Facebook to bolster mobile app engagement
Facebook seeks to further monetise its mobile audience with the launch of new ad formats that let brands re-engage with smartphone users that have already installed their apps on their mobile phones, but may have stopped using them.
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The social networking giant yesterday (1 October) announced a further enhancement to its mobile app install ad formats, with a new feature that lets brands issue a call-to-action to users that have already downloaded their app from within Facebook’s mobile app itself.
The new ad formats come in multiple varieties meaning advertisers can direct Facebook’s mobile users to specific features within their app, and alert them to specific content, sales or product promotions (see video).
A blog post promoting the new format reads: “Businesses can now choose from seven different calls to action within mobile app ads. These include universal actions like ‘Open Link’ or ‘Use App,’ along with more vertical-specific calls to action: ‘Shop Now,’ ‘Play Game,’ ‘Book Now,’ ‘Listen Now,’ or ‘Watch Video.’”
The post also quotes research from Mobile Measurement Partners, indicating that 66 per cent of mobile app users only open apps between one and ten times after initially installing the app. This is further backed up by separate findings from in-app analytics firm Flurry indicating that mobile app engagement rates drop off by 76 per cent three months after initial download on Android and iOS.
The success of Facebook’s mobile app install ad formats have helped bolster the social network’s financial fortunes – after initially facing criticism from investors for its lack of mobile revenue opportunities – and the social network specifically ramped up its education drive about the opportunities to shift the traditionally slow ad buying behaviour in the summer months in July and August.