You’ve invested a lot of time and money in a mobile app. You have made sure that it works perfectly. But how can you make the number of downloads of your app only grow? How to promote your mobile app? One proven and effective option is through Facebook and Instagram.

It’s been a long time since the only game on our phone was Snake or Tetris. Today, more than 42% of small businesses have a mobile app. And another 35% plan to develop an app shortly.

Mobile apps allow companies to always stay “on the phone,” interacting with their audience. Instagram story viewer anonymously, and apps are even more valuable. Promoting an app to a cold audience or existing customers can also be equally difficult. You must convince users that it will solve their problems and simplify some tasks.

This article will examine strategies for using Facebook and Instagram ads to promote a mobile app.

Targeting existing customers

Some apps represent an entire business. This is the case with Candy Crush, for example, which is a product with a business behind it. Others are designed to provide additional services or convenience to customers. For example, banking apps let us make a transfer or pay for services. Of course, this is a convenience.

If your app’s functionality extends the site’s capabilities, its promotion should start with targeting existing customers. Use custom audiences to show ads to customers who have bought your product in the last 30-90 days.

You can change this range depending on your services or sales period. Even if you increase the period, the effectiveness of the ads will not suffer. Suppose you’re a dealership and have just launched a mobile app for viewing car specs. Show the ad to everyone who owns a car with similar features. You can also use your new app to reach out to long-gone customers. You can offer them a new product or find out if they are interested in your services.

social media audience
Social media audience

Let’s say your business has launched a new app to track financial expenses. Early customers may have installed other convenient apps from your competitors. You can reach out to them and tell them about your new app. This way, you’ll win back your customers and expand your product’s audience. You can create a new target audience to promote your app in Facebook Ads Manager. Use the “Create Audience” tool under “Audiences” rather than “Create Ad.”

Mobile App. Creating an AudienceIf your app differentiates you from your competitors and can help you attract a cold audience, great! Below, we’ll break down how to do this.

Targeting “similar audiences” to attract cold customers

Creating “lookalike audiences” is the safest solution if you are trying to reach an audience that is not yet familiar with the brand. This move allows you to reach users similar to your custom audience. In this step, it’s recommended to target audiences that use your app regularly.

You need to set up Facebook SDK in your mobile app to do this. This is a kind of app version of the pixel. It will help you create retargeting campaigns or similar audiences by anonymously tracking who is using your app and how. You can learn how to set up the SDK here.

Some marketers don’t use Instagram because of the assumption that advertising will be more expensive. In reality, this is no longer the case. Recently, the cost of display ads on Instagram has dropped to match placements in the Facebook feed.

Since Instagram’s audience is mobile users, they are great at promoting the app. These ads are shown exclusively on mobile devices, and Instagram users are very receptive to branded content. The goal is to get as many users as possible to download your app and save Insta.