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Facebook
advertising
The mobile app marketer’s
ultimate starter guide
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What’s covered in this report
Finding your uniqueness
Optimizing your funnel
Learn how to define your unique selling
proposition (commonly abbreviated as “USP”) for
specific user groups.
Not every campaign launches perfectly right out
the gate. Learn how to tweak your campaigns to
increase ad engagement, ROI and overall user
lifetime value (LTV).
Defining your core user
What do your core users need? What do they
like? What does your product add to their life?
Cool fact: We’ve seen that targeting relevant
users can increase average revenue per daily
active user (ARPDAU) by up to 40%.
The ‘one-second rule’
Achieving scale through tools and
localization
You can use some tricks for quick wins, but to
achieve real scale — the hundreds-of-percent
kind that makes investors salivate — you need to
have the right tools in your toolbox (and maybe
pick up a new language or two).
Your creative gets one second to grab people’s
attention. Make your ad simple and focused.
Leverage high-contrast colors and objects.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
What’s covered in this report
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Chp 01: Introduction
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Chp 02: Figuring out your user
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Chp 03: My app’s unique, right?
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Chp 04: Making your first campaign
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Chp 05: Stop! Evaluate and listen
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Chp 06: Targeting requires tactics
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Chp 07: Scaling your Facebook ad ops
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Chp 08: Tapping into Asia
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Chp 09: Go forth and get your app’s users!
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The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Table of contents
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Introduction
You probably don’t need to be convinced that advertising your app on
Facebook is a solid idea. According to eMarketer, as of 2014, Facebook’s
platform commands the highest market share in US mobile ad spend with
37%. Odds are your competitors are tapping into the platform to reach
the more than 1.4 billion people using Facebook to connect and engage
across the globe every month.
Putting together a Facebook campaign is no small task if you’re trying to
scale operations and maximize your ads’ ROI.
market share
37%
mobile ad spend
$
When you’re trying to get your app out there, every user — and every
penny — counts.
We created this comprehensive starter guide on Facebook mobile user
acquisition to help everyone from indie developers spearheading their
own marketing to app marketers launching their first round of campaigns.
Our hope is that when you’re done with this guide, you’ll have a solid
foundation to start creating campaigns. That being said, Facebook
advertising is complex and constantly evolving, so while our guide will
introduce the core pillars and concepts, there are tons of tricks, hacks and
gotcha’s that you can (and should) research once you’re familiar with the
platform.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
1.4b
users
900m
daily users
Introduction
SETTING THINGS
UP INCORRECTLY
MIGHT CAUSE YOU
TO LOOK OVER
SOME GREAT
USERS, OR WORSE,
WASTE PRECIOUS
MARKETING
BUDGET BY
TARGETING THE
WRONG PEOPLE.
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The upside is clear — Facebook is something
you want to investigate if you’re looking to
grow user adoption. But if this is your first
foray into paid acquisition or Facebook ads in
general, it can be daunting to set everything
up. There’s a staggering amount of granularity
you can use to target people and creative do’s
and don’ts to consider.
AT A GLANCE: FACEBOOK AD STATS
60.3%
What It Means: If you want to be part of the
social sharing phenomenon, look no further than
Facebook’s mobile app. Facebook has the users
(and the eyeballs) — which means there’s a huge
captive audience for your ads.
Setting things up incorrectly might cause you
to look over some great users, or worse, waste
precious marketing budget by targeting the
wrong people.
But worry not — this is a step-by-step guide
that will walk you through everything you
need to know, from constructing a strategic
framework to tactical targeting strategies.
Fact 01:
Facebook makes up 60.3% of all social
sharing that happens on mobile devices.
INSTALL NOW
Fact 02:
Global CTRs increased 17% QoQ (260%
YoY).
What It Means: Competition may be increasing,
but advertisers on Facebook are effectively
reaching and engaging audiences relevant to
their business.
So let’s kick it off. Below we’re going to walk
you through a Facebook campaign creation
process from conception to execution. Pull out
your Evernote and jot some notes along the
way.
Fact 03:
Video ad spend increased 2.8x QoQ.
