires an interdisciplinary approach to achieve maximum success. Understanding and optimizing app analytics requires input from design teams, technical teams, marketing teams and experts in ASO and user acquisition. At Moburst, making the most of your metrics to drive the success of your app is what we do. We've received multiple awards for our work, and count as clients some of the biggest names in the app world. What's more, we'd love to work our magic for you, too. So get in touch and let's set up a conversation around your mobile app analytics, and getting more out of them to set you up and achieve your full potential.
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Start Winning With Snapchat Ads

October 13, 2019

Snapchat has taken the world by storm. Originally launched as "Picaboo" back in July of 2011, by September of that year it was already Snapchat – and the momentum just continued from there. Today Snap, the parent company of the app, is publicly traded and Snapchat is synonymous with innovation, pushing the boundaries, and a younger audience than other social media giants like Facebook or Pinterest. All of this makes it extremely attractive for advertisers who want to get their message across to users of the app, in the form of Snapchat ads. The app's interface is very different from anything else out there, particularly the "regular" social media platforms. Certainly, what works with other platforms is not guaranteed to work with Snapchat – and in missing the mark (and misreading your audience), you can do some serious brand damage. Snapchat In this post, we'll look at how to win with your Snapchat ad campaign, how to take full advantage of the platform, and how to avoid some common pitfalls that have no doubt tripped up your competitors. Why Snapchat Snapchat offers access to 203m global users who use the platform every day. These users are incredibly engaged: on average, Snapchat users make use of the app over 20 times a day, spend an average of half an hour on the app daily, and exchange 3.5 billion video Snaps. One of the keys draws of Snapchat is its user base. eMarketer reports that its US penetration rate among 12-17-year-olds is at an astounding 92%. Brands are desperate to gain a foothold in this influential market and for good reason. Not only does this cohort have tremendous spending power today, but they are also the big spenders of tomorrow. With Snapchat constantly launching new features – what started as vertical video now includes augmented reality, long-form videos, games, special camera features, and third party content – there are so many opportunities to appeal to Snapchat users. Before we jump into Snapchat ads themselves, it's important to understand the structure of the Snapchat app. The app is built around 3 core areas: FriendsCameraDiscover Friends: the app is used to communicate with close friends and family through messages, pictures, and video Camera: Snapchat opens to the camera, enabling users to take advantage of filters and AR Discover: this section includes Stories from friends, creators, and premium content providers Understanding the make-up of the app, its user base, and how people interact with it are the foundations of a successful Snapchat ad campaign. Snapchat Ads Snapchat offers a powerful ad platform. To advertise on Snapchat, your first stop is the Ad Manager, where you set up your ad campaigns and ad sets. Like with any other type of mobile advertising, the most important thing is to set up your own objectives. This can be done alone, or in collaboration with your mobile advertising partner. Some objectives may include: Awareness Branding There are few better branding opportunities than a sponsored Snapchat AR lens. Brands have leveraged this to instantly go viral, as users share your brand both privately and publicly. Having said this, awareness and branding campaigns can be successful across almost all Snapchat ads. Consideration App InstallsApp TrafficWebsite TrafficEngagementVideo ViewsLead Generation With taps and swipes opening up a world of opportunities, Snapchat is the perfect place for performance marketing. Drive traffic, app installs or any other performance metric, and keep track of all of this with the easy to use dashboard provided by the Ads Manager. Conversions App ConversionsWebsite ConversionsCatalog Sales Similar to the above objectives, Snapchat is great for driving direct user action. When leveraged correctly, your funnel is short and effective. Next is deciding what type of ads will best deliver your objective. Choosing the right ad format is critical. The following types of Snapchat ads are available: Snap AdsCollection AdsStory AdsAR LensesFiltersCommercials Snap AdsThese are Snapchat ads between stories. While the user is scrolling between their stories, your ad appears. It can be text, video or even AR-enables, and can be used to drive users to your website, app, video, AR Lens, or app store page — with one swipe. It even allows forms to be autofilled by users who have previously input this information into the app. Collection AdsSimilar to regular Snap ads, these appear in between stories. This ad format enables you to show off a series of products, and gives users a tappable, frictionless way to purchase your goods or service, or drive traffic and app installs. Story