Are you interested in learning how to run Facebook mobile ads? If so, you’ve come to the right place. But before we get started, let’s kick things off with some facts and figures.
According to Forbes, Facebook mobile ad revenues skyrocketed to $305 million in the fourth quarter of last year. That accounted for 23% of all Facebook ad sales. And, as proof that the big boys see mobile as the future of marketing, Walmart bought 50 million mobile ads from Facebook last Thanksgiving, rivaling the reach of TV campaigns.
That data alone should be enough to convince you that you should give Facebook mobile ads a try. But if it’s not, here are some additional facts that should get you going:
- Data from SocialCode shows that ads that appear in Facebook’s mobile News Feed get more clicks (0.79%) than ads that appear in desktop News Feeds (0.327%).
- A separate study by TBG Digital recorded an even higher click-through rate for mobile than the study from SocialCode showed — 1.14% vs. 0.79%.
- The number of Likes each 1,000 mobile impressions generated was also higher on mobile, averaging 0.62% compared to 0.219% on desktop feed.
- And, according to Mashable, Facebook was able to generate 2.5 times as much revenue from mobile ads than desktop feed ads for the same number of impressions.
How to Run a Mobile Ad Campaign on Facebook. After stumbling around with a variety of different mobile ad formats, Facebook learned that integrating ads directly into a user’s flow of activities works better than banners and pop-up ads.
Even though these native ads may be somewhat controversial, most users don’t object to the system. Below is an example of what I’m talking about. On the left is the native ad for a mobile app and on the right is the landing page encouraging the person who clicked on the Facebook ad to download the mobile app:
According to an article on MIT Technology Review, executives at Facebook knew that the native ad format was a risky venture. But, as you can see from the fact and figures mentioned above, the ads really work.
What’s more, the ads have exploded the myth that mobile ads are too small to make an impact. Facebook’s mobile ads take up a larger part of the screen than ads aimed at desktop users, which is one reason they get so many clicks.
What’s more, tests by Facebook found that the insertion of ads reduced comments, likes and other interaction with newsfeed updates by only 2%, which was considered a small decline considering the revenue possibilities.
How to Get Your Ads into Mobile News Feeds. My good acquaintance Amy Porterfield has written a terrific post on Entrepreneur outlining the steps involved in running a Facebook mobile ad. It’s worth taking a look at her article.
In a nutshell, here are the steps she outlined in the post:
- Everything Starts with Power Editor: As of this writing, in order to run Facebook mobile ads, you’ll have to use Power Editor, which is a Chrome only plugin designed to help people with the more advanced aspects of Facebook
- Page Post Ads: When set-up with Power Editor, these ads appear directly in the news feed and can include photos, offers and more. Using this system, you can reach users via mobile, desktop or both.
- Promoted Posts: These look like the page post ads in the newsfeed, and you can buy them through the promote button in the status update box on your page or use the Power Editor.
- Sponsored Stories: These ads show up in the news feed under the heading “Pages You May Like.” They’re used to promote activity to your fans’ friends with the intention of attracting like-minded people.
- Mobile App Install Ads: These ads display in the mobile news feed. Use Mobile App Install Ads if your objective is to drive installs of your company’s mobile app. They click directly to your app download page in the iOS iTunes app store or Google Play store.
Action Steps for You. If you’re interested in running a mobile ad campaign on Facebook, here’s what you should do.
- Develop a promotion. Country Outfitter developed a promotion encouraging people to Like and share information about five pairs of boots. Once users Liked their favorite pair, they could register to win them.
- Create a mobile landing page. There’s no point in creating a mobile ad unless you have a mobile landing page to greet people. Don’t send people to a regular landing page. Instead, think mobile first and direct them to a mobile optimized page.
- Run a Page Post, a Promoted Post or a Sponsored Story. Once you’ve done steps 1 and 2, it’s time to choose which kind of ad you’d like to run. There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all, so pick which kind of ad best suits your needs.
- Test Your Way to Success. Once you’ve run one campaign, keep that campaign as your “control.” From there, you can A/B split test a second campaign. If the second campaign gets better results than the first campaign, then the second campaign becomes your control. Your goal is to always try to top the results of your control. By doing so, you’ll be in a constant state of optimization, which leads to better and better results.
The Bottom Line on Facebook Mobile Ads. The truth is that most businesses are still a little intimidated by mobile. But you can use that to your advantage — if your competitor is still sitting on the sidelines, then that’s an opportunity to jump in and get a head start. By the time they’ve figured out how to get started, you’ll have already acquired some of their best customers. And isn’t that the idea?
Jamie Turner is the CEO of social media and mobile marketing firm 60 Second Communications and is the Founder of the 60 Second Marketer. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.