What It Means: This is a great time to start testing
video ads in your ad mix instead of just static
images or banners. In fact, InMobi tested video
ads against other media types and found it led to
13% increased retention and 60% more per-user
spend in apps. Video’s on a meteoric rise, so
don’t miss the train. (Want to make an app trailer
or video ad? We wrote a guide about that.)
Source: Nanigans
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Introduction
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Figuring out your user
What kinds of things do they like (or consume)?
Facebook pages give users the opportunity to follow
things that matter to them, whether it’s their favorite
brand, hobby or even celebrities. Think about what your
target market would like and list them out. If you can, run
a survey or interview some early adopters to check your
list.
IF YOU CAN, RUN
A SURVEY OR
INTERVIEW EARLY
ADOPTERS TO
CHECK YOUR LIST.
User #3828
33/50
377/380
115/115
Where do they live?
Let’s say you made an app that listed events unique to
Los Angeles. You’ll want to limit your campaigns to target
only users within the area(s) your app serves. In this
case, we’d suggest targeting the Greater Los Angeles
Area (and maybe a few other surrounding cities).
Optimize your marketing spend by targeting only users
who would see value in using your app.
What other demographic information can you
use to define them?
OPTIMIZE YOUR
MARKETING
SPEND BY
TARGETING ONLY
USERS WHO
WOULD SEE
VALUE IN USING
YOUR APP.
What age range do they fall into? Gender? Income
bracket? Education level? Relationship status? Job
title/level? Spoken language? The list goes on. If you
want to do a full brainstorm, we recommend checking
Facebook’s Audience Insights page.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Figuring out your user
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Let’s say you have an app that streams live
UFC matches and notifies the user when
a match is coming to their city. Here’s an
example of how you can target the right
people:
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With App Annie’s Audience Intelligence (pictured above), you can key
into which apps UFC fans are downloading. This can help you hone
your targeting even further. Our Demographics data (not shown, but
included when you subscribe to Audience Intelligence) shows that an
overwhelming majority of UFC’s official app users are male. Beyond that,
the Related Apps tab shows they enjoy other sports news apps, as well as
first-person shooter and strategy games.
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Facebook’s Audience Insights offers some key information about your
average UFC fan. Beyond Demographics (which, as you might expect,
skews male), you can target fans based on sports leagues, TV networks
and shows, communities and more. This is great, but since you’re
making an app, you probably want to target specific apps as well —
both for your Facebook campaigns and other mobile ad platforms. You
can target fans of brands and apps on Facebook, but below we’ll show
you how App Annie can help you target specific apps.
Using these two tools together, you can get app store-specific insights to
improve your campaign targeting.
KEY POINT
Better targeting = less wasted money.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Figuring out your user
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My app’s unique, right?
So here’s something you probably already know
from looking at ads on Facebook: Most users
only spend one second on an ad before moving
on. This is an extremely short window of time to
grab their attention, show value, and get them
to take action.
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The best way to snag a user’s attention is to
provide a clear message. The visuals should
depict what the user will get from your app. If
you are a mobile trading card game, your ad
better show a card. This seems like common
sense, but you’d be surprised how an ad
transforms when a few people throw their two
cents in — a smiling guy, multiple tag lines, the
presence of a phone… these things are all valid,
but when put together, add noise that confuses
your message.
KEY POINT
Most users only spend one second
on an ad before moving on.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
My app’s unique, right?
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So how do you achieve clarity? You identify your
unique selling point, or USP. This is something
you offer that your competitors don’t, or
something your competitors don’t do well. It’s
what sets you apart in the marketplace, but also
the core of your app’s experience.
The full article by AMEX goes into detail on
how to execute each step and examples of
well-known brands’ USPs, so check it out for
additional guidance. But if you don’t follow the
5-step process to the right, you’re going to have
a half-baked USP. And that means fewer clicks,
which leads to fewer installs, which… well, you
can probably guess the end of that story.
AMERICAN EXPRESS POSTED A GREAT
5-STEP PROCESS TO FINDING YOUR USP
• L
ist the features and benefits that are unique about
your product or service
• D
ecide what emotional need is being specifically met
by your product or service
• Identify aspects of your product or service that your
competitors cannot imitate
• C
reate phrases about your unique product or service
that are short, clear, and concise
• A
nswering your customer’s primary question: “What’s in
it for me?
