In Q4 2013, Facebook’s mobile advertising business surpassed the$1 billion mark at $1.37 billion, making mobile account for 53 percent of Facebook’s total ad revenue that quarter.
Facebook boasts an impressive 556 million daily active mobile users and counting on its platform. The fact is consumers are spending more and more time on mobile devices - both tablets and smartphones - and these devices are becoming powerful touch points to reach consumers in more than just “on-the-go” mentality. Marketers must seize the opportunity to capture and engage potential consumers across mobile devices, and the opportunity is prime for Facebook mobile.
Here’s what you need to know about Facebook mobile advertising.
Format Basics
Take advantage of the ad types that can run on the mobile news feed, such as: page post, page like, event, and offer ads. During 2013, Facebook made many enhancements to its ad formats, increasing consistency and improving visual engagement. The top ad types for mobile now all feature larger images to entice people to click in the mobile newsfeed so ensure your creative is relevant and engaging. Follow the recommendations for character length and image size, and as you spend more time analyzing your program, develop your own best practices and optimize your images and messages to strike an optimal balance.
Related Class: How to Market on Facebook: Expert Tips and Best Practices
App Opportunities
Beyond the basics, there’s a world of opportunity when it comes to mobile apps. There are more than 100 million apps available in the Apple App Store alone, so how can you gain visibility, installs, and interaction? Facebook reported that in 2013 its mobile app ads helped drive more than 145 million installs, helping brands drive discovery on mobile.
Driving installs gets consumers to a branded app, but it’s a challenge to keep users coming back and engaging with the app once there. Facebook offers mobile app ads that promote more “down the funnel” conversion events such as signups, video views, or in-app purchases. To find success with these ads, deliver clear and powerful calls to action and provide deep links to specific content that correlates to a desired action.
The introduction of mobile video app ads opens up tremendous new potential for engagement and virality. Facebook reported that early testers of video creative in mobile app ads achieved higher install rates and decreased cost per install.
Powerful Targeting
The rich account information available on social networkers gives companies like Facebook a big advantage in audience targeting, delivering ads based on the personal profiles, likes and interests, and social behaviors.
On Facebook mobile, you can target specific operating systems and device types. You can even get as granular as targeting by minimum OS version to ensure you’re reaching users whose software is compatible with your app and define whether the ad should be shown only when the device is connected via Wi-Fi.
Leverage Custom Audiences to get even more granular to reach specific users. You can use existing customer lists to drive mobile activity from your current customer base. Or you might use mobile custom audiences to target specific users that have taken certain actions in a desired time period - like those who have made a purchase in the last 30 days.
By knowing your way around Facebook’s mobile environment, you’ll be poised to win big on the mobile advertising front in 2014 and beyond.