AdsThe Discover screen on Snapchat is where the user experience really begins. Story ads allow you to have a sponsored tile on this screen, leading to significant engagement. The other content on the Discover page is specific to that user, making your ad even more irresistible. It launches a series of your own snaps from where the user can take further action by swiping. AR LensesA sponsored lens is an excellent way to both take advantage of Snapchat's powerful camera features, as well as getting users to interact with your brand. Unique sponsored lensesare shareable, instantly viral, and result in powerful brand awareness. FiltersUnlike an AR lens which actually "takes over" the native camera video, a Snapchat filter ads an overlay to pictures or videos. A sponsored filter that ads value or includes some cute, exciting or topical element can do wonders for brand awareness. Commercials With the offering of premium content becoming a strategic imperative for Snap, especially given recent high profile deals that the company has struck, advertising through that content is becoming increasingly enticing. These types of video ads are a 6 second, non-skippable video within the premium content environment. You can get help creating these ads with Snap Publisher. With Snap Publisher you can: Create a new Top Snap, or enhance an existing oneConvert pre-existing horizontal videos into vertically oriented onesEnhance video files with design elements like text, audio, images, and animationsUse existing templates with transitions and fading elementsCustomize Snap Ads with content relevant to your audience, and generate multiple variations to learn which performs bestWork on targeting For Snapchat to effectively serve ads to your target audience, you'll need to work on your targeting. Snapchat targeting is based on: Interests and behaviorsSnapchat, as a platform, has rich data on users and their interests and behaviors. You can leverage this with ads targeted to users based on these interests and behaviors, and thereby keep your ad campaign laser focused. DemographicsThe platform has a surprisingly rich demographic targeting. You can target users based on their age, gender, or even household income or parental status, among others. LocationThe location targeting feature within Snapchat is particularly powerful. It allows you to target by country, location category (e.g. “universities”), and even radiuses around specific addresses. This can then be leveraged to provide specific ad content. For example, anyone around a sports stadium can be targeted with a specific filter or lens. Custom AudiencesSimilar to other platforms, with Snapchat's custom audiences you can retarget users who have seen your ads in the past, or otherwise engaged with you in some other way. LookalikesIf you think you've found a winning audience, you can replicate your success with lookalike audiences suggested by Snapchat's algorithm. Measuring Success In order to assess your progress and bring you closer to your goals, you first have to measure your progress against pre-selected benchmarks. The Snapchat Ad Manager platform allows you to do this pretty easily. With the Ad Manager platform you can keep track of: Campaign Performance These are the basics and are similar to the analytics offered by other platforms. Metrics that you can follow include stats like swipes and impressions (paid and organic), ad spend, demographics, goals and bids. You can slice and dice this information to get great insights into where you can optimize your campaign. The platform also allows you to drill down into specific metrics to get valuable data. Web Conversions You'll want to see the results of your Snapchat ads not just on the platform itself, but in terms of overall results. The platform enables you to track conversions across devices, retarget audiences, optimize bids for the most effective conversions, and keep on top of events further down your funnel with the Snap Pixel. App Conversions Using Snapchat's attribution and analytics tools (provided by 3rd-party partners but easy to integrate), you can see how your Snapchat ads drive installs and and other actions for your app. Measuring your progress, and comparing it to benchmarks that you've set, is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to any ad campaign. For Snapchat, this is especially true, as small, incremental changes can have a massive effect on your results. We don't advocate making constant, wholesale changes, of course. What we are saying though is that through rigorous A/B testing, you can significantly boost your key metrics. We've seen, for example, how just changing a graphic slightly can increase conversion rates tremendously. Snapchat Ads Costs By now you're probably wondering how much do Snapchat ads cost. Well, like any good question, the answer is: "It depends." When it comes to Snapchat ads price, it depends on the type of ad being used, as well as the payment method set. For example, you can pay per impression or per goal. Whereas in the past there was a minimum spend level (ranging from $1,000 to $3,000), today you can kick of with a budget even smaller than that. App acquisition costs Some of the big-ticket items can be pricey though, although the value you can get is really impressive. A sponsored lens that we discussed