Source: American Express OPEN forum
KEY POINT
A weak USP means fewer clicks, which results in
fewer app installs.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
My app’s unique, right?
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Making your first campaign
Facebook offers their free Power Editor to create campaigns (which we recommend using if it’s
your first-ever attempt). If you followed AMEX’s 5-step process in from the previous section, you
can take an image — or video — your designers created that highlights your USP and plug in all
relevant targeting information. Voila, you have your campaign’s framework.
One quick caveat before you attach that image, though. Make sure you’re using creative that’s both
engaging and relevant. If you just go for humor or surprise like a lolcat or a scantily clad girl when
your app has nothing to do with those things, you might get clicks, but very few people will convert.
IF YOU JUST GO FOR HUMOR OR
SURPRISE LIKE A LOLCAT OR A
SCANTILY CLAD GIRL WHEN YOUR APP
HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE
THINGS, YOU MIGHT GET CLICKS, BUT
VERY FEW PEOPLE WILL CONVERT.
Long story short, avoid clickbait. Best case, users will install your app and then quickly uninstall it
when they realize it has nothing to do with the ad they clicked. Worst case, you’ll upset users and
damage your brand’s reputation, probably sparking a few blasts across social networks. Remember
how 60.3% of all mobile social sharing takes place on Facebook? You’ll be part of that number in a
not-so-great way.
Remember the goal of Facebook campaigns: You want conversions, not just clicks. You want good
users. The ones who were meant for your app the moment they picked up a mobile device. The
ones who will buy your app’s Premium version, subscribe or make in-app purchases.
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The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Making your first campaign
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FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN QUICK-START GUIDE
01
The 20% rule
04
Make your campaign in Power Editor
When you’re making your design brief, keep
one big thing in mind — your creative can be at
most 20% text. Covering it with copy and callto-action text won’t pass approval.
The whole campaign creation process within
Facebook’s Power Editor is very straightforward
but with many configurable options, so instead
of outlining everything here, we’ll refer you to
the Facebook Help Center for their step-by-step
guide.
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02
Size up your creative
Before you or your designer get cranking on
making an image, make sure it’s the correct
resolution. Facebook provides a summary
table for all the common sizes, but if you need
a visual reference, their Ads Guide displays
each ad type.
Tip: Confused about a particular feature or setting?
Facebook Help Center is the go-to resource when
creating and managing your campaigns. And who
better to give help than the source itself?
03
Integrate Facebook’s SDK
Warning: Engineer or Mobile Developer likely
required. To get the full benefit of Facebook
Ads, you should install Facebook’s SDK into
your app to track app events. You definitely
want to see data post install, so don’t skip this
critical step before launching your campaign.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Making your first campaign
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Ad review board
We’ve put together some Facebook ads for you to reference when you’re making your own. In the advertising world, sometimes things work and
sometimes they don’t. See why we think some ads rocked — and why some need to go back to the drawing board.
THE AD
WHAT WORKS
WHAT COULD IMPROVE
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• L
ighter foreground elements contrast
against darker store background
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• C
learly demonstrates USP in both copy and
image — flipping through ads for deals
• Lacks use call-to-action in creative or copy
• U
sers probably won’t bring iPad shopping —
they will use phone instead
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• B
oth “UrbanSitter” and creative clearly
explain service
• Headline below creative cuts off early
• Hanging ellipses (...) under copy
• Image “pops” with to vibrant orange outfit
• G
ood understanding of target audience —
emotional connection to image
• Good use of color to make creative pop
• C
all-to-action on creative, plus arrow
pointing to “Install Now” to direct user action
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
• T
oo many buttons — play button, SPIN, arrow
might confuse
• T
oo many ALL-CAPS words in copy — focus
on one key word instead
Mobile inspiration board
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Ad review board continued
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THE AD
WHAT WORKS
• Immediately demonstrates core
gameplay
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• P
layer count generated automatically by
Facebook demonstrates game is popular
(user validation)
WHAT COULD IMPROVE
• No app icon in upper-left
• C
opy-heavy description violates onesecond rule
• H
ighlights user can play for free in copy
and creative
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• Colors pop and provide contrast
• Confusing ad copy
• Image has difficult-to-read text
• No call-to-action
• Value proposition is unclear
• Incorporates well-known Final Fantasy
brand and characters
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
• Busy image with no central focus
• G
ame appears 3D, but is actually 2D with
pixel art
Mobile inspiration board
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Ad review board continued
THE AD
WHAT WORKS
WHAT COULD IMPROVE
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• Highlights availability on Google Play
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• D
ark creature on dark background — hard
to see
• Copy has capitalization and spacing errors
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• H
igh copy-to-image ratio breaks onesecond rule
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• C
ontext-relevant — shown during tax
season
• V
iolates one-second rule — too much
copy
• C
ontains time-sensitive incentive (15%
off), creating sense of urgency.
