6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

Thursday, 17 September 2015

Since launching the mobile app promotion product suite in June 2014, we’ve worked to bring mobile app marketers new tools to help you succeed. We also launched objective based campaigns, with workflows, ad formats, analytics, and pricing tailored to the needs of advertisers with specific objectives — such as app installs or re-engagements. Most recently, we released new bidding options to increase efficiency for mobile app promotion campaigns.

Advertisers like JackThreads (@JackThreads) and Gett (@gett) have used these new tools to successfully acquire users, and we’re excited to share some of their best practices with you to help you grow your mobile app audience. Here are six plays to help you drive app installs with Twitter.

6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

1. Use the app installs or re-engagements objective

During campaign setup, you can choose among several campaign objectives. By selecting the app installs or re-engagements objective, you’ll build an ad creative designed to drive these specific actions. In addition, you’ll pay on a cost per app click basis, so you only get charged when users click to the App Store or Play Store. When viewing campaign reporting, you’ll only see the metrics that matter to you in your analytics dashboard, such as app clicks, conversions, conversion rates, and cost-per-install.

2. Set up conversion tracking

Conversion tracking for mobile apps gives you insights to optimize your campaigns and drive cost-effectiveness. With conversion tracking, you can measure the number of users who install or convert in your app after viewing or engaging with your Promoted Tweets. To get started, work with one of our mobile measurement partners or use Answers by Fabric. You can set custom attribution windows, view the revenue your campaigns are driving, auto-optimize toward a goal conversion, and understand the lifetime value of users you’ve acquired.

#ProTip: Conversion tracking doesn’t just help you with campaign insights. You can also use it to set up tailored audiences of app installs, which you can exclude from acquisition campaigns to drive efficiency. Learn how SeatGeek (@SeatGeek) used tailored audiences to drive a 20% lower cost per install than their target.

6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

3. Design initial campaigns for testing and iteration

In order to quickly and methodically assess what’s working and what’s not, it’s critical to kick off with multiple campaigns that test out different combinations of targeting, creative, and bid. Identify your core 3-5 audience segments and harvest a list of relevant @usernames, interest categories, or other targeting types so you can place them into individual campaigns and pair them with both general ad creatives, and ones specifically paired to each targeting variable. After a week or so of campaign data, you’ll see which campaigns are performing, and you can optimize from there.

Example campaign plan
6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

#ProTip: Many advertisers split out their campaigns by platform to run the same targeting-creative-bid combinations on both iOS and Android. This enables monitoring of performance per platform.

4. Try both @username and interest category targeting

Twitter users declare their interests through the accounts they follow, the things they Tweet, and the Tweets they interact with. Two of our most effective targeting types are based on those key signals:

  • Use @username targeting to reach users similar to the followers of the Twitter accounts you identify
  • Use interest category targeting to connect with users based on their topical interests such as education, sports, or beauty

The combination of @username targeting and interest category targeting will maximize your ability to reach a relevant and sizable audience.

#ProTip: Check out how Postmates (@Postmates) used @username targeting to identify tech savvy users, resulting in cost-per-installs 25% lower than those on other platforms.

6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

5. Create at least 5 Image App Cards

At the outset of your campaigns, setting up five or more Image App Cards, which are purpose-built mobile ad units used to promote your app, will help you hone in on the top-performing creatives.

Creating Image App Cards with attractive images and a call-to-action tailored to your audience will help you drive taps, installs, and opens from interested users. Through your campaign metrics, you’ll be able to discover which creatives appeal most to your audience, and then focus budget on the best of the set.

#ProTip: Learn how BIZZBY (@BIZZBY) used the Image App Card to showcase hyperlocal messages and their app’s interface to drive a 20% higher lifetime value than that on other channels.

6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

6. Develop tailored audiences based on previous app installs

To complement your @username and interest-targeted campaigns, create audiences of Twitter users you’ve acquired. As long as you’ve set up conversion tracking, you can easily set up tailored audiences of mobile app installs which will automatically populate.

When you run acquisition campaigns targeted with @username, interest category, or other targeting options, you can exclude your tailored audience of app installs so that you only reach users who don’t have your app. Alternatively, you can choose to expand your app install audience, and then exclude the original audience.That way, you’ll target only users similar to your acquired users, without re-messaging to those you’ve acquired.

#ProTip: Advertisers like Lovoo (@lovoo) have met with great success using tailored audiences. Learn how Lovoo doubled their registration volume while increasing cost-efficiency by 50% with the help of campaigns using tailored audiences.

6 plays for driving Promoted app installs

For more detailed insights and best practices, download our Mobile App Promotion Playbook now.

We’d love to hear about your experiences as you use these six plays. Tweet us @TwitterAds and share the ways you’re using Twitter to attract users to your app!