Facebook Ads – App Store Installs Directly Within Facebook

April 14, 2012
Posted in Paid Social
April 14, 2012 Eboost Team

Facebook Ads – App Store Installs Directly Within Facebook

Yesterday Facebook made use of a new Apple iOS 6 feature and made App Store installs a whole lot easier. Facebook introduced mobile app install ads in October and we’ve already seen two major changes to the ads since their inception.

First we saw Facebook change the CTA button to read “Install Now.” This was thought to dramatically increase CTR’s which would lower the cost per install for developers and advertisers running these ads.

Now we’re seeing another major change – the ability to install an app from an ad without ever leaving Facebook. While some reported this could be a sign of a deepening relationship between Apple and Facebook, others have pointed out that it’s merely Facebook making use of a new feature in iOS 6 available to all app developers – the ability to display the App Store to a user without leaving the app. So aside from the drama and sensationalizing reports, what does this all really mean?

Benefits for Users: You can now install iOS apps from Facebook without ever leaving the Facebook app. This means a seamless process without getting too far off track from the photo browsing and OMG’ing you were doing on Facebook,

Benefits for Developers: A streamlined app install process means increased conversion rates. Increased conversion rates means it will be cheaper to get users on your app. This is potentially huge for for developers looking to beta test, drive specific demographics to use your app, and much more.

Benefits for Facebook: More money! While Facebook primarily drives revenue from ads based on clicks or impressions (and this likely won’t affect either directly), if developers are more successful driving conversions via Facebook ads, they’ll put more money into ads and this will translate to more clicks and impressions on Facebook.

So with all this holiday good will going around, is there a loser in the mix? Yes, and its name is Android. They better hurry up and introduce a similar feature to their OS. With app install ads popping up in apps everywhere (not just Facebook), this is a great feature to make developers on your platform more successful.