• Can’t read what’s on iPad
One last thing that may help guide you when
you’re creating your ad: creative is much more
important than copy.
That is a very telling statistic — users want to
see, not read. Tune your ads accordingly.
ACCORDING TO ELIAS SANDLER,
FOUNDER AND CPO OF ADQUANT,
AD CLICK IS DETERMINED 90% BY
CREATIVE AND ONLY 10% BY COPY.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
KEY POINT
Creative is much more important
than copy.
Mobile inspiration board
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Your campaign’s live and metrics are populating on your Advertising
Analytics dashboard. You’re seeing clicks and installs, but you might be
unsure if the results are hitting your business goals. Well, before we get
into evaluating KPIs, let’s review common ones in the ad industry:
C
lickthrough Rate (CTR)
IMPRESSIONS
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Stop! Evaluate and listen
The percentage of people that clicked your ad.
CTR
Installs
The number of installs for your app.
Conversion Rate (CVR)
Relevance Score (RS)
Relevance Score is a metric Facebook implemented to ensure your ad
is relevant to the user. A strong RS correlates to a strong CTR and CVR,
which means overall good user engagement with your ad. This enables
Facebook to show the right ads to the right demographic, thus creating a
relevant and pleasant user experience on newsfeeds. By delivering more
relevant ads, Facebook is doing marketers like us a big favor — it’s saving
us ad spend.
Whatever your business goal is, your KPI should reflect it, and you should
optimize against it. If you’re purely interested in driving installs, a low CPI
and high CVR is important. If you’re trying to increase brand or product
awareness to your Facebook Page or external website, then you want to
focus on a high CTR.
WHATEVER YOUR BUSINESS GOAL IS,
YOUR KPI SHOULD REFLECT IT, AND
YOU SHOULD OPTIMIZE AGAINST IT.
The percentage of clicks that installed your app
and completed a conversion action (like creating
an account, performing an in-app action or
purchasing something).
CVR
INSTALLS
$
CPI
Cost-Per-Install (CPI)
How much you paid to get one person to install
your app.
EQUATION KEY
CPI =
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Spend
Installs
CTR =
Clicks
Impressions
Stop! Evaluate and listen
CVR =
Installs
Clicks
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When you’re evaluating your campaign, you’re
probably not looking at one KPI in isolation. CTR
is inevitably linked to CVR, and when you take
both into context, they tell a very important story.
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t just
go on forums and use other marketers’ CTR
and CVR benchmarks as comparison points.
There isn’t an “industry standard” for what
constitutes a high or low CTR or CVR — the
numbers can change drastically based on what
you’re advertising (and who you’re targeting).
As you create more campaigns, you’ll start
noticing patterns, and those can become your
benchmarks. In your initial campaigns, however,
you’ll want to focus on optimizing ROI and
user LTV across your campaigns until patterns
emerge.
Let’s go through some scenarios you might
encounter with your campaigns:
High CTR, low CVR
What happens when lots of people are clicking
your ads, but nobody’s installing? Before we
answer that, look on the bright side — you have
an attention-grabbing ad! However, either your
ad isn’t terribly relevant to your app, or your
landing page or call-to-actions aren’t working.
