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New ways to reach the right people with mobile app install ads

March 27, 2013ByCalvin Grunewald

Since we launched mobile app install ads six months ago, we have added several new features to improve the product for users and developers. Today we are excited to announce two new features that will make it easier for developers to create these ads and reach the right people.

Enhanced device targeting

With these new capabilities, you can reach 1) specific versions of Android and iOS mobile operating systems and 2) devices on Wi-Fi only connections. For example, now you can reach Jelly Bean 4.2 or iOS 5.0 and greater with a different message based on what is most relevant to the people using those devices. You can also target devices using a Wi-Fi connection. This is helpful if, for example, you are interested in connecting with iPad users that only have Wi-Fi access or prefer using Wi-Fi for data usage.

Easier ways to create ads

You can now create and buy mobile app install ads through Facebook's Ads Create Tool, which has been used by hundreds of thousands of advertisers. Our Ads Create Tool can manage large volume campaigns and will give developers access to all of our other ads products, in addition to mobile app install ads. Our new updates to device and Wi-Fi targeting are also available through the Ads Create Tool. Learn how to get started with our Ads Create Tool.

Over the past few months we've seen increasing success with mobile app install ads from apps across a variety of verticals such as retail, e-commerce, gaming, and financial services. Many of these developers are using these ads to accelerate the organic distribution they already get through building with Facebook.

For example:

  • Poshmark, a retail mobile app, has seen 3x better ROI from mobile app install ads compared to other paid channels.

  • Social Quantum, a Russian based international game developer, became the #5 grossing app in the US within less than 1 month after running mobile app install ads as their primary method of acquiring new users.

  • Nanigans, a preferred marketing developer, generated 92% ROI in less than two weeks for a mobile gaming client by bidding and optimizing for ROI.

  • O2, a UK communications company, used mobile app install ads to catapult its new app O2 Tracks to #6 in the App Store just days after launching. O2 reached an audience of over 9 million people during its three-day marketing sprint on Facebook.

In addition to enhancements to the product, we've developed best practices specific to mobile app install ads to help improve ad performance and help you create the best user experience possible. We will be holding a LIVE Q&A with the product team on April 17, 2013, so register today. During the Q&A, you will hear directly from the team that built mobile app install ads about the new features and best practices for using the product, and you can ask live questions.