previously, can be provided to users around the launch of a product, an event (for example around a big sporting event) or a time of year like a holiday. Obviously these types of ads are at the more expensive end of the Snapchat ad spectrum, as they are seen, used and shared by millions of people every day. They can range from around $400,000 up to $800,000, depending on campaign parameters. Snapchat ads, when done correctly, show a strong ROI. They can be started with a modest budget, and there's something for everyone: from global giants to the newest startups. Snapchat Ads Best Practice You want to get the most out of your Snapchat ads, right? What follows are the most important things to bear in mind when running your campaigns on this platform. We can't stress it enough: you cannot just "copy-paste" your creatives from other platforms onto Snapchat. To be successful on the channel, you need to really understand how to leverage it effectively. What follows are top tips from Snap themselves that will ensure your ad campaigns are well on their way to success: Overall Tips: Native Style: Develop video ad creative with Snapchat’s platform and visual language in mind. Ads that feature UGC (User Generated Content) look and feel, Snapchat inspired features, and speaking to the camera are significantly stronger at driving view-through while performing on par at driving ad awareness compared to a polished ad style. Consider an endemic creative style to increase duration. Simple Creative: Keep ad creative simple and concise with a clear key message. Ads should seek to mirror the bite-sized and linear storytelling of Snaps. Snapchat recommends keeping duration closer to 05-:06. Snapchat applies a brand name and headline to the upper left corner of your creative. To prevent overlap, keep the top 150 px of the canvas clear of graphics or logos. Early Branding: Establish a brand moment before the: 02 marks to maximize ad awareness, but avoid opening on a solid frame with a logo or product shot only. Opening with dynamic footage provides a great moment to hook viewers. Encourage Swipe Up: If running an attachment, ensure the Top Snap acts as a teaser with actionable messaging to incentivize Snapchatters to swipe up. Feature a strong and relevant call-to-action. Frequency: Incremental exposures increase lift in resonance metrics, despite having a negative impact on view duration. Focus on driving resonance metrics rather than view duration. For Snap ads: Feature a 'Hero' message from the opening frameUse voiceover call to actions to encourage swipe up0:03 - 0:05 is the sweet spot for Snap Ad length to drive actionTest all types of Snap Ads from video to stills, to gifs or cinemagraphs (one per Ad Set)Align creative with targeting where possible- higher relevancy leads to higher swipe and conversion rates!Consider stopping animation or GIFs for your Top SnapProvide an offer message, if available, within second 2 or 3 When driving app installs: App Installs are an unobtrusive way for Snapchatters to download your app. One swipe opens an embedded App Store or Google Play Store page. One tap later, the app installs in the background. Showcase key metrics to demonstrate the value of the appFeature a person using the appShowcase the app UXUse the creative to showcase what the user can expect from the appFeature a single-minded message from the opening frameAdd a visual or a voice call to action that is relevant to the app and its value propositionTry to align the voiceover content to the call to action (the audio should say 'Install' or 'Install Now' if you plan to use the INSTALL_NOW call to action and vice versa for DOWNLOAD)Educate Users as to what the app does visuallyWhere possible, use INSTALL_NOW or DOWNLOAD as your CTA as these have both the strongest conversion rates and CPIs Being aware of best practice enables you to get your campaign off to a running start. It also helps to see what others are doing on the platform. See what impresses you and what you think can be improved upon. There are some inspiring brands doing very different things with the technological capabilities of the platform, and these can be incorporated in your campaigns too. Speak to us if you're looking for benchmark metrics that you'd like to measure your own Snapchat campaign against. Winning With Snapchat Ads If you want to appeal to a younger audience in a way that really speaks to that audience, then Snapchat ads are for you. Thanks to the platform's multiple ad formats, there's always a way to achieve your goals. Whether you're looking for performance marketing like driving app installs or raising brand awareness, there's a Snapchat ad for you. As we've seen, Snapchat ads are very different from other platforms' ads. This is, of course, true if we're talking AR lenses and filters, but it's also true across all ads on the platform. Navigating this correctly is going to be critical to your Snapchat ad campaign's success. If you're looking for an experienced Snapchat ads partner, who's done this before and works with the best in the business, we should talk. At Moburst, we've helped top brands succeed with their social media campaigns, including driving incredible Snapchat ads results. To find out more, get in touch. Let's leverage this incredible channel to maximize your potential!