Wrong call-to-action
Wrong landing page
Sometimes you can just give users mixed
signals. You got the user to click, so your
Facebook ad call-to-action piqued their curiosity,
but when they got to your page your button
just wasn’t tantalizing enough. Play around with
different text, colors, sizes, and more. Increase
the button size, make it stick out more against
your website’s background, and flex your
copywriting muscles (a dating app might use
“I’m Ready to Fall in Love” instead of “Download
Now”).
If you feel your ad and app align, then the
problem probably lies in your landing page.
Getting the user to your landing page (or app
store page) is only half of the battle. If your
landing page’s message differs from your ad’s
message so much that the user got confused
or felt tricked, they won’t complete the desired
action (installing, signing up, etc.).
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Wrong ad creative
If your ad has no relation to your app (“Maybe
putting that Transformers-looking thing on our
navigation app’s banner was a bad idea after
all.”), that means you win… a trip back to the
drawing board. This time, come back with four
or five clearer and more relevant images you
can test.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
FIXING HIGH CTR,
LOW CVR
Sequentially change ad creative,
landing page and call-to-actions until
you see an uptick in CVR.
High CTR, low CVR
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Low CTR, low CVR
What if you’re seeing low clicks and low
landing page navigate away because your app’s
conversion? In this case, you’re facing a situation value proposition doesn’t speak to them. The
where one (or more) of the following is true:
good news here is that your problem’s very
apparently at the early end of the funnel, and
• Wrong user group: You’re advertising
fixing that should fix the corresponding CVR.
your app to a non-relevant user group.
In short, if you tweak your ad so your CTR
• Bad creative: You’re using creative or
increases, you can decrease your bid per click
copy that just isn’t engaging enough (look
(while still getting shown to a similar volume of
above for some examples on what not to do
users), which means you’re spending less to
with your creative).
acquire your users, which ultimately leads to a
higher Relevance Score.
• Low relevance: Your ad’s Relevance
Score is low to Facebook, so it’s being
hidden below other, more relevant ads.
Basically, your ad isn’t striking the right chord
and the few people who tap through to your
AdEspresso writes, “If a Facebook ad has
a great design and is targeted to the right
audience, it’ll have a very good CTR and
engagement. This will lead to a lower CPC and
to a higher Relevance Score.” Tracking these
three metrics is a great way to ensure you’re on
the right track with your campaigns. More users,
less budget. All by optimizing your ads.
FIXING LOW CTR,
LOW CVR
Raise your Relevance Score by
tweaking your ad (or copy) to
resonate with the audience you’re
targeting.
KEY POINT
Tweak your ad
CTR increases
Bid-Per-Click Decreases
+
Higher Relevance Score
(Data credit: AdEspresso)
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Low CTR, low CVR
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Targeting requires tactics
So you’ve researched your user, thought of ways your app stands out, and made your first campaign
(and troubleshot some of the issues if you didn’t hit it out of the park on the first try). Now your
campaign’s out in the wild and your daily active user (DAU) count is climbing.
You’re past your first major hurdle, which is the “getting started” part. Now you need to look at
optimizing things.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE
IMPORTANCE OF OPTIMIZING, AND
DOING IT REGULARLY.
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Research
>
USP
>
Campaign
>
OPTIMIZE
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Fortunately, there’s a lot to optimize. Anyone who does user acquisition as their full-time job can
tell you just how important this phase is. If your ads go untouched — especially on a platform as
fluid and changing as Facebook — you’ll see your once-awesome campaign’s budget evaporate
with little growth to show for it. Don’t underestimate the importance of optimizing, and doing it
regularly. Next are some Facebook-specific techniques you can leverage:
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Targeting requires tactics
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Lookalike audiences
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Once you have an audience built up on
your app (or brand’s) Facebook page, or you
have an email list to pull from, you can start
using Lookalike Audiences. Facebook will
automatically figure out who your top audience
is through metrics you set, then go out and find
people similar to them so you can target them
with your ads.
To leverage Lookalike Audiences, first you
need to create a Custom Audience with all your
existing users. From Custom Audiences, you
can locate hundreds of thousands of users who
have never engaged with you but have a high
likelihood of wanting your app. (Think making
one is too much work? AdEspresso estimates
advertisers can lower their new customer
acquisition cost by 73% by setting up Custom
Audiences.)
