Facebook App Ads

Targeting by Inactive Users

You might normally think of ads as a way to grow your audience, but you can also use Facebook mobile app ads to bring people back to your app. For example, you might want to run an app ad targeting people who downloaded your app but haven’t logged in within the last 90 days.

Why is this Important?

Running a successful app is not only about growing it, but also about keeping your audience. People can be re-engaged by timely reminders about the value they’re missing.

Requirements

First, you need to integrate the Facebook SDK for Android or iOS into your app.

Step by Step Guide: Targeting Inactive Users

1. Add Facebook SDK

Follow our guide on how to use the Facebook SDK for App Ads. This will enable your app to measure every install made and also give you information about where the install is coming from; for example, a Facebook ad.

2. Learn About Creating App Ads

Follow our Creating App Ads guide to learn how to create app ads. Once familiar with the ad format and process, continue with this guide.

3. Create an Ad with a Custom Audience

Let's say you want to target people who haven’t logged in within the last 90 days. This kind of target audience is called a Custom Audience. To create it:

  1. Start creating an ad.
  2. In Audience, choose Create New > Custom Audience.

4. Target Audience by App Activity

Choose App Activity. In the following form:

  1. For Create a list of people based on their activity in your app, select "Action not taken".
  2. For Action not Taken, choose "App Launches".
  3. Include "All Users" in the last 90 days.

You can see the same example settings in the screenshot below. For your real ad, use your own settings.

4. Complete the Ad Creation Process

Complete the ad creation process as usual. Once the ad is running, it will only be delivered to your custom audience.

Tweak Your Custom Audiences

Use the Audience Definition tool to see how many people fall into your chosen targeting segment, and make changes as needed.

The tool will tell you whether your audience is:

Audience Definition Color Recommendation Example

Too specific

red

Increase the value for in the last x days.

Too broad

yellow

Make use of other audience filters like location or demographics (see Targeting Essentials).

Just right

green

Go ahead!