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App Installs: Snapchat vs Instagram vs Facebook

October 10, 2019

Snapchat vs Instagram vs Facebook. The debate rages on, and we often get asked which platform is truly the winner when it comes to mobile app promotion on social media. So, which platform is the Demon of Downloads, the Inspiration of Installations, the King of Conversions? Read on as we explore which platform is the winner when it comes to smashing your mobile app promotion goals. The Platforms Lining up each social network against the other is a study in the biggest names in the business, with billions of dollars in advertising revenue. Facebook is the "OG", and still boasts incredible statistics when it comes to ROI. Instagram is becoming extremely popular as the go-to platform as Facebook's audience becomes slightly older and has the added advantage of allowing advertisers to really showcase their app's uniqueness thanks to the platform's focus on imagery and video. With Facebook owning Instagram, there are additional synergies to be enjoyed. Their advertising algorithm can be used to optimize for key metrics (e.g. CPI) to ensure that the right mix of ads is shown on both platforms. The audiences matter too. Snapchat's audience is generally younger than Instagram's, which in turn is younger than Facebook's. All this needs to be taken into account when approaching each platform as the potential winner when it comes to your mobile app install campaign. Advertising On Snapchat vs Instagram vs Facebook Mobile app promotion on social media is not for novices. There are so many intricacies, so many nuances, that it's no wonder there are whole mobile agencies out there dedicated to one particular social media platform. Let's look at each platform: Facebook vs Instagram & Snapchat How many people use Facebook? An incredible 2.4 billion monthly active users (how many of those Instagram accounted for is hotly debated) means that when it comes to reaching a wide audience, Facebook still has what it takes. Advertising through Facebook also gives you access to Facebook's Audience network. Facebook App Launch When it comes to app installs, Facebook offers a variety of options and features that are really powerful: Mobile app install ads Direct users straight to the relevant App Store with mobile app install ads. Using the "App Installs" advertising objective, you can reach users across Facebook, Instagram, and the Audience Network, and make it easy for them to download your app. These ads link directly to the Apple App Store, Google Play or Kindle Fire store. You can also optimize the delivery of your app installs ads for specific metrics that you set up, such as app installs, app events or high-value customers. Facebook even offers playable ads, that let people play your game before they actually install your app. App engagement ads Boost app engagement with these powerful ads from Facebook. Using "Traffic" or "Conversions" advertising objectives, you can drive app engagement for users who already have your app. The Traffic objective brings users back into your app, and the Conversion objective drives specific actions such as making purchases or playing a specific level. Again, these can be optimized for clicks or daily unique reach. You can also boost your Facebook marketing with custom calls-to-action. This enables you to promote your app through your Facebook Page's business profile. Show off screenshots and videos, benefits and use a custom call-to-action button like "Shop Now" or "Play Game" to direct your visitors into your app. Facebook Ad tips Use a split test to maximize ROITargeting is super important: Facebook lets you target according to categories like device, OS, demographic factors and interestsIt also lets you target users based on factors like segment, level of activity, and purchase amount So are Facebook ads worth it? Absolutely Instagram vs Facebook & Snapchat As a platform, Instagram-user statistics are super interesting: Instagram now has 1bn monthly active users.Over 60% of users log in daily, making it the second most engaged network after Facebook37% of United States internet users are now on Instagram90% of Instagram users are younger than 35 These Instagram statistics say a lot about the types of apps that are likely to be successful with the platform. For many users, Instagram is the way they discover new products and