Optimizing: app installs or app re-engagement campaigns

Optimizing your app installs or app re-engagements campaign will help you effectively target a mobile audience likely to install or engage with your app. With posts optimized for the mobile marketplace, people will be able to install or open your app directly from their timelines.

 

Top tips

  • Get more attention with images and video
  • Use our real-time intent data and powerful targeting signals
  • Set up conversion tracking for mobile apps (MACT)

 

 

Learning Period

When you launch a new campaign, for the first 3-5 days, our systems will explore to try to find the best users for your ads. We call this initial exploration phase the Learning Period.

During the Learning Period, we strongly advise you to avoid making changes to your campaign to allow our systems to learn and calibrate as efficiently as possible. During this phase, you will likely see fluctuations in performance. After the Learning Period, your campaign’s performance should stabilize. If you still are not seeing performance after the first 3-5 days, we suggest increasing your bids, widening your target audience, or refreshing your creative.

 

 

Elevate your app promotion with video

Post with App Buttons — a powerful ad feature that allows mobile users to preview an image, view app ratings, and install or open an app directly from their timelines. You'll need to set up an App Card to do this!

  • Add images and video into the mix. Image and Video Ads can be complemented with App Buttons, that show people a preview of your app, resulting in a more educated — and more qualified — visitor. Remember that video app campaigns will likely require higher bids, so make sure to adjust your bidding strategy.
  • Test and iterate. Start with at least 3-5 creatives per campaign, crafting compelling copy, and designing attractive images tailored to your target audience to drive clicks, installs and opens from interested users. Then hone in and focus your budget on the best of the set.
  • Refresh your creative. X is all about live, relevant content - and your ad creative should reflect that. Fight ad fatigue among your core audiences by refreshing your creative frequently. We recommend at least every two weeks.
 

Target with purpose

Setting up your targeting for app install or app re-engagements campaigns can be more nuanced than other campaign objectives. 

  • Test. Design your initial campaign with an understanding that your main goal is to test several targeting-creative-bid combinations to see what works. Then focus on scaling.
  • Plan. Build out a campaign plan using different targeting segments-creatives-bidding combos. Aim for multiple campaigns per device (iOS or Android) per country across X. Minimize audience overlap to prevent campaigns from competing against each other. 
  • Efficiency. Drive maximum efficiency on your user acquisition campaigns by excluding Custom Audiences of users who already have your app installed. 
 

Track your conversions to the app store

Our conversion tracking partners enable real-time conversion and attribution for all of your campaigns. When someone engages with your ad and/or installs your app, the tracking partner and X communicate in realtime to attribute installs and downstream user activity to the original ad source, so you’ll know exactly where your most valuable leads come from. Setting up mobile app conversion tracking with one our partners allows you to:

  • Focus on ROI. See deeper insights and trends around lifetime value and performance metrics.
  • Go beyond acquisition. Identify each step of your funnel and drive re-engagement through targeted re-marketing campaigns.
  • Gain a holistic view. Measure and compare the impact of your spend across all of your marketing channels.

Learn how to set up MACT for your app.

 

 

What are my bidding options?

We offer different types of bidding for app campaigns to help you achieve the highest possible ROI. Please note, you cannot switch the goal after the campaign is created or saved as draft.

App clicks

  • Bid on app clicks, pay for app clicks.

  • Mobile App Conversion Tracking (MACT) is not required to enable this bidding option.

How does it work? App clicks are clicks that lead to the app store or directly into the app and you are only charged when someone takes that specific action. With this goal option, our platform will optimize to drive as many high-value app clicks as possible. 

Which advertisers should use App clicks? This option is ideal for advertisers seeking to achieve scale quickly. Use app clicks with campaigns that are narrowly targeted, such as your core audience targeted with very specific @handles or keywords. If performance starts to decline, you may want to expand to the other bid type.

App installs (recommended) - not available for App re-engagement objective

  • Bid on installs, pay for impressions or app clicks. 

  • Mobile App Conversion Tracking (MACT) is required to enable this bidding option. 

How does it work? The app installs goal allows you to bid on the install rather than the app click. With this goal option, our platform will optimize to drive as many app installs as possible. 

While you’re only charged on an app click, your max bid value represents approximately what you are willing to pay for an install. With this option, you should not pay significantly more than your bid, but may be charged less or slightly more. Since app install campaigns rely on predicted installs, max bid is never exact.

Which advertisers should use this goal? If your KPI involves installs, we recommend leveraging this goal option. This option is ideal for refining campaign performance, as you experiment with what creative formats and targeting options drive the highest ROI. Use this for campaigns that are broadly targeted, like those that are only relying on geo-targeting or a broad array of interest categories.

 

 

My app campaigns aren't spending through their entire budget

 

My app campaigns aren't hitting their goals

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