Here are some ways MarketingLand says you
can target these users:
• Similar to mobile app users
Target users that engaged with your app in
a certain way. Be it downloading something
or making in-app purchases, any trackable
activity can be a trigger to make users
targetable.
• Similar to Facebook page fans
You probably have a Facebook Page with
some fans, so put them to work for your
app. Find other people out there that look
similar to your current fans.
your website), but you can reach people
similar to those who previously made
purchases on your website. E-commerce
apps should find this particularly useful.
(Source: MarketingLand)
Explore the full list of targeting options when
building your own campaign. There are tons of
users out there waiting to enjoy your app, and
Facebook’s happy to do the legwork to find
them if you give them a little guidance.
• Similar to website purchasers
This is more niche (and requires you to have
a Facebook Conversion Pixel installed on
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Lookalike audiences
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Advanced targeting methods
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When you put together your user research, you
probably listed out all the standard demographic
information, but Facebook offers even deeper
targeting options that go above and beyond
what you might expect if you come from a
traditional advertising background. Here’s some
advanced targeting you should consider to
bump up your KPIs:
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New device owners
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“Happy Birthday!” “Merry Christmas!” “Hey,
my contract’s up!” These sentences should be
heavenly bells to your ears because they all
mean someone’s getting a new phone. And a
new phone often means someone has no apps.
What better time to get yours in front of their
eyes?
Negative targeting
Just looking to get new users? Well, you
definitely don’t want to target existing ones
with your ads. This lets you ignore people who
previously engaged with your page, letting you
put more budget towards those who haven’t.
Retargeting can be useful, but make sure it
aligns with your current business goal.
Don’t fall into the common trap most new
advertisers do and think these settings apply
worldwide. Each region will have its own quirks
that do or don’t work. It’s all about testing and
monitoring.
The list doesn’t end there, so make sure you
review all the Advanced options on Facebook’s
Audience Insights tool and think about how you
can use those settings to hone in on your ideal
users.
TARGETING OPTIMIZATION IS A
GREAT WAY TO SAVE PRECIOUS
BUDGET DOLLARS, SO MAKE SURE
YOU TAKE TIME HERE TESTING AND
EVALUATING YOUR SETTINGS.
Page engagers
Use your own page, or a competitor’s, to your
advantage. If someone Likes a Facebook Page,
you can target against that. Go complementary
(someone who likes Pop Secret popcorn might
also like your movie review sorting app), or be
competitive (you’re in competition with another
task tracking app — highlight your USP and run
ads to their page fans).
Targeting optimization is a great way to save
precious budget dollars, so make sure you take
time testing and evaluating your settings.
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Scaling your Facebook ad ops
Scale. What’s it mean? It’s working smarter
instead of harder. If you’re ramping things up,
you’ll start adding more campaigns, more apps,
more countries — the complexity will start to get
overwhelming. That’s where tools come into
play.
Pretty soon you’re going to need tools outside
Facebook’s Power Editor to efficiently track and
manage your campaigns. Which tools you’ll want
to use vary based on how much budget you’re
allocating towards ads each month. Here’s the
rundown:
Any budget
dvertising Analytics - Our own free tool that
A
hooks into most major ad platforms, including
Facebook. Track all your KPIs, including
Impressions, Clicks, Installs, CPI, CVR, CTR, Ad
Spend, Ad Revenue, with the dashboard. You
can then link this data with your App Analytics
dashboard to do even deeper analysis.
Connect to Advertising Analytics
$0-$20,000/mo
acebook Power Editor - Up to $20,000
F
per month (as a rule of thumb), Facebook’s
own tool should be more than sufficient to
launch and track multiple campaigns with
efficiency. At this point, keeping your money
dedicated to running ads outweighs the
cost of finding paid algorithm-driven tools.
$20,000+/mo
AdQuant - Considered a massively souped-up
Facebook Power Editor thanks to how it takes
your ads and runs them through algorithms
to help you efficiently secure valuable ad
space. Here’s what’s possible with AdQuant:
• L
aunch dozens of campaigns
with small iterations between
each (such as separate mobile
app install campaigns aimed at
females aged 15-24, 25-34, etc.).
• L
everage its sophisticated Facebook
bid optimization algorithm to ensure
you’re not overpaying for ad space.
Advertising
Analytics
$
$0-$20k/mo
Facebook Power Editor
$
$20k+/mo
AdQuant | Nanigans | AdParlor
• C
reate optimization rules and
ad delivery schedules so you’re
only bidding at certain times of
the day (or days of the week).
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Scaling your fb ad operations
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• Quicker optimization, plus the
ability to port data across services
to track cost-per-signup, cost-pertutorial-completion, or cost-per-levelcompletion (common tracked metrics
among app and game companies).
AdParlor - Yet another self-serve Facebook PMD
tool for Facebook. Here are its key features:
• B
ulk upload targeting and creative
variations quickly to test and efficiently
scale out your marketing campaigns.
Want proof that paid optimization tools can
make a difference for your user acquisition?
• U
tilize real life triggers such as weather
warnings to launch custom ads
With AdQuant, we saw our install volume
increase 5x in just 2 months. Thanks to the
amount of testing and iteration we were able
to deploy with our campaigns. Tools can take
your campaign scaling efforts to the next level.
• C
ompatible with the Twitter advertising
platform assisting advertisers to increase
scalability through a simplified campaign
creation process.
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Nanigans - Another top self-serve Facebook
Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) tool.
Nanigans features the following:
• A
top-of-the-line Facebook predictive
optimization algorithm.
• U
tilizes user set LTV goals to maximize
your bids and stretch your spend further
WITH ADQUANT, WE SAW OUR
INSTALL VOLUME INCREASE 5X IN
JUST 2 MONTHS.
• C
reative testing feature allows users
to quickly test thousands of creative
and copy variations ensuring you are
delivering your best ad to your users.
KEY POINT
Tools can take your campaign
scaling efforts to the next level.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Scaling your fb ad operations
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Tapping into Asia
You might understand your domestic market
best, but if you just focus on what you know (like
your own country — or continent), you’re missing
huge opportunities. Southeast Asia is mobile
gaming’s next booming region. China just
overtook the United States in iOS downloads.
The industry expects another two billion mobile
device owners — many from Asia — to emerge
before this decade’s over. The lesson?
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If you’re ignoring APAC, you’re ignoring a
massive user base. Besides missing this huge
population of users, you might be losing market
share to a competitor who is advertising in Asia.
But if you think you can just copy-paste your
campaigns and switch your Country filter to
Asia, think again. Advertising rules where you
live don’t necessarily apply elsewhere. Think
this Japanese Mario Kart DS ad would work in
America? Possibly, but unlikely. You can target
IF YOU’RE IGNORING APAC, YOU’RE
IGNORING A MASSIVE USER BASE.
English speakers overseas, but there’s no
question — localization (both copy and content)
is the quickest route for scaling your campaigns.
Below is a quick-reference table to show how
you should tweak your ads for major Asian
markets for optimal engagement:
JAPAN
SAMPLE APP AD
COPY SUGGESTIONS
• T
ranslate your ad’s copy into
Japanese
• T
horough, descriptive copy is okay
(the one-second rule doesn’t apply)
(Source: Facebook)
CREATIVE TIPS
• Include cute characters
• Utilize anime or comic style creative
• Include Japanese celebrities in creative
• M
ention well-known Japanese brands
in your copy (especially gaming ones
for game apps): Square Enix, Capcom,
Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush,
Mario, Dragon Quest, etc.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Tapping into Asia
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Tapping into Asia continued
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SOUTH KOREA
SAMPLE APP AD
COPY SUGGESTIONS
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• Translate your ad’s copy into Korean
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• Include words like:
• Free
• Hot
• Hit
• Top Ranking
• #1
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CREATIVE TIPS
• Follow similar creative rules as Japan
(above)
• Develop comic style characters
• Stress 2D or manga style graphics,
MMORPG characters/roles
• Feature player-versus-player (PvP)
images
• Avoid provocative or sexual imagery —
Facebook will decline it
(Source: Facebook)
As you might imagine, other countries in Asia have their own copy and creative “rules” you need to follow. If you plan on targeting those regions,
research their ads and mimic them. If you need more information about Facebook’s presence and suggestions for specific Asian countries, contact
them for access to their full documentation.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Tapping into Asia
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Go forth and get your users!
You’re now equipped to create and run your app’s Facebook campaigns. Not only that, you
have some must-know tactics and tools to keep your spend low and operating efficiency high.
Facebook advertising is, ultimately, a mix of science and art. We just provided the science.
This guide should serve as a framework for all the campaigns you put together in the coming
weeks (or months!). Paired with other resources and sites that specialize in Facebook, you’ll be
unstoppable against your competitors. Many startups are running into Facebook
without a map, and you can use this to your advantage to secure great ad placement at a
much lower cost.
Pair this guide with our other app store reports and guides and you’ll be lightyears ahead. Your
app business can benefit from knowing category, country and company trends, while your app
marketing team can pull insights from our guest posts with the industry’s top companies and
influencers.
KEY POINT
Pair this guide with our other app
store reports and guides and you’ll
be lightyears ahead.
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING IS A MIX OF
SCIENCE AND ART.
So what are you waiting for? Your users are waiting.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Go forth and get your app’s users!
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Getting started with App Annie
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Already an App Annie user? Great! But you
might want to read on if you haven’t tried our full
suite of free analytics products.
First time hearing about us? Long-time user who
just hasn’t clicked “Register” yet? Well, you’re
just seconds away from putting everything you
just learned to use. Here’s some free stuff you’re
missing out on:
Store Stats
Registering gives you unlimited, free access
to Rank History charts, our Keywords/ASO
Tool, Ratings, and Reviews. Seriously important
information you can use to analyze your own
apps — or your competitors.
Advertising Analytics
Pair up Advertising Analytics, which aggregates and tracks your ads on all the major ad platforms,
with App Store Analytics and you can get an unparalleled understanding of your entire app
business. All on one platform. Cut down on your spreadsheets and speed up your ad campaign
analysis. For a list of all our supported ad platforms and metrics you can track, check our tour page
link above.
APP ANNIE’S ANALYTICS PLATFORM - ALL FOR FREE
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App Store Analytics
Track all your apps’ critical metrics across all
major global app stores on one dashboard. Sick
of logging into each app store to aggregate your
data? Have a team that’s clamoring to look at
your app’s analytics, but you don’t want to give
them full administrative access? Got the coding
chops to take an API and create your team’s
own killer custom dashboard? You’re going to
love this.
App Store
Track your own
apps’ actual sales,
downloads, and
reviews.
Advertising
Analytics
Aggregate all your
advertising data from
major ad platforms
into one dashboard.
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
Store Stats
Index
Follow the rank,
pricing and placement
of any app.
Provides industry
specific top charts
with rankings by
revenues and
downloads.
Getting started with App Annie
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About App Annie
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App Annie is the largest mobile app
intelligence platform, providing developers
and publishers with a 360-degree view of
what they need to know to build, market and
invest in their apps. App Annie is used by over
800,000 apps to track their performance,
and over 400,000 mobile app professionals including 94 percent of the top 100 publishers
- rely on App Annie to inform their business
decisions, including Electronic Arts, Google,
LinkedIn, LINE, Microsoft, Nexon, Nestle,
Samsung, Tencent, Bandai Namco, Universal
Studios and Dow Jones.
App Annie is a privately held global company
headquartered in San Francisco with 12 global
offices in cities including Amsterdam, Beijing,
London, New York, Seoul and Tokyo. The
company has raised $94 million in funding
from e.Ventures, Greycroft Partners, IDG
CapitalPartners, Institutional Venture Partners
and Sequoia Capital.
KEY POINT
For more information, visit
appannie.com or follow
@AppAnnie on Twitter.
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About the authors & special thanks
This guide was a group effort between many
experts in the mobile advertising industry.
Special thanks go to Facebook, AdQuant,
AdEspresso and Nanigans for their valuable
input, research and resources.
AUTHORS
FABIEN-PIERRE NICOLAS
NATHAN DINH
CHRISTOPHER BRAL
VP of MarComms & Community
Mobile User Acquisition Lead
Content Marketing Associate
The mobile app marketer’s ultimate starter guide
About App Annie | About the authors & special thanks
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