apps. The mechanics behind Instagram ads are similar to those of Facebook, but you'll want to optimize specifically for the platform and understand how things like a post on Instagram can be leveraged for app installs. App installs are most powerful within Instagram stories (full-screen vertical ads appear between Instagram user stories). A common question we often get is "Is Instagram better than Facebook"? The truth is that you can have your cake and eat it too. By setting up your ads with enough creatives optimized for each platform, you can get the most out of both Facebook and Instagram, and start optimizing for the channel that gives you the best results. You can also brand on Instagram which can be a powerful tool in your Instagram mobile marketing arsenal. Key Optimization Areas Video ads should be high resolution with no black bars ("pillar boxing")For images, more than 20% text can reduce deliveryCarousel ads are an excellent way to boost app installsConsider Instagram Explore as an alternative way to boost installsMultiple calls to action are supported, such as "Install Now" or "Use App" Are Instagram ads worth it? 100%. Snapchat vs Instagram & Facebook Depending on your target audience, Snapchat could be the perfect place to advertise your app. With over 200m people with a Snapchat account, you don't want to be missing out here. To promote an app on Snapchat, it's worth keeping a couple of things in mind. Snapchat has made app-install campaigns really easy from a user perspective. One swipe opens an embedded App Store or Google Play Store page, after which the user taps again and the app installs in the background. Snapchat gives the following tips for app install campaigns on the platform: Showcase key metrics to demonstrate the value of the appFeature a person using the appShowcase the app UXUse the creative to showcase what the user can expect from the appFeature a single-minded message from the opening frameAdd a visual or a voice call to action that is relevant to the app and its value propositionTry to align the voiceover content to the call to action (the audio should say ‘Install’ or ‘Install Now’ if you plan to use the INSTALL_NOW call to action and vice versa for DOWNLOAD)Educate Users as to what the app does visually The basics for Snapchat are similar to those of Facebook and Instagram: use the platform's strengths to grab and engage users and pass them elegantly down your funnel while eliminating any points of friction. Winning On All Platforms There are a few imperative moves you should be making across any platform you're using to promote mobile app installs: Creatives Standing out on any of these platforms is tough. Eye-grabbing creatives can ensure that users take notice of what you're offering, and can be a powerful multiplier when it comes to optimizations across key metrics. These should be used to encourage users to take action. ASO At some point in your campaign, the user you've worked so hard to get is going to land on your listing on the App Store (generally speaking Google Play or Apple App Store). This is a crucial moment in your funnel, and your ASO (App Store Optimization) has to be at 110% in order to ensure that the user completes the installation process. We can't emphasize this enough. When it comes to winning with mobile app downloads, especially on these social media platforms, you have to be continuously measuring and optimizing. This is the secret that separates good campaigns from great ones. Snapchat vs Instagram vs Facebook So, who's the winner? (suspense-filled silence...) From what we've seen with our clients, who are spread across multiple industries and continents, each app type naturally has a platform that will hit it out of the park for them. So the winner for you will depend largely on your mobile app type – whether it's a game or utility-type app, what kind of game, etc. – as well as other factors such as your goals and budget. To find the perfect social media platform to turbocharge all your key metrics for your mobile app, get in touch with us. Our award-winning, unique strategies leverage the best of each platform to ensure you get the most value possible for your ad spend, and ROI that will blow you away. To reach out, just drop us a line.
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App Installs: Snapchat vs Instagram